Award-Winning Medicine Wheel Returns to the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts on Dec. 1 for 24-hour Vigil Recognizing Worl...( Water bearers from Fort Point Cha...),Health

Water bearers from Fort Point Channel to the Cyclorama mark 16th Annual 24-hour vigil

BOSTON, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Artist Michael Dowling is inviting thousands of youth to process with black and copper buckets filled with water from Fort Point Channel in South Boston into The Boston Center for the Arts as part of the annual 24-hour vigil to honor World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. The annual event was named Best Project in a Public Space by the Association Int'l des Critiques d'Art's New England Chapter in 2006. According to U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), approximately one-half of new HIV infections occur in people under 25 years of age.

Processions begin at the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts on Tremont Street in the South End. Starting at 11 p.m. on Nov. 30 and continuing for the 24 hours of December 1, people will make short processions to Fort Point Channel and back to the Boston Center for the Arts, where their water will become part of the growing installation of thousands of copper-lined buckets illuminated with a candle as they enter the Cyclorama. The 24-hour vigil blends the grace of public art with the gravity of the public health message regarding youth and HIV/AIDS.

"Each bucket is a meditation -- on the vulnerability of our youth, on the frailty of humanity, but also on our ability to respond with hope and awareness." said Michael Dowling, Artistic Director, Medicine Wheel Productions, the creator and producer of this powerful annual event. "When we see thousands of buckets in a room and imagine that number of youth will become infected this year, the statistics mean something. At the same time, the art is beautiful, as is the statement the youth are making by coming together. Response has been phenomenal -- youth groups from the inner-city to the suburbs, as far away as Worcester, are taking part."

Dowling invites the public to participate, either by joining the water-bearers
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