09/02/2026
In Loving Memory of Our Founder, Tommy Avant Garde 🕊️
It is with profound sadness that the School of Opulence shares the passing of our beloved founder, Father Tommy “Avant Garde” Sampson, affectionately known to generations of our community as Uncle Tommy.
Today, we mourn an icon, activist, advocate, mentor, and visionary whose love for Black LGBTQ+ people helped create the foundation upon which the School of Opulence stands today.
A pillar of Chicago’s Ballroom community and founding member of the House of Avant Garde, Tommy dedicated his life to ensuring that Black LGBTQ+ people had access to community, mentorship, sexual health education, prevention and treatment resources, and, most importantly, a place where they could feel safe.
Around 2003, Tommy established the original School of Opulence. More than twenty years later, we are still carrying his vision forward.
Tommy understood that Ballroom was more than competition or performance. It was family, culture, creativity, survival, education, and an opportunity to reach people with resources that could change and save lives.
Even throughout years of serious health challenges, Tommy remained committed to advocacy and the community he loved. His legacy lives through every person who has found education, care, affirmation, and belonging through the School of Opulence.
In his honor, we look forward to finding a path for Ballroom centered arts and wellness programming to have a place at the School once again, carrying forward the culture, creativity, healing, education, and community that were so central to Tommy’s vision.
Thank you, Tommy, for planting the seed.
Thank you for loving our community.
Thank you for fighting for us.
Thank you for showing us what Opulence could mean.
Your work lives on through us.
Rest peacefully, Father Tommy Avant Garde. 🕊️
Forever our Founder.
Forever our Icon.
Forever Opulent.
