Art for AIDS International offers a unique educational opportunity for students. The workshops use art as a means of engaging students and creating awareness about the HIV/ AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and the effect this pandemic has on women and children. The students are given opportunities to explore their artistic insights and translate them into original collages. These workshops empower students to not only to critically examine the world around them, but provide them with the means to voice their opinions and take action.
Students become better informed about the reality of the HIV/ AIDS pandemic, how the virus is transmitted and how they can protect themselves. Students also experience the benefits and value of volunteerism, both for their own personal development and for the advancement of the common good. A school that becomes a partner of Art for Aids International achieves public prominence from local media and social service organizations, providing the school the opportunity to be actively involved in a dire global issue. In addition to the workshops, there are also scholarship opportunities available to the students, giving added value to each project and furthering the education of the students directly involved. The innovative approach that we take to exploring these topics has an impact on each student that is both significant and long lasting.
To date Art for AIDS International has hosted workshops in over 150 schools in Canada, South Africa, the United States, Mozambique, Uganda, and the Netherlands. Please check back soon for a full list of school that have participated. Until then please check our Portfolio section to see a partial list and the incredible work these students have produced.
Teacher Comments:
"One Saturday morning I heard Hendrikus Bervoets interviewed on CBC and was immediately inspired by his passion to bring the Art for AIDS project to the students at the Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School. Hendrikus held two full day workshops in my art classes as well as 4 others in Peterborough Highschools. This was then followed up with another 6 workshops held during the next semester, fully supported by the Kawartha Pineridge Board of Education. Students were surprised and delighted to discover a new expressive technique in collage, used to create beautiful images with messages of hope, family, community, and the wonder of life; even as they learned about the crisis of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Following the workshops, a local gallery exhibited the student's artwork and raised over 20,000 dollars for children affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa."
- Kris Atkinson, Teacher, Kawartha Pineridge Board of Education
