40+ years of community leadership gave us the opportunity to ask, “How can we support people living with HIV in 2023 and beyond?” as we considered the future of AIDS Vancouver. The answers to this question have become our new purpose, values, name and look. Together, they lay the groundwork for how we will continue to show up for people living with HIV – and our broader communities – for years to come.
Now, AIDS Vancouver is Ribbon Community; Ribbon, for short. Using the concept of ribbon in our name and look is an intentional choice to pull the past, present, and future of the HIV response and AIDS movement together, connecting the many communities that make Ribbon Community possible. Our logo is the red ribbon in the form of an r, rather than the ‘v’ shape of the originals developed by a group of artists called Visual AIDS. This group wanted to do something in the face of daily funerals, hospital visits, and wondering who would get sick next, and it was them that created this symbol, made famous at the 1991 Tony Awards, and later made by the hundreds at ribbon bees and community events throughout the world. The concept of ribbon allows us to reference HIV and AIDS without saying them, in order to offer some discretion in a world that still carries too much stigma, without losing what has brought us all together.
Whether you like this name – or you don’t – we are holding space for that and the many other feelings as all of us adjust to change. As we embrace our new purpose and values, and yes, our new name, we want to assure you that if you are looking for AIDS Vancouver, we are still here. We will be continuing our usual programs and services, making sure they reflect out new purpose and values. Even without AIDS in our name, we will continue to include the important lessons of AIDS and AIDS activism, as much as we can know them, and support people who have a past or present AIDS diagnosis, and those for whom the AIDS days loom large.
Learn more about the journey to Ribbon Community at www.aidsvancouver.org/RibbonCommunity.