Page 9 - APAP Inside Arts - Spring 2020

SPHINX OR SWIM
Swim with the sharks? How about the artists?
Many of today’s most successful artists also have an entrepreneurial spirit and skill set. With that in mind, Sphinx Organization, which aims
to diversify the world of classical music, introduced the Sphinx Tank competition in 2019 and has revived it for 2020. In the spirit of Shark Tank, the session showcases four emerging arts and cultural entrepreneurs of color as they pitch their projects to a panel of successful cultural entrepreneurs.
“Sphinx Tank is an exciting, innovative platform to select, showcase and empower the next generation of cultural entrepreneurs,” says Afa Dworkin, president and CEO of The Sphinx Organization. “We feel that this effort is especially timely and compelling for our field as it relates to changing and diversifying its identity.”
The 2020 competitors include Portia Dunkley for her Colorful Violin Method of music education for children between the ages of 2 and 5; Marielisa and Mariesther Alvarez’s Boston String Academy, inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema model; Joshua Leak’s Art Explosion Unlimited, which seeks to bring together young up-and-coming musicians, poets, dancers and visual artists of significant
FORCES FOR GOOD
They’ve answered the call of duty. Now veterans in need can place a call for creative arts therapies.
Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network recently announced plans to expand
the telehealth component of its services to additional Veterans Affairs medical facilities. Creative Forces is an initiative of the National Endowment for the
Arts in partnership with the
Gabrielle Molina
Joshua Leak
Portia Dunkley
P. Dworkin; PBS arts advisor and former NEA chair Jane Chu; Donald Hicks, the founder of LlamaSoft
and owner of Blue Llama Jazz
Club; Silk Road artist Cristina Pato; and Jade Simmons, a pianist and CEO of Jade Media Global. The panel evaluates the projects based on core entrepreneurship metrics and awards a $25,000 Sphinx
Tank Grant to the entrepreneur demonstrating the highest level of excellence in all these areas.
Marielisa and Mariesther Alvarez
potential from all over the country
to promote diversity and inclusion, inspire other young artists and give back to their respective communities through performance and creative opportunities; and Gabrielle Molina’s Teaching Artists International, which creates artistic cultural exchanges that empower youth and support music education around the world. A panel of arts leaders, including Sphinx Organization founder and professor at the University of Michigan Aaron
SPRING 2020 INSIDE ARTS 7