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CABLE POSITIVE PARTNERS WITH VISUAL AIDS FOR JULY 2003 WEB GALLERY

Thomas Dima Curates Exhibit Highlighting Television’s Influence on Artists With HIV

NEW YORK, NY - July 1, 2003
Cable Positive, the cable and telecommunications industry’s national non-profit AIDS awareness and prevention organization, has partnered with Visual AIDS, a non-profit organization striving to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts, for the July 2003 Web Gallery exhibit under the influence curated by Cable Positive’s VP, Communications, Marketing and New Media, Thomas Dima.

Every month, Visual AIDS invites guest curators, drawn from both the arts and AIDS communities, to select several works from the Visual AIDS Archive Project. Dima chose work for under the influence featuring the following HIV-positive artists: David B. Abbott, Alex Alexio, Michael Bedlin, Copy Berg, Mark Carter, Michael Colgan, Joe DeHoyos, Keith Haring, Milton Garcia Latex and Hunter Reynolds. To view the images of the web gallery, visit www.visualaids.org.

In his curator’s statement, Dima states: Television educates, informs and entertains its viewers. More importantly, the medium influences society. This was evident from its early days, as it created and changed the perceptions and views of its audience. With the advent of cable, television was able to blaze new trails with 24-hour news, music and movie channels, creating new avenues of influence while offering programming from its early days and film classics and providing the opportunity for programs to influence several generations of Americans. For several artists in the Visual AIDS Archive Project, television serves as a source of inspiration and the medium to express artistic vision and offer social commentary.

At Cable Positive, Dima oversees the production and distribution of HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention public service announcements (PSAs) and programming and the organization's community outreach programs, Positive Generation and Tony Cox Community Fund. In 2001, Dima created Cable Positive's Positively Outstanding Programming (POP) Awards to recognize and honor outstanding HIV/AIDS-related cable programming. Dima has spoken nationwide on the value of television programming as a tool in the fight against AIDS. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Visual AIDS
Founded in 1988 as collaboration among artists and professionals, Visual AIDS strives to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts. The Visual AIDS Archive Project documents the work of artists with HIV/AIDS to ensure that their artistic legacy will be preserved, thereby safeguarding their place within art history. The Archive Project also facilitates the creation and presentation of new work and provides practical services to artists with HIV/AIDS, assisting in their pursuit of a professional career. For more information about Visual AIDS, log on to www.visualaids.org.

ABOUT CABLE POSITIVE
Cable Positive is a national non-profit organization that was founded in 1992 by three concerned cable executives with the mission of organizing cable’s resources in the fight against AIDS. Cable Positive is dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access and influence of the communications industry to raise AIDS awareness; fund AIDS education, research and care; and promote a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS.