World AIDS Day 2024: Honoring Long-Term Survivors Through Culture and Conversation
- Admin
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
A Case Study in Cultural Infrastructure for Community Healing
🧠 The Challenge
In Palm Springs — a city with deep roots in LGBTQ+ culture — long-term HIV survivors remain pillars of the community. Yet their stories are too often sidelined in both public health discourse and cultural memory.
For World AIDS Day 2024, a coalition led by HARP-PS, the Palm Springs Art Museum, City of Hope, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) came together to center these survivors through a program that honored their resilience while building bridges across generations. Icon City was invited to contribute behind the scenes to ensure these stories landed with the clarity and respect they deserve.
🎯 Program Goals
Uplift: Create a public platform for long-term HIV survivors to share their lived experience.
Support: Provide seamless A/V production to amplify their voices without distraction.
Connect: Use live dialogue and moderation to foster empathy, understanding, and continued engagement.
🛠 Icon City’s Role
A/V Supervision: Icon City led technical production for the panel event, ensuring audio, visuals, and flow met professional standards.
Panel Moderation: Founder Aigner “Anye Elite” Ellis served as moderator, guiding a nuanced and affirming conversation among survivors, artists, and advocates.
🎙 Panelists
Dr. David Halperin, Director of Specialty Services, DAP Health
Jeff Taylor, Executive Director, HARP-PS
Benita Revies, MS, BS, AMFT, Therapist & Community Leader
📊 Measurable Impact
Full-capacity event at the Palm Springs Art Museum
Seamless live production enabling uninterrupted and emotionally powerful storytelling
Community affirmation from survivors and attendees who felt seen, heard, and valued
💡 Insights & Alignment
This collaboration reinforces Icon City’s mission: to build the infrastructure that uplifts cultural leaders, community voices, and authentic stories. It exemplifies our core belief that:
“Narrative Repair is a Strategy.”
By supporting this event with precision and care, we contributed to a legacy of remembrance — not just of loss, but of life.
🔗 Want to Collaborate?
We specialize in live event support, moderation, and narrative strategy for social impact programs.
📩 Work With Us
📰 Learn more about Icons Rising
🎙️ Book Anye Elite as a panel moderator or speaker
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