Bio
George A. Thompson is an arts management executive with over 20 years of senior management experience as both a presenter and producer at nationally recognized institutions. Prior to joining Georgia Tech as Director of the Ferst Center for the Arts in 2009, he served as Conservatory General Manager at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. From 2003 to 2005 he was Senior Vice President of Programming and Operations for Omaha Performing Arts, and from 2001 to 2003 was Executive Director of The Washington Ballet. At Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center for seven years, he served as Executive Vice President, General Manager and CFO. He has a B.F.A. in dance from SUNY Purchase College and attended graduate school at Fordham University and American University.
George was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut and began his arts career as a professional dancer with American Ballet Theatre, touring internationally and working with George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Paul Taylor, Jerome Robbins, and Agnes de Mille. Throughout his dance career, George studied ballet with Royes Fernandez, and Jacques d’Amboise, Graham techniques with Carol Fried and Kazuko Hirabayashi, Limon technique with Aaron Osborne and Cunningham technique with Mel Wong and performed standard repertoire from the various techniques and styles. In New York, he studied with David Howard and Maggie Black, and was invited to study with Stanley Williams on scholarship at SAB (School of American Ballet) and on scholarship at Pennsylvania School of Ballet with Lupe Serrano.
George was part of the modern dance faculty of the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College and also taught ballet and modern dance at the American University in DC and taught master classes and choreographed at Bates College in Maine. He started the professional ballet academy in conjunction with the education department at The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. While at ACT, George staged and choreographed several musicals for the 3rd year MFA student tour.
As a dance presenter, George started the NewDance series while at the Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase which featured young modern dance choreographers. He has commissioned the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange twice, once as part of the American Music Festival on Leonard Bernstein at the Tampa Bay performing Arts Center, the second time for a site-specific work for the grand opening of the Holland Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
