Upcoming Event: Positive Flame 25th of July 2018
At the end of July this year, Amsterdam AIDS 2018 will take place – the largest congress about HIV and AIDS in the world. That week also marks the 90th anniversary of the Olympic Games that were held in Amsterdam. The Olympic flame, which was first introduced during those Games, is the lasting contribution of The Netherlands to the Olympic Games. Inspired by this event, Volle Maan in collaboration with the HIV Vereniging and Aidsfonds presents the Positive Flame.
On Wednesday July 25th from 16.00 to 19.30h the Positive Flame Tour is held: a torch march in which 37 torchbearers will jointly walk through the city from the HIV/AIDS monument towards the famous DeLaMar Theater where The Power of Love event will start at 19.30h. The torchbearers will take turns carrying the specially designed Positive Torch. At the start of The Power of Love this torch is used to ignite the Positive Flame, which will burn the whole evening during the event in the DeLaMar Theater and probably also on Thursday July 26th during the AIDS congress in the RAI, where it will be on display in the freely accessible Global Village. During the closing ceremony of AIDS 2018, the torch will be handed over to representatives of AIDS 2020, which will be held in San Francisco and Oakland.
During the Positive Flame Tour the torch will be ignited by Peter Staley, one of the most prominent American AIDS activists, who has voiced the concerns of people living with HIV and AIDS since the eighties and who has campaigned for the medicines that save millions of lives today. The first torchbearer is Nobel prizewinner and virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who discovered the HIV virus in the eighties. The torch will then be handed over to 35 torchbearers, each with a different HIV age, ending with the youngest torchbearer of 6 years old. The very last torchbearer will be Timothy Brown, the only human being in the world to have been cured of HIV. His recovery has paved the way for hundreds of scientists worldwide to focus on cure research. As an ambassador of hope, Timothy will ignite the Positive Flame on the stage of the DeLaMar Theater to symbolize hope for all people living with HIV.
The torch march will be available for livestreaming on Wednesday July 25th on www.positiveflame.nl/live from 16.00h onwards, but you can also come to one of the 37 Meet&Greet spots on the route. There is a Meet&Greet at the HIV/AIDS monument next to Amsterdam Central Station, which is the starting point of the march, and at every spot where the torch is handed over, for example at the Beurs van Berlage, at the Homomonument, Aids fund and the American consulate.
For a complete overview of the route, the Meet&Greet spots and more information on Positive Flame, visit www.positiveflame.amsterdam
