#DeafWoke with Denise Saunders Thompson
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2021-08-23

Thursday 19 August 2021.

A Virtual Consciousness-Raising Online Talk Show, Led by Black and Native American Deaf Host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow.

Antoine Hunter presented #DeafWoke with Denise Saunders Thompson, president and chief executive officer for the International Association of Blacks in Dance livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 19 August 2021.

ASL-English voice interpretation and English captions provided.

#DeafWoke is a virtual consciousness-raising, engaging online talk show, led by Black and Native American Deaf host Mr. Antoine Hunter PurpleFireCrow. Founded as a response to isolation and misinformation experienced during COVID-19, #DeafWoke provides access to the Deaf BIPOC life stories, critical coverage of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, education, arts, social justice, and analysis of COVID-19-related news for Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing, Late-Deafened and Black Hearing communities.

Our mission is to provide opportunities for our stories to be heard by providing the #DeafWoke platform to uplift BIPOC Deaf and disabled artists’ voices and to contribute to the arts and larger society, increasing awareness at the intersections of audism, ableism, and racism—this includes DeafDisabled stories as a force for cultural change and collective liberation. There is also a space to talk about economics, parenthood, and education.

All episodes will be produced with ASL interpreters and captioning welcoming everyone to the conversation. For da Hearing and Deaf! It’s inspiring, it’s funny, it’s beautiful with the ugly, it’s things people don’t really talk about, it’s unheard of, it’s Deaf Woke!

The Host:
Bay Area native, Antoine Hunter also known Purple Fire Crow is an award-winning Internationally-known African-American, Indigenous, Deaf, Disabled, choreographer, dancer, actor, instructor, speaker, Producer and Deaf advocate. He creates opportunities for Disabled, Deaf and hearing artists and produces Deaf-friendly events, and founded the Urban Jazz Dance Company and Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival.

Guest Bio:
Denise Saunders Thompson has extensive experience in non-profit and for-profit, established or start-up organizations. She has advised organizations on administrative, programmatic and fundraising issues including strategic plans, policy and procedures, communications programs, budgeting and contracts. Currently, Denise is the President and Chief Executive Officer for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, a non-profit service organization and D.d.Saunders & Associates, Inc., a comprehensive fine arts advisory firm offering artist management/ representation, arts producing, consulting, and production services. She recently held the position of Professorial Lecturer at American University in the Graduate Arts Management Degree Program. In April 2015, Denise completed 17 years of service at Howard University in the capacities of Professor, Theatre Manager/ Producing Artistic Director for the Department of Theatre Arts and Manager of Cramton Auditorium. She is Co-Founder of PlayRight Performing Arts Center, Inc., a non-profit arts organization in Atlanta, Georgia, and former Business Manager for The Malone Group, Inc. a non-profit arts organization in Washington, D.C. that co-produced Black Nativity at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for six years. Denise currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Dance/USA, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Friends of Theatre and Dance at Howard University, is a Member of Actors Equity Association (AEA) and Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA).

Freelancing in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and across the nation in production and arts management, Mrs. Thompson has held positions at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Alliance Theatre Company, National Black Arts Festival, 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, 1996 Olympics, Lincoln Theatre, Several Dancers Core, the Atlanta Dance Initiative, the Mark Taper Forum, the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger, Harrah’s Marina Hotel Casino as well as other numerous positions. In addition, she is a grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the St. Paul Companies. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Arts Producing and Management, and a B.F.A. from Howard University in Theatre Arts Administration. Denise is the proud mother of Kellen, stepmom to Darrin, Jr., and happily married to Darrin, Sr.