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Light in the Grove is the name of the magical event under a big tent in the heart of the National AIDS Memorial Grove. in San Francisco. It will mark the 35th Anniversary of World AIDS Day with a series of events that honor the history of the AIDS movement, highlight current progress and struggles, and provide hope for the future.

It kicks off at noon on November 30th the day before with a performance of Dance AZTECA, a living, evolving, cultural tradition using the artistic and spiritual traditions of the pre-Colombian Aztecs. An invocation and opening remarks will follow.  

What follows is Bodily Autonomy in 2023, 12:20 – 1:05 PM:  a conversation focuses on what defines. Then Olympic diver/HIV activist Greg Louaganis will be In Conversation with National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham. Louganis will recount a deeply personal story of living with HIV/AIDS under a public spotlight and how this has shaped his trajectory and inspired his mission.

Following the conversations, participants are invited to the Grove’s Circle of Friends, where nearly 4,000 names of lives touched by AIDS are engraved. A reading of the names engraved in the Circle in 2023, including Louganis, will ensue

Next day ……WORLD AIDS DAY two powerful conversations will offer context around the intersectional issues connected to the struggle of living with HIV/AIDS, and provide hope and inspiration for the future. The annual World AIDS Day National Observance is free to the public.

There will be the Inaugural Hope and Inspiration Award that its bestowed upon an individual who has clearly exemplified through challenge and struggle what it means to be resilient and who serves as an inspiration for the HIV/AIDS community. It’s being given to Lashanda (Tootie) Salinas, an active member of the Tennessee HIV Modernization Coalition, a Health Not Prisons advocate, and a member of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Council of Justice Leaders. First diagnosed with HIV at 16. In 2006, Salinas was unjustly imprisoned and charged with a crime for living with HIV, forcing her to register as a sex offender. She was instrumental in changing Tennessee state law to decriminalize living with HIV.

National AIDS Memorial Grove, ‍Nancy Pelosi Drive & Bowling Green Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 
CA 94122. (The only federally designated memorial to the pandemic).