Thomas Warfield, Professor of Practice, Performing Arts, Director of Dance RIT/NTID

I'm looking forward to finishing up some creative projects that have been on my back burner, some of them for 10 yrs! I'll be cataloguing much of my life work for the Rochester Public Library and Rochester Museum and Science Center. They have asked me to archive some of my recordings, writings and posters, playbills, etc. I'm looking forward to having more hours a day on the piano. I have some writing I want to do and publish. Mostly, I'm looking forward to sleeping and not having to rush around 🙂

I direct the Dance at RIT Program which is in both NTID Department of Performing Arts and RIT School of Performing Arts (I am in a joint appointment in NTID and the College of Liberal Arts). I oversee dance budgets, classes and performances, set dance curriculum, coordinate dance faculty and program meetings, liaison with community partners – Garth Fagan Dance and Rochester City Ballet. 

The students! I am invigorated every day watching the students discover their own creativity and potential; and being part of that process with them.

This would take up a few pages but I’ll say I’ve been extremely fortunate and blessed to have an overflowing of exciting, adventurous and successful professional life experiences. I performed in a few maximum security prisons, I performed in an opera at the Metropolitan Opera, I knew Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham, I performed for Queen Elizabeth, I performed in a circus in Japan, I used arts therapy in working with AIDS patients in Thailand, I was President of Association of Teaching Artists, as President of ARTWalk Rochester I helped create the Neighborhood of the Arts, I choreographed an HBO short film, I was honored and awarded by the United Nations, I won the Off-Off Broadway Award for Choreography, I’ve received a grant from the National Science Foundation….

I often tell my students there are no mistakes in my class and everything is a learning process. I’m not especially focused on them learning specific things but more interested in them exploring how they learn and analyzing why they think the way they do. I encourage them to question and search beyond what they see and hear and beneath the surface. Mostly, I want them to find joy in my class and leave with a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship with and their impact on the world around them.

One of the things I am most proud of is the way the performing arts have been integrated into the campus and aligned with other academic areas in many interdisciplinary ways that foster experiential and integrative teaching and learning. Another wonderful change on campus are the multiple performing arts venues – I’m grateful I could participate in developing those new spaces that will help to shape the RIT landscape for years to come. I’m also proud that I served as chair of the RIT President’s Commission on Pluralism and Inclusion which laid the groundwork for the future creation of the Division of Access, Engagement, and Success.

The Performing Arts Scholars Program has benefited the entire university by attracting students (over 2000 and counting) who are not only pursuing STEM fields but have strong talent in the arts and are pursuing minors in the performing arts as well. The program has helped with enrollment and retention rates for RIT as current data shows.

My mother, who was an ordained minister, was very active in the civil rights movement both locally and nationally. I grew up with the understanding that giving back to my community and helping others was a responsibility and in our home, it was a way of life. I lived in NYC at the onset of the AIDS epidemic and learned from hands on experience that we are here to care for one another. As a performing artist I also understood the transformative power of the arts and learned from my father to use those talents for the betterment of society – that eventually led me to establish PeaceArt International, Inc. in 1990 using the arts and creativity to foster greater human understanding here and around the world.

It is important for us to continue to promote and celebrate Black Heritage Month because it honors the contributions, achievements and sacrifices of African-Americans and reminds us from where we come and whose shoulders we stand on. It is also important to educate the broader community on accurate history and the ongoing impact that history has on all our lives. This month-long celebration also inspires action toward a more equitable future. Some of my role models have, of course, been members of my own family whose achievements have helped shape the world – my parents (Rev. Vernice Warfield and Robert E. Warfield, Jr.), my uncle Bill (William Warfield), my aunt Lee (Leontyne Price), my mentor of over 30 years, Carmen de Lavallade. Others include James Baldwin, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Katherine Dunham, Alvin Ailey, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou.

Well, it would be hard to replace purple. I have loved that color since I was a little kid. But I also loved the color blue when I was growing up.

I would have to say my favorite spots on campus are sitting under the trees out in front of NTID, and my office – because current and former students are always stopping by my office to chat.

Honey caramelized carrots.

I’m definitely a night owl. I always have been. My most creative time of day and when I have the most energy is between 11pm and 4am. That’s the best time to reach me on the phone!

My mom would say “Think for yourself, God gave you a brain.”  My Dad often said to people “If you can speak you can sing.”

Family Business on BET.

I don’t know if there’s all that much people don’t know about me or can’t google about me but… a couple of things are I love Haagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream, I’ve climbed Mount Fuji in Japan twice, and I was featured in the Hong Kong edition of Marie Claire Magazine’s nude art in the 1990’s.

rit.edu/aes

2 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY 14623  

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