Aaron P. Dworkin
(Photo: Dwight Cendrowski)
Dworkin: “Just do something.”
In the first Dean’s Symposium of the 2016-17 year, Aaron Dworkin
encouraged Peabody students to take risks, to focus intensely on what
they want to achieve, and, above all, to act intentionally in the
interest of social change.
In a candid and optimistic conversation Monday with Peabody Dean Fred
Bronstein, the 2005 MacArthur fellow and dean of the University of
Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance asked the audience to
consider the role that they each, individually, can play in changing
society, saying “If we see things that aren’t taking place, is there
something we can do?”
Dean Dworkin speaks from his own experience, having founded the
Sphinx Organization to address the lack of diversity in classical
music while still completing his undergraduate studies. Celebrating its
20th anniversary in 2017, Sphinx programs now reach more than 100,000
students annually. The community of professional musicians of color that
has grown among Sphinx participants and alumni is among its successes,
Dworkin noted.
“There is a great deal more work that needs to take place,” he added,
pointing out that less than one percent of works performed by U.S.
orchestras are by composers of any color. The biggest obstacle to
change? Simply, inaction.
Calling himself an eternal optimist, he offered praise for programs
like Peabody’s Tuned In and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids,
emphasizing that institutional commitment of time and resources is a
fundamental first step to developing initiatives that can make a
difference.
Comment by email:
Fantastic... thanks so much Bill! Aaron [Aaron P. Dworkin]
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