Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Detroit Free Press: 'Robin Williams' generosity helped propel career of Detroit cultural leader' Aaron Dworkin

Aaron Dworkin 
(Associated Press/Tony Ding, Detroit Free Press)

Aaron P. Dworkin (b. 1970), Founder and President, Sphinx Organization, is featured at AfriClassical.com


6:56 PM, August 12, 2014
Mark Stryker
Everyone knows that Robin Williams touched the lives of millions with gifts as a comedian and actor, but his personal generosity also played a key role in the life of one of metro Detroit’s most important cultural leaders.
At 43, Aaron Dworkin is the founder of the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization, which has won international acclaim for its landmark efforts to promote minorities in classical music. In 2005, Dworkin was awarded a prestigious $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship for his work. But if not for Williams, who died Monday from what officials are saying is suicide, Dworkin’s life would almost assuredly have turned out very differently. 
“Robin played a pivotal role in my being able to attend the University of Michigan, and without his generosity and belief in me during one of the hardest time periods in my life, I probably never would have gotten my degrees or launched Sphinx,” Dworkin wrote in an e-mail Tuesday from Bucharest, Romania, where he was traveling on Sphinx-related business.
Comment by email: 
Thanks so much Bill hope you are well!  [Aaron Dworkin]  

No comments: