The final event to be mentioned is the Day Without Art. Beginning on December 1^st, 1989, the Day Without Art was a response to the AIDS crisis, which had been devastating the lives of many individuals and families as 10,911 people in the United States died in 1988 alone. It was created as a way to make the public aware that this was a wide-spread issue, not something that just faced gay men (as many believed at the time). It was also meant to show that it could inspire positive choices to better the lives of others and change the course of the epidemic. Originally, the Day Without Art was conducted as Visual AIDS, a group created in New York, contacted museums and art organizations nationwide, inviting them to cover their artwork, representing the artwork that will never be made/seen due to the deaths of artists from the epidemic. Now, it has become known as the Day With(out) Art as it has morphed into a day of showcasing art that recognizes and promotes artists living with HIV/AIDS. Either way it is performed, the Day With(out) Art is still breaking down barriers, promoting representation and activism, and destigmatizing HIV/AIDS in a world that punishes people because they contracted an illness that is associated with sex.