Bio
About Donald Proffit
A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Donald Proffit was assigned to alternative service in Alaska. That experience included an extended stay in the remote Iñupiaq village of Point Hope, 125 miles above the Arctic Circle. In this isolated setting, his worldview began to take shape as he experienced the isolation of the outsider and witnessed the powerful role the arts and ethics can play in defining inclusive communities.
As a former arts educator and school principal
Donald has come to realize that true tolerance and acceptance is essential if institutions and neighborhoods are to be a safe harbor for all. He has presented workshops, clinics and original performance pieces in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Israel and Italy. His work in Israel as part of an interdisciplinary arts project brought together Israeli, Palestinian and American youth, using the arts as the vehicle for igniting meaningful dialog and artful expression between the three groups. This experience reaffirmed his belief that meaningful and life-changing engagement is always possible when you establish a safe and honest environment for conversation and collaboration.
Donald holds a Master of Education in Creative Arts Education from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Education from Bank Street College and Parsons School of Design. His undergraduate degree is from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J.
He received the D. Bennett Mazur Award for Lifetime Achievement from the New Jersey Lesbian and Gay Coalition for having made “sustained and profound contributions to transforming society at great risk to himself,” has twice received the New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education, and is a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Teacher Fellow.
Donald lives on a riverbank in a diverse neighborhood in Trenton with his husband, Doug Hunter.
Latest From Donald Proffit
Hardship Alaska
Some memories of his two years of alternative service as a Vietnam-era conscientious objector continue to haunt Donald Proffit, aka Buzz, in unresolved conversations and partings over dinners and by front doors, in beds and at bars. Others, however, have been exorcized completely, leaving him with a better understanding of who he was during that time, the most formative period in his life, and who he is today.
