Thelma Ruffin Thomas

A Program of Elders Sharing the Arts, featuring Thelma Ruffin Thomas, a Storyteller

Thelma Ruffin Thomas serves as the Artistic Director of the Pearls of Wisdom. As an independent storyteller, she performs throughout New York City and along the eastern seaboard. She has traveled all over the world telling stories in Tanzania, Brazil, Ghana, Coast Rica, South Africa, Russia, and Australia. Her extraordinary storytelling skills provide a uniquely entertaining and educational experience.

Thelma is a founding member of the African Folk Heritage Circle, along with being a member of the Network of Biblical Storytellers, The Storytelling Center, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and the Harlem Arts Alliance. She says with enthusiasm, "Go out and tell your stories wherever you go."

About the Elders Share the Arts

Elders Share the Arts (ESTA), founded in 1979, is a pioneering arts organization that engages older adults in high caliber arts programming that ignites creative expression, cultivates their role as bearers of history and culture, and generates new pathways that connects them to their communities. Learn more now.

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