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Dutch unions AOb and CNV Onderwijs, the EFAIDS partners in the Netherlands, got creative with their plans for World AIDS Day 2008. The education unions coordinated Art for AIDS workshops in a number of schools.

Artist Henk Bervoets, co-founder of Art for AIDS led students on a one-day journey into the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the consequences for their peers in high prevalence countries. Trudy Kerperien, of AOb described the process, “Starting with sensitizing activities, slowly building up knowledge, he guided the pupils step by step from feelings to knowledge, from knowledge to statements, from statements to images and from there to artworks, using the technique of collage. The results were just amazing. They got impressed by the message and discovered new competencies just by doing.”

She highlighted the positive reaction from participants, “Some of them mentioned that due to this way of working, visualising a topic that is difficult to talk about, they learned more than ever about what HIV and AIDS can do to people living in less comfortable circumstances than theirs. All schools reported the same enthusiasm and involvement.”

After the series of workshops, a jury selected the most inspiring collages. These will be printed, and added to the international portfolio of Art for AIDS and sold worldwide. Proceeds from the sale of the artwork go to selected projects for women and children living with AIDS.

Back in the Netherlands the students and teachers are planning to organise an exhibition of the finished prints. Meanwhile to highlight World AIDS Day, they have written about their experiences and published photos of the workshops in their school newspapers and websites. Schools across the Netherlands marked World AIDS Day using resources distributed by AOb and CNV Onderwijs.

Art for AIDS International was created in 2000 to develop an international portfolio of 100 handmade limited edition prints by 25 artists from around the world. In 2003, this concept was adapted and reproduced at high school level, accompanied by new HIV/AIDS awareness workshops forming the new Kids for Kids project. Kids for Kids projects have expanded to become the central project of Art for Aids International.