November 2012 For immediate release

Graduate hosts silent auction for World AIDS Day

A Leeds Metropolitan University graduate is set to host an art show and silent auction to celebrate the first anniversary of his HIV charity, aptART (Awareness and Prevention through Art), and to mark World AIDS Day.

Nick Renn Nichol graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Peace Studies and International Relations in 2008 and established aptART with Samantha Robinson in 2011. aptART is an organisation of artists, activists and

educators working to engage vulnerable children worldwide in the arts through interactive workshops, public murals and exhibitions. The free event will showcase work produced through aptARTs work in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo, helping children to address the HIV and AIDS epidemic and ongoing conflict affecting their communities. It will take place at Leeds Metropolitans Broadcasting Place building on Thursday 29 November from 5-9pm and will include a drinks reception. The exhibition will remain open until Sunday 2 December. Nick commented: aptArt has had an amazing first year. To see the work on the ground is amazing. The children really come to life and hopefully we are providing a fun, rewarding way to raise awareness of this crucial challenge. Every child that leaves an aptArt project understanding the risk from HIV/AIDS is one step forward in the global challenge to combat this epidemic.

Dr Alex Nunn, Head of Politics and Applied Global Ethics at Leeds Metropolitan and former tutor of Nick, added: aptArts success over the first year is proof of what can be achieved with a good idea, hard work and dedication to a good cause. Mozambique has one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world. UNICEF estimates that around 1.6 million

Mozambicans are living with HIV or AIDS, more than 90,000 of them are children under 15. Raising the awareness of children before they reach

sexual maturity is crucial to controlling the problem. It is immensely satisfying to see one of our graduates taking on this challenge and really proves the value of the courses we teach. The event will also serve to raise funds for aptARTs projects beginning in January 2013. For further information about the charity, please visit

www.aptart.org or to book a place at the free event, please contact e.kijewski@leedsmet.ac.uk or 0113 812 5288.

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For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the Communications team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors: Leeds Metropolitan University has over 27,000 students and around 2,800 staff. The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University is Professor Susan Price and the Chair of the Board is Lord Woolmer of Leeds. Leeds Metropolitans four faculties are: Arts, Environment and Technology, Business & Law, Health and Social Sciences, and Carnegie.

The Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE) showed that the proportion of Leeds Metropolitan 2010/11 graduates in work, further study or both six months after leaving university was 91.87%.

Libraries and Learning Innovation at Leeds Metropolitan was awarded the CSE standard for the tenth year running in 2012. In 2012, Leeds Metropolitan was awarded a First in the People & Planet Green League, a league table of environmentally friendly universities, for the sixth consecutive year.