D.E.A.F. (Deaf Emerging Artists Festival)

Name of Concept: D.E.A.F. (Deaf Emerging Artists Festival)

Overview of Idea:

For the past ten years RIT/NTID students have traveled to New York City the first week of June to perform at the IRT Theater in Greenwich Village. This is a grassroots movement of students, staff and faculty to provide access to industry professionals and paying work. If this event were supported by RIT new works, emerging talent and ethnographic qualitative studies in theater could be launched. In addition, the NTID Dance Lab could be rennovated into a performance innovation center allowing this showcase to exsist on line (archive and introduction) leading to face to face contact with media professionals at the showcase.

How this idea leverages current areas of RIT expertise:

The NTID Theater program and the College of Liberal Arts Film and Animation Program would have a regular New York City location and Company support for world premieres, new works and new talent to showcase student and faculty performance work in visual performance mediums (not all presenters are Deaf but all are visually based as opposed to text based)allowing academia and real world a bridge in a nationally recognized arena for performance.

Main RIT on-campus champion(s) for this idea:

Luane Davis Haggerty, Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative and Cultural Studies at NTID

Peter Haggerty, Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies at NTID

Additional on-campus champions willing to collaborate with this individual and take a lead role in driving the idea:

 Thomas Warfield, Aaron Weir Kelstone, J. Matt Searls, Bonnie Meath-Lang

 Potential off-campus individual, organization, company or government entity advocate(s):

 Kori Rushton, IRT Theater, Eddie Swayze ASL Poetry Society

Are you aware of another university that is working on a similar idea? If yes, which one?

Gallaudet University, Towson University

How you envision this idea advancing RIT's national or global stature in an important or emerging field:

Even with no real support (some participant have had reimbursement grants from Student Affairs for travel, NTID Performing Arts lends equipment at no cost), students, faculty and staff paying their own way - this yearly event has resulted in : 2 co-op placements in theaters, job for 7 actors in an episode of "Law & Order", access to 37 television and theatrical agencies, an article in "The Chronicle of Higher Education", and industry award for "best Overall showcase work, if actual financial support, publicity and focus were given even more could be achieved.

Why you believe RIT has a unique opportunity or an ability to differentiate itself through this idea:

RIT's unique blend of artistic skills, performance talent and technology has the potential of placing our students at the pinnacle of the commercial video,film and television industry.  Our embrace of Deaf culture and Sign Language gives us an edge on visual performance work that very few colleges have.  Conservatory programs have performance training (and they all offer yearly New York/LA showcases for their students)but they do not have the blend with technology.  Many film schools also offer NYC showcases for student work but they don't have the live poetry, dance and performance talents we do.