The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis and Citizens for a Loring Park Community honored World AIDS Day with an evening of performances and histories of the AIDS movement in the Twin Cities. World AIDS Day has been recognized on Dec. 1 since 1988.

“This is not a somber event,” T. Mychael Rambo said as the MC and energizer of the evening at The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis on Sunday evening. Rambo also performed songs alongside Dan Chouinard on the piano. A short documentary on the AIDS epidemic was also screened, which included an interview with Stevens Square resident Maureen Wells.  

Wells led a surviving partners grief group through her work as a social worker for 14 years until the need for it diminished, due to the advancement of drugs such as antiretroviral therapy for people living with AIDS and PReP, a drug that prevents people from contracting HIV.

Patrick Scully also performed a spoken work piece on the themes of hope and rage. A longtime AIDS activist, he was on the former TV program “Artists and AIDS: Light from a Dark Room,” which played throughout the night at the Woman’s Club.

Scully was also the director of the now-closed Patrick’s Cabaret and recently performed “Portrait of the Artist of a Gay Young Man” at the Illusion Theater in Kingfield.

Lori Dokken, a frequent performer at the Woman’s Club also sang during the program. Dokken was once a performer at the former Gay 90s piano bar.

To close out the evening, attendees remembered people who have lost their lives to AIDS on the club’s rooftop.

According to the World Health Organization, 42.3 million people have died of AIDS. The State of Minnesota has declared an HIV outbreak due to an increase in HIV cases from the previous year. In 2023, there were 324 new HIV cases, a 24% increase from 2022.