He’s doing THE MOST for #HIV…

Jason Kirk, Director of Development at TAG, joins Karl Schmid on +Talk to discuss how they provide access to treatment and prevention at a global level for those living with #HIV and other viruses.

You can read the transcript of Jason’s conversation with Karl below.

JASON
Each of these pieces will be made available and all of the proceeds will go back to help our work.

KARL
Hello there. Welcome to +Talk on +Life where we’re all about turning positive into a plus. Treatment Action Group, TAG. Who are they? What do they do? Why are they important and why does it matter? Jason Kirk is their director of development and he is joining me today. Hey, Jason, nice to see you.

JASON
Hey, Karl, good to see you too.

KARL
You guys were very kind to me. You gave me an award last year and you’ve got a really exciting thing coming up in a couple of weeks and we’re gonna get to all of that in a moment. But I just wanna talk about what TAG is, Treatment Action Group, and why it’s so important for people like you and me and others living with HIV.

JASON
Sure. Well, we just celebrated 30 years last year, and we were an outreach of ACT UP back in the early days, and we started off focusing on making sure access was there for HIV medications early on, working with the FDA. Now we work on HIV, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis and across the spectrum from treatment, prevention, access to medications. We work on that, both nationally and globally.

KARL
Okay, so break it down and make it even more simple. I’ve been diagnosed with HIV, you know, I’m newly diagnosed, I’ve started my treatment. What’s the direct tie to what you guys do to ultimately keeping me healthy and undetectable?

JASON
Oh, we ensure that those medications that do that, you know, the daily pills, that those have been made available, that the FDA and governmental structures focus on making those available to everyone and ensuring that the science continues and that researchers and people in the health field understand the medications, why they’re important, how to access them, making sure that they’re available at a reasonable cost.

KARL
Yeah. And we know that that’s something that is I mean, forever ongoing. I mean, the fight wasn’t just there in the nineties. I mean, it is almost today just as important, if not more, especially when we look at healthcare and access to healthcare for certain members of our community, right?

JASON
Yeah, certainly access is not equitable throughout, and some people are still finding it hard to access the treatment and the care that they need. And that’s something that we’re very focused on, making sure that no matter who you are, you can access that treatment, that you can make sure you have that lifesaving medication each and every day.

KARL
Yeah, and get us to undetectable which means we’re untransmittable. Part of what keeps you guys going, obviously, is support from the community at large, and you do this through a number of fantastic initiatives. You have an event coming up for 35 years of Art to End AIDS event. You know, we’ve been talking about HIV Aids for 42 years now. Tell us about this particular event because I know that TAG have been doing really creative and interesting things really since 1999, haven’t they, as far as raising awareness and raising funds so that you guys can keep providing these services?

JASON
Right, we started our limited art editions and it started with a donation from Ben Thornberry, who was really documenting, back in the ACT UP days, all of the actions and all of the activity that went into the activism back in those days. So now, every year, we work with an artist and they produce a limited art edition that’s part of our Research and Action Awards, and that piece is produced and people procure it, and the funds from that go back into supporting all of our work and across the board with HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis.

KARL
Yeah, it’s amazing stuff. Tell us about some of the pieces that we can expect for this particular go-around.

JASON
Sure, as I mentioned, Ben Thornberry, so we have four of those photographs that will be there. Our most recent limited art edition that we had in 2022 was by an HIV-positive artist, Rafael Sanchez, and you’ll find that piece. If you go back a little further from 2021, we have a series of three different pieces called Bookmarks by Nancy Brooks Brody, and this is sort of a re-imagining of that pink triangle, you know, that is so prominent, you know, through ACT UP, but it goes far back and kind of celebrates taking back that symbol that was obviously used, you know, in a very derogatory way. The curator for this is one of our board members, Joy Episalla, who’s an artist. And so one of her pieces is available for that. So, we have a collection from all of these years and each of these pieces will be made available and all of the proceeds will go back to help our work.

KARL
So, Jason, if people wanna get involved, and check out this wonderful project and the exhibition, if they can’t get to Palm Desert, Palm Springs, is there a way to look at this online? Is there a way to be a part of this virtually? Or do you have to physically go down and check it out?

JASON
No, we have all of these pieces on our website, treatmentactiongroup.org. You can just click on the Support Us button, and you drop down. You’ll see our limited art editions and the show will be running, as you said, from March 17th through April 7th. So if you are in the Palm Desert, Palm Springs area anytime during then you can stop into the gallery. It’s Melissa Morgan Fine Art. But otherwise, you can get in touch with us if you want to look at the pieces, if you want to procure one for yourself, which will support our efforts. Just reach out to us and visit the website.

KARL
Yeah, tell us about the significant work that TAG’s donating to ensure that the lives that we lost, you know, to HIV Aids are not forgotten.

JASON
Right, so we think it’s important we, you know, we’re coming into the desert communities for this event and the Palm Springs AIDS Memorial sculpture is in progress right now. So we want to use our collection and contribute a piece which then proceeds from that will help to ensure that that piece is built and that memorializes all the many people that have been lost to HIV Aids.

KARL
You guys, as a treatment action group, are entering your fourth decade. What other exciting things can we, sort of, expect or look forward to that can give those of us living with HIV a real sense of hope as far as what you guys are developing and working on throughout this year and into next?

JASON
Well, so we are currently, right now, working with our ACT NOW: END AIDS coalition, and this is throughout the US, in jurisdictions that are highly impacted, working with them to try to, you know, end HIV by 2030. We’re working with them to make sure they have the resources, they have the planning, that it’s all coming together, and that that will help promote, you know, further progress.

KARL
Yeah and, well look, you, like myself, living with HIV, I think you were diagnosed in 2002. For you, what does it mean to be able to work with an organization like Treatment Action Group? As someone living with HIV, and then getting to really see and have a hand in the fantastic work that this organization does to help people like you and I?

JASON
Right, I mean, I feel so lucky that I get to wake up every morning and go to work and know that my efforts are helping to end this epidemic. Yeah, I consider myself one of the very lucky ones, you know, I tested positive once there were ARVs and, you know, I’ve been very lucky in my treatment path. It’s sort of a counterbalance to what I know is not the truth for so many people. So it’s, sort of, just is that fire that’s lit underneath me to make sure, every day, the work that I do really matters. And I think Treatment Action Group leads the way in ensuring science is foremost in the work that we do, in the efforts that we promote.

KARL
Jason Kirk, thank you so much. Thank you for all you do and thank you to everything, to everyone, rather, and what you guys do at Treatment Action Group. You know, so often we hear about these organizations and the, you know, whether it’s TAG or others, and you go, I wonder what that does or how that helps me, but it really does make an impact, doesn’t it, to everyday people living with HIV?

JASON
Oh, that’s what we try to do every day.

KARL
Jason Kirk from TAG, thank you so much for your time. Check out the exhibition. We’ll put all the information up on the website. That is gonna do it for this episode of +TALK. If you want more information, go to our website pluslifemedia.com or check us out on social media. We are @pluslifemedia across all social platforms. And again, we’ll put all the information that Treatment Action Group have going on up on the website. Until next time, be nice to one another. We’ll see you soon.