40th Anniversary Events:
Anniversary Picnic in the Park
Wednesday, September 17th, 2025
Fernwood
More details to come
Still with us: A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Arts Events in partnership with Victoria Arts Council
Exhibition | 24 October – 1 December | Tuesday – Sunday, 12-5
The Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within the Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
Featuring work by Joe Average, Margo Farr, Peggy Frank, Margaret Flood, Jamie Griffiths, Anna Mah, Lynda Raino Dance, Pam Terry, and selections from the archives of AVI Community Health Services. This exhibition is curated by VAC Executive Director Kegan McFadden and augmented by the holdings of Dance Collections Danse, reflective of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the dance community, as selected by Christopher House, Guest Curator, and Amy Bowring Executive & Curatorial Director of DCD.
Staged Reading and Choral Performance | Saturday 1st of November, 7:30PM
The Belfry Theatre’s BMO Studio | 1291 Gladstone Avenue
The Wines of Tuscany [1996] by Conrad Alexandrowicz with Gettin’ Higher Choir
Panel Discussion | Saturday 8th of November, 3PM | Reception to follow
Dancers For Life a discussion with the organizers of Victoria’s Dancers For Life Galas with the original organizers, discussing what motivated them to produce the events, highlights and memories from the events themselves and their lasting impact.
Panellists: Kim Breiland, Stacey Leblanc, Doug Durand, Walter Quan, Anna Russo Kennedy
Moderator: Stephen White
Performance event | Friday 21st of November @ 7PM and Saturday 22nd of November @3PM | Reception to follow
The Baumann Centre (Pacific Opera of Victoria) | 925 Balmoral Rd
Featuring: A welcome drum song from Aunty Collective; Saying Goodbye to My Brother, a remount by Lynda Raino of the duet she choreographed and performed with Shawn Costello in 1988, co-presented by Dance Victoria; I Am Beauty or If I had a clock an excerpt of a new verbatim opera by librettist Rick Waines featuring three singers and a piano accompanist that activates the HIV in My Day oral history project at the University of Victoria; and The Viral Monologues featuring first-person accounts from the frontlines by AVI Community Health Services affiliates, commissioned by Intrepid Theatre.
Book Launches | Sunday November 23, 2025 | 2PM @ The VAC pop-up venue within The Bay Centre
Still With Us, edited by Christopher House and John Davies with contributions by 60 + writers from across Canada. Join Christopher in conversation with Dr. Allana Lindgren, Dean of Fine Arts, University of Victoria.
Saturday November 29, 2025 | 2PM @ The VAC pop-up venue within The Bay Centre
There Are Things That Cannot Be Changed … creative writing based on actual letters between Rwandan, Emerthe Nakabonye and Canadian Peggy Frank. The story unfolds from the first letters exchanged between two women who only knew that the other was also living with HIV.
Film Screening Monday 1st of December (World AIDS Day) | 7PM @ The Bay Centre [lower level]
VAC in partnership with Visual AIDS (NY) presents, Day With(Out) Art screening of newly-commissioned films by HIV+ artists, “Meet Us Where We’re At”, featuring: Kenneth Idongesit Usoro (Nigeria), Hoàng Thái Anh (Vietnam), Gustavo Vinagre & Vinicius Couto (Brazil/Portugal), Camilo Tapia Flores (Chile/Brazil), Camila Flores-Fernández (Peru/Germany), José Luis Cortés (Puerto Rico)
