Arts for Life AIDS Day Benefit Performance
7 pm on Monday, Dec 5th, in the Benjack Studio at Tridance Center - 325 Granby St. Tickets: showtix4u.com - $25 general/$15 students
Dancers, actors and musicians will join forces Monday to raise awareness and pay tribute to those battling AIDS and HIV in Hampton Roads through the 10th annual Arts for Life performance, which comes on the heels of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.
Ricardo Melendez, founding director of Actor’s Workshop of Virginia and ODU professor, is the producer of Arts for Life.
“It is our responsibility as artists, as individuals, to lend our talents and support to benefit those organizations helping to ease the struggle caused by this worldwide epidemic,” Melendez said on the trdance.org website. “I believe that charity begins at home. AIDS is affecting all sectors of our community, including our youth. So we have gathered local artists and offered our talents to benefit those locally affected.”
Since 2007, Arts for Life has put on a benefit concert with local talent to support ACCESS AIDS Care, a Norfolk organization that offers support and prevention services. This year, the event will feature singers Narissa Bond, Brian Nedvin and Bruce Warren; dance pieces by TRDance and Virginia Ballet Theatre; and members of the Actors Workshop Theater doing a scene from the play “Cloak.”
“What began as a humble dream to gather artist friends to raise money for a worthy cause has become an annual affair that continues to raise awareness, unites communities, and brings out the best of us, artists and audiences alike, in a warm evening of live arts, remembrance and encouragement for a brighter and healthier future,” Melendez said.
This year’s event will include a reading of “Ode to the Living” a short tribute to local HIV/AIDS patients and families. Based on true accounts, “Ode to the Living” gives voice to the sufferings and triumphs of those dealing with AIDS/HIV. It will be read by Melendez, Steve Earle of the Governor’s School for the Arts and ODU, and Connor Norton, an Old Dominion University theater grad and GSA alum.
The audience is invited to enjoy a cocktail at Gershwin’s across from TRDance Center at 6:30 p.m. and take a look at raffle and silent auction items. They’ll then cross Granby Street to the Benjack Studio Theater for the main event, and later go back to Gershwin’s for the silent auction, light hors d’oeuvres and a chance to meet the performers.
Melendez said he has seen a shift in the focus of AIDS/HIV advocacy , from treatment to prevention and education. He is concerned that a younger generation is increasingly at risk, and hopes Arts for Life can help remind people of the generation lost to the disease since it gained widespread attention in the 1980s.
“The arts community is dedicated to changing the world around us by provoking thoughts, ideas and feelings that may not otherwise be explored in someone’s daily life. To bring to the forefront issues and concerns that may be set on the back burner or may not be recognized at all by the greater population.”
While Melendez acknowledged that there have been great advances over the years regarding HIV/AIDS, he stressed that it has by no means been eradicated.
“There has been great progress on the way we treat the virus, and some consider it a ‘condition’ rather than a death sentence. But as efforts move forward some of the preventive methods have fallen from the mainstream and the result is an increase in the number of young men and women contracting HIV/AIDS.”
ricardo aids.jpg (95.7 KB)
Posted By: Helene Clehr
Date: Fri Dec 02 14:34:56 EST 2016