Aaron Dworkin shares The Sphinx Organization’s continued success with NBC’s The TODAY Show
August 14, 2023
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Aaron Dworkin appeared on Sunday’s NBC’s The TODAY Show in a video profile celebrating the continued impact of the Sphinx Organization, the social justice organization he founded to help transform lives through the power of diversity in the arts.
The report highlighted the Sphinx Organization’s continuing success developing and supporting diversity and inclusion in classical music at every level – an effort that has invested more than $10 million in programs and support for youth development, artist empowerment, and career advancement, administrative leadership – specifically for in black and brown musicians
Together with his wife Afa, the Sphinx Organization’s President and Artistic Director, Aaron shared his ongoing commitment to the development of young Black and Latino classical musicians. After 25 years, the Sphinx Organization has more than 1,100 alumni and has invested more than . As Aaron explained in the piece, “Sphinx’s goal is transforming lives, through the power of diversity in the arts.”
When not focused on Sphinx’s mission, Aaron is also the creator and host of Arts Engines, an online conversation series and podcast that highlights the perspectives of leaders creating significant impact in the field of the arts. Each Arts Engines episode documents the real-life experiences of those who power human creativity every day. The podcast, which reaches a weekly audience of more than 100,000, is one of the most widely viewed arts shows in the nation. He also just announced that he has joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet as the first Poetjournalist-in-Residence of a major ballet company.
Follow Aaron on Twitter. Check out Arts Engines on their website, and on YouTube. And discover more about the Sphinx Organization on their website, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow, President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts and Governor Snyder’s appointment to the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, Aaron P. Dworkin served as dean of the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), which is ranked among the top performing arts schools in the nation. He is currently a tenured full professor of arts leadership and entrepreneurship at SMTD as well as serving as a Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
In addition, Aaron is a successful social entrepreneur having founded The Sphinx Organization, the leading arts organization with the mission of transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. He also serves as host of the nationally-broadcast Arts Engines show which reaches an audience of over 2 million.
As a best-selling writer, Aaron has authored The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives, a science-fiction novel, Ethos: Rise of Malcolm, as well as his memoir titled Uncommon Rhythm: A Black, White, Jewish, Jehovah’s Witness, Irish Catholic Adoptee’s Journey to Leadership, a poetry collection, They Said I Wasn’t Really Black, and a children’s book The 1st Adventure of Chilli Pepperz.
A lifelong musician, Aaron is a prominent spoken-word performing artist represented by Cadenza Artists with a current national tour of his American Rhapsody with a national consortium of orchestras and premiered with the Minnesota Orchestra and Maestro Osmo Vänskä. He has collaborated with a breadth of artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Damien Sneed, Anna Deveare Smith, Damian Woetzel, Lil Buck and others.
His visual digital art project, Fractured History, has been exhibited at multiple galleries and museums to rave reviews. Aaron is also a filmmaker having produced and directed two films including An American Prophecy and Deliberation. He’s also recorded and produced two CDs, entitled Ebony Rhythm and Bar-Talk.
You and a guest could win two tickets to the class of your choice.