DAY WITH(OUT) ART 2025: MEET US WHERE WE'RE AT
A World AIDS Day Short Film program Presented by Yakima Pride and Visual AIDS
Yakima Pride is proud to partner with Visual AIDS for Day With(out) Art 2025 by presenting Meet Us Where We’re At, a program of six videos that forefront the experiences of drug users and harm reduction practices as they intersect with the ongoing HIV crisis.
Meet Us Where We’re At… will feature newly commissioned videos by Kenneth Idongesit Usoro (Nigeria), Hoàng Thái Anh (Vietnam), Gustavo Vinagre & Vinicius Couto (Brazil/Portugal), Camilo Tapia Flores (Chile/Brazil), Camila Flores-Fernández (Peru/Germany), and José Luis Cortés (Puerto Rico).
Commissioned videos by artists in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany, and Vietnam journey across a range of spaces revealing the complexity of drug use. Several videos document the visible world of drugs—a harm reduction program in a Berlin park, a night out during Rio’s Carnival—while others reveal private, often hidden spaces where safety is found: bedrooms, underground clinics, and moments of connection between lovers.
Meet Us Where We’re At speaks not only to the variety of physical locations where contemporary harm reduction is practiced, but also to a broader shift: centering drug users as authors of their own experiences. Rooted in the philosophy of meeting people at their personal reality without judgment, the program affirms the full context of drug use—its pleasures, its risks, and its role in how people survive, care, and connect.
Harm reduction has long been central to the AIDS movement through practices like needle exchange and safe injection sites, and people who use drugs have been affected by HIV since the earliest days of the epidemic. This program brings their perspectives to the forefront, amplifying the voices of drug users as storytellers, cultural producers, and essential participants in the global response to HIV.
As this is a program centering harm reduction, it will contain depictions of sexual activity and drug use.
Date: Monday, December 1, 2025 | Time: 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Location: Valley Mall 2529 Main Street, Union Gap, WA (2nd Floor Event Space)
Tickets:
https://go.yakimapride.org/worldaidsday
An Evening of Art, Remembrance, and Community
This free World AIDS Day event invites you to gather in solidarity with LGBTQ+ community members, leaders, and allies. Your evening will include:
- A powerful display of 31 panels from Yakima’s own local AIDS Memorial Quilt collection, on loan from the Yakima Valley Museum and presented by Yakima Pride. This deeply personal collection honors the unique lives and stories of those from our own community lost to HIV/AIDS.
- A special performance of songs from "RENT". Several volunteer cast members from the Yakima Valley College’s Playmasters' fall musical are performing in support of World AIDS Day. Support these talented artists by seeing their full production, which runs November 13-15 and 20-22 at 7:30 p.m. in YVC’s Kendall Hall Auditorium. Tickets are available online:
https://go.yakimapride.org/rent-yvc
- Support Our Community Partners: We also encourage you to attend the Yakima Valley College Diversity Film Series. In honor of World AIDS Day, they will be screening the powerful 2011 documentary "WE WERE HERE". You can catch the screening on December 1 at 1 PM on the Yakima Campus (Location: HUB) or on December 4 at 11 AM on the Grandview Campus (Location: SAC).
- Hear from guest speaker Charlie Lopez Salgado (he/him/él) from Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. Charlie will discuss HIV/AIDS prevention and the vital services Planned Parenthood provides to our community. Planned Parenthood will also host a resource table with information on services like PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis), a daily medication that helps prevent HIV.
- Data Justice Consultant Veronica Smith (she/they) reflects on the question: "What can the results of the WA LGBTQ+ Survey do for Yakima? (or the South Central region?)".
- A compelling screening of Day With(out) Art: Meet Us Where We're At, a program of six newly commissioned videos. Content Advisory: As this is a program centering harm reduction, it will contain depictions of sexual activity and drug use. Viewer discretion is advised.
- Participate in a thought-provoking community discussion following the screening, giving us a chance to reflect together on the films and their powerful themes.
- Enjoy a complimentary cinematic snack experience, featuring free popcorn, movie-themed candy, and a variety of beverages.
- Red Ribbon Solidarity: Show your support in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Wear a red ribbon, or pick up a complimentary one at our event check-in.
Visual AIDS is a New York-based non-profit that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.
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