Sphinx Organization: Announcing the 2022 Sphinx Venture Fund Recipients!

 SPHINX ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES 2022 SPHINX VENTURE FUND RECIPIENTS, AWARDING THREE PROJECT GRANTS TOTALING NEARLY $300,000

FUNDED PROJECTS INCLUDE:  Inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition for Black pianists  Inaugural New York City Opera’s Duncan-Williams Voice Competition for Black and Latinx emerging singers  Composing Inclusion, a partnership between The Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum

DETROIT, MICHIGAN (NOVEMBER 10, 2021) — The Sphinx Organization has announced three recipients of its Sphinx Venture Fund for 2022, awarding two grants of $100,000 and one grant of $97,500 for projects that meet the fund’s mission to support initiatives designed to solve a challenge or an issue related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in classical music. Sphinx—the social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts—launched the Sphinx Venture Fund in 2020 with the goal of investing $15 million over five years. The 2022 recipients are the third cohort to receive grants. They are:

Pianist and President and Artistic Director of the Art of the Piano Festival & Foundation Awadagin Pratt and the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition to be presented in partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati ($100k).  Manhattan School of Music’s Chief of Staff and Assistant Vice President for Special Initiatives Alexa Smith and the inaugural New York City Opera’s Duncan-Williams Voice Competition ($97.5k). Dean of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School Weston Sprott for Composing Inclusion, a partnership between The Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum that will commission, premiere, and publish nine new works with flexible orchestration by Black and Latinx composers to be performed side-by-side by musicians of varying skill levels ($100k).

Only a select number of proposals are chosen for The  Sphinx Venture Fund each year with an average grant  size of $50,000 to $100,000. The Sphinx Venture  Fund is made possible by the Fund II Foundation.  Sphinx Founder, Aaron P. Dworkin, serves as Strategic  Advisor to the program. Sphinx President and Artistic  Director, Afa S. Dworkin, said: “The Sphinx Venture Fund explicitly funds highly  impactful programs affecting sector-wide and  measurable change in addressing DEI issues.  This year’s recipients all exemplify this  mission. Sphinx welcomes these two new  performance competitions for Black pianists  and Black and Latinx singers, both of which  aim to identify and celebrate a long-standing  tradition of artistic excellence. Initiatives  such as these further affirm that artistic  integrity is inseparable from inclusion.  Additionally, we applaud the Composing  Inclusion project for identifying gaps in the  side-by-side repertoire and creating such an  enriching experience for students and seasoned  professionals, as well as effectively transforming  the classical music canon. We congratulate all  three projects and the visionaries behind them!”  NINA SIMONE PIANO  COMPETITION The inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition for  young African American pianists will be held in summer  2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The competition is the  brainchild of pianist and conductor Awadagin Pratt and  will be presented by his Art of the Piano Festival &  Foundation, of which he is President and Artistic  Director, in partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony  Orchestra and the College-Conservatory of Music  (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati, where he is  Professor of Piano. The competition will be held every  two years immediately before the annual two-week Art of  the Piano Festival on the CCM campus. Prize winners will  receive automatic admittance to the festival,  performance opportunities in Cincinnati and elsewhere,  and cash prizes. Modeled on the Sphinx Competition, the  Nina Simone Piano Competition will be divided into  three divisions: Junior Division (ages 10 to 13); Senior  Division (ages 14 to 17); and Young Artists Division (ages  18 to 35). The competition is named after Nina Simone:  Mr Pratt says the competition aims to give young Black  pianists a platform to showcase their skills and to  gain opportunities, experience, and support. He said:  “In the almost 30 years that it’s been since I won  the Naumburg International Piano Competition in  1992, far too few African American pianists have  joined me on the concert stages across the United  States. I know what a wonderful addition to the  classical music community these voices will be and  this competition aims to fix this problem.” The competition has a goal of directly supporting  over a hundred African American pianists by its  ninth year and also aims to commission new   works. Applications for the inaugural competition  will open in December 2022. For more  information, visit  www.ninasimonepianocompetition.org