During the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, we buried our friends in the morning, we protested in the afternoon, and we danced all night. The dance kept us in the fight because it was the dance we were fighting for… Keep fighting. Keep dancing.
– Dan Savage
The Victoria Arts Council is pleased to announce its presentation of STILL WITH US: A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Arts — an ambitious project, two years in the making, that brings together local and international partners from the literary, performing, and visual arts communities, in association with a leading local health agency.
This cross-disciplinary project is anchored by an exhibition in downtown Victoria running from 24 October through 1 December 2025. Featuring archival materials, films, and visual art, the exhibit tells a multi-faceted story of loss, advocacy, and hope emanating from the first waves of the AIDS epidemic (1980s through 1990s) and Victoria’s remarkable response.
This fall, AVI Health & Community Services (formerly AIDS Vancouver Island) is marking 40 years since its foundation by five people who recognized the need to meet the challenge of the AIDS epidemic sweeping through our community. The AVI archive of advocacy and educational materials will be on display alongside original works of contemporary art by the likes of Victoria-born artist Joe Average (1957-2024), among others.
Exciting performance events are scheduled throughout the run of the exhibition at a variety of venues in Victoria including the Belfry Theatre and Pacific Opera’s Baumann Centre, with pop-up performances by the Gettin’ Higher Choir in downtown Victoria.
Greater Victoria Public Library is dedicating a themed display throughout the Fall at their Central Branch.
Now, four decades into the reality of AIDS, with an upsurge in new HIV diagnoses in Canada, and around the world this is a timely event that combines art with education and reflection in an impactful way.
STILL WITH US is a call to action, to remember and to education. “Keep fighting. Keep dancing.”
Image: William Douglas in his work Anima (1990) / Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann, Dance Collection Danse N D J 2013 MR
This unparalleled collaboration would not be possible without the following CO-PRESENTERS: The Belfry Theatre, Dance Collection Danse (Toronto), Dance Victoria, Intrepid Theatre, and Pacific Opera Victoria
COMMUNITY PARTNERS: AVI Health & Community Services, The Bay Centre, Greater Victoria Public Library, University of Victoria, Visual AIDS (New York)
SPONSORS: Castle Consulting Corporation; Tulipe Noire; Prestige Prestige Picture Framing Etcetera; Good Earth Coffee House
With financial support by: CRD Arts Services, Province of British Columbia (Community Gaming), BC Arts Council, The McLean Foundation, as well as Dance Victoria, Dance Collection Danse, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Canadian Heritage, with the additional support of incredible and generous private donors.
STILL WITH US: A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Arts organizing committee: Sean Guist, Dr. Allana Lindgren, Kegan McFadden, Bernard Sauvé, Stephen White
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Exhibition | 24 October – 1 December | Tuesday – Sunday, 12-5
Still With Us: A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Arts
Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
Featuring work by Joe Average, Cathy Busby, Margo Farr, Margaret Flood, Peggy Frank, jamie griffiths, Anna Mah, Lynda Raino, Pam Terry, and selections from the archives of AVI Health & Community 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.
Medication
limited edition print
Courtesy of the Artist’s Estate
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 (sponsored by Good Earth Coffeehouse)
Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
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.
Panelists: Kim Breiland, Stacey Leblanc, Doug Durand, Walter Quan, Anna Russo Kennedy | Moderator: Stephen White
Book Display and Reading List
16 November – 1 December
A Legacy of HIV/AIDS in the Literary Arts
Organized by Greater Victoria Public Library Central Branch 735 Broughton St
Performance Series
Friday 21st of November @ 7PM | Reception to follow
and Saturday 22nd of November @ 3PM | Reception to follow
The Baumann Centre | 925 Balmoral Rd
Ticket info will be available shortly.**
STILL WITH US
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 (1961-1989) in 1988, co-presented by Dance Victoria; an excerpt from i am beauty, a new verbatim opera by librettist Rick Waines and composer Mary Jane Coomber featuring four vocalists and accompaniment, activating the HIV in My Day oral history research project housed at the University of Victoria; and The Viral Monologues featuring first-person accounts from the frontlines by AVI Health & Community Services affiliates, remounted by Intrepid Theatre.
** A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to AVI Health & Community Services (recognizing 40 years of support this year).
Book Launch
Sunday November 23, 2025 | 2PM @ Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
Still With Us, co-edited by Jon Davies and Christopher House with contributions for 60 + writers from across Canada.
Join Christopher in conversation with Dr. Allana Lindgren, Dean of Fine Arts, University of Victoria.
Poetry Reading
Wednesday 26th of November @ 7PM
Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
The Living Room: an evening of poetry. Join current and former poets laureate of Victoria, Kyeren Regehr and John Barton, as they read from their work as well as work of poets lost to AIDS-related illnesses.
Book Launch
Saturday November 29, 2025 | 2PM @ Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
There Are Things That Cannot Be Changed … creative writing is 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
Victoria Arts Council’s pop-up venue within The Bay Centre | 1150 Douglas Street
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)
*This marks the 7th year in a row where VAC has brought the Day With(Out) Art screening to Victoria, courtesy of Visual AIDS.