What is the aids memorial quilt?

Considered the largest community arts project in history, the AIDS Memorial Quilt helps us remember the unique lives and stories of those we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS.

What is a Quilt panel?

Individuals and groups create Quilt panels to honor, remember and celebrate the stories and lives of those ones lost to HIV/AIDS. Today, there are roughly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals in this epic 54-ton tapestry.

how to make a panel

How is the Quilt used?

Drivers of change use the Quilt as a powerful tool to bring generations together and raise awareness about the impact of the ongoing epidemic. A new initiative called Change The Pattern is bringing sections of Quilt to communities throughout the South, where AIDS disproportionately impacts communities of color. There, the Quilt honors Black and Brown lives lost to HIV and AIDS and strives to reimagine the response to the epidemic in the region.

learn more about change the pattern

In-Person and Virtual Community Quilt Display Program

Share the Quilt's powerful stories of activism, love, healing, hope and remembrance to connect the story of HIV/AIDS to the important issues impacting our nation today.

bring the quilt to your community

SEARCH NAMES ON THE QUILT

Search the AIDS Memorial Quilt, view each panel, search for a friend or loved one and share your story through our social media channels.

SEARCH THE QUILT

Marking 35 Years of Love, Activism and Legacy

On June 11-12 the National AIDS Memorial displayed 3,000 Quilt panels in Golden Gate Park, marking 35 years since the first panels were made. Presented by Gilead Sciences, this event honored the lives lost to AIDS whose names are stitched in the fabric of the Quilt.

see the photos, learn about the event

“Thousands of people have died in San Francisco, millions in the world. The point of the National AIDS Memorial Grove is to remember them, one at a time.”

- Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

PERSONALIZED PHOTO GIFT

The National AIDS Memorial is now able to transform pristine digital images of individual Quilt panels into beautiful high-resolution photographic prints - learn more

QUILT MOVES TO SAN FRANCISO

Nancy Pelosi announces Quilt Moving to San Francisco, November 2019 watch now

HISTORY OF THE QUILT

Conceived in 1985 by long-time San Francisco gay rights activist Cleve Jones - learn more

40 YEARS / 40 STORIES

40 years of stories from the pandemic – the lives lost, the heroes, the survivors - see the stories

MAKE A PANEL

Here in a few easy steps is how to create a panel for The Quilt - learn more

HOST THE QUILT, REQUEST A PANEL

To request to host the Quilt in your community please make a request

Latest Projects

support our programs

Our work helps ensure that the lives of people who died from AIDS are not forgotten and the story of AIDS is known by future generations -
so that never again will a community be harmed because of fear, silence, discrimination, or stigma.
DONATE NOW