Aaron P. Dworkin
Kevin Kennedy
As a graduate student at the University of Michigan in 1997,
violinist Aaron Dworkin walked into the office of the dean of the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance and laid out his vision for the Sphinx
Competition dedicated to promoting minorities in classical music.
Eighteen
years later, after creating the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization and
turning it into a national force for diversity, Dworkin is returning to
that same U-M office.
Dworkin, 44, was named named dean of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance for a five-year term effective July 20.
The
U-M Board of Regents approved the move Thursday. Dworkin becomes the
first African American to lead the school, which is consistently ranked
among the country's leading performing arts programs. He also becomes
only the second black to lead a major American music school.
"I
wasn't looking to leave Sphinx," said Dworkin, the organization's
founding president. "But this job gives me the opportunity to make a
difference and have an impact on a broader scale. Schools are at a
critical time in thinking about what it means to have a life in the
performing arts."
Dworkin is an out-of-the-box choice, and his
race may be the least of it. He comes to the post not as academic or
performer. He is an arts entrepreneur and advocate who has been on the
front lines of challenging the status quo. He takes over the school at a
time of seismic cultural and technological change across the landscape
of the performing arts in America.
Old funding models, artistic
hierarchies and traditional career paths are breaking down. Audiences
are dwindling. University arts-training programs, like the professional
fields themselves, have struggled to reinvent themselves to better
prepare students for the realities of the 21st Century. In hiring
Dworkin, U-M is making a pitch to take on a leadership role.
"Having
entrepreneurial skills are critical for students today," said Dworkin,
who won a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2005 for his work with
Sphinx. "There are many other paths to an artistically and financially
rewarding career in the arts beyond getting job with a major orchestra, a
theater or dance company. The institution needs to explore how we're
helping students develop the skill sets to do that."
Dworkin
declined to discuss specifics — he wants to first meet with faculty and
students to gather ideas and build consensus — but he did say he wants
to pursue partnerships with other divisions on campus like the business
school, as well as with professional organizations beyond the borders of
Ann Arbor.
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