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Aaron P. Dworkin is the founder and
president of the Sphinx Organization. An accomplished electric and acoustic violinist,
he received his Bachelors and Masters of Music in violin performance from the University
of Michigan School of Music, graduating with high honors. He previously attended
the Peabody Institute, the Philadelphia New School and the Interlochen Arts Academy
and has studied with Vladimir Graffman, Berl Senofsky, Jascha Brodsky, John Eaken,
Renata Knific, Donald Hopkins and Stephen Shipps. Additionally, Mr. Dworkin studied
piano with Robert Alexander Böhnke in Tübingen, Germany. Credits and awards
include 2006 Newsweek Giving Back Award, 2005 MacArthur Fellow, 2005 National Governors
Award, 2003 Michigan Governors Award for Arts & Culture, 2003 Michiganian of
the Year, Detroit News.
Sanford Allen, violinist: first African-American
musician to gain a regular place with the New York Philharmonic in 1962; soloist
with major symphony orchestras of Québec, Baltimore, Detroit, and New York;
Director of the Clarion Concerts in Columbia County's Leaf Peeper Series.
Astrid Schween, cellist: since 1989,
member of the world renowned Lark Quartet, winners of the Shostakovich Gold Medal
and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award; has performed with the Lark Quartet in the
world’s most famous venues; professor of cello at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst.
Marcus Thompson, violist: winner of
the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1968; soloist with major symphony
orchestras such as the Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia Orchestras; revered recitalist
and chamber musician; Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT.
James Carroll, Afro-American Studies,
Smith College, is currently a M.M. candidate in jazz composition and a Ph.D. candidate
in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. An active teacher,
guitarist, and composer, Jim's academic interests include the varied relationships
between African and African American musics; the intersections of literary theory
and musical analysis; the historiography and mythology of jazz; critical theory and
musical culture; music compositional theory; and the theory of jazz improvisation.
Donna Mejia, guest artist-in-residence,
dance department, Smith College, is a choreographer, lecturer, teacher, administrator,
and performer specializing in contemporary dance, traditions of the African Diaspora,
and new fusion traditions in world electronica. She continues to teach, choreography
and perform modern dance, improvisation, hip hop, jazz, Arabic tribal fusion and
traditional dances of the African Diaspora for colleges, dance companies and international
dance festivals.
Angel Rodriguez, Project 2050 Director/Coordinator:
responsible for contributing to the overall design, vision, and long term planning
of Project 2050, working to establish and maintain partnerships with community-based
organizations, and representing Project 2050 publicly at local and national conferences
and events. “Mr. A” is also the founder of Nuevo Mundo, a jazz ensemble
with a tinge of Afro-Cuban Rhythms, whose original arrangements and jazz standards
make this quartet one of the best in the Pioneer Valley.
Chris "Kharma Kazi" Rolle is
the founder and front man of The Hip Hop Project, a collective of NewYork’s
most talented emcees and singers. Born out of an innovative after-school program
based in NYC, the artists in the Hip Hop Project have undergone intense music business
education and artist development training. The group is the focus of the feature
length film being screened on Otelia Cromwell Day, entitled The Hip Hop Project (executive
producers Bruce Willis and Queen Latifah).
Alvin Lau is a performance poet, working
artist, and Chicago native. The son of first-generation Chinese immigrants, he often
speaks of the Asian-American experience, with subjects ranging from Tiger Woods'
arrogance, to the importance of retaining native language, to the desexualization
of Asian men in the media.
Al-Hajjah Khalilah Karim-Rushdan received
her M.S.W. from Smith College School for Social Work in 1999 and worked at Smith
as a therapist in the counseling services and chaplain to the college. Khalilah’s
life work is to advocate and raise awareness of oppressed people's struggles. She
has been a leader with the International League of Muslim Women, the National Association
of College and University Chaplains (NACUC) and co-led a group of Smith students
to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, her former home, to work with victims of hurricane
Katrina. Khalilah's work with multi-cultural communities continues to give voice
and empowerment to the disenfranchised. She has a counseling practice in Decatur,
Georgia.
The Sphinx Organization is the national
non-profit organization, founded by MacArthur Fellow Aaron P. Dworkin, committed
to building diversity in classical music through year-round programming in youth
development through music education and arts presentation. Sphinx has five main programming
areas: Artist Development which focuses on providing
professional opportunities for young artists, and encompasses the annual Sphinx Competition
for young Black and Latino string players, the Sphinx Symphony, as well as three
main scholarship initiatives (Music Assistance Fund, Instrument Fund, and Summer
Education Program); the Sphinx Performance Academy (SPA) at Walnut Hill
School which offers intensive summer training to aspiring Black and Latino musicians
ages 12-17; Classical
Connections which helps teachers implement music education in schools nationwide;
the Sphinx Preparatory Music Institute (Sphinx Prep) at Wayne State University
which provides Detroit area youths with yearlong classes in performance, music theory
and music history and Sphinx Presents! which offers professional performance
and exposure opportunities to Sphinx artists. Annually, Sphinx’s educational
programming reaches over 30,000 youth across the nation, while its artistic
programming reaches over 2 million in live and broadcast audiences. For further information
on the Sphinx Organization, please visit www.sphinxmusic.org
Project 2050 is a multi-year exploration
of the year when it is projected that people of color will become the majority in
the United States. Addressing the issues compelled by these changing demographics,
the project engages professional artists, youth communities, scholars, and community
activists in civic dialogue and artistic creation. These creative processes and performances
actively create forums for intergenerational, interracial, and cross-cultural dialogues
in community and university settings. The project promotes the creative imagining
of a near-future when it will become imperative to address issues of race construction,
ethnic balkanization, social equity, and power. For more information, visit
www.umass.edu/fac/nwt/Project-2050.htm
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