W
hat’s the secret sauce that
gives talents like Lin-
Manuel Miranda and
Wynton Marsalis such
staying power? That’s what creative entre-
preneur and educator Aaron Dworkin set
out to uncover in The Entrepreneurial
Artist, which looks at artists who har-
nessed their vision into a successful
brand. “Art is not just our passion,”
Dworkin says, “it’s our creative enterprise.”
As a professor of arts leadership and
entrepreneurship at the University of
Michigan’s School of Music,
Theatre & Dance, Dworkin’s
mission is to equip both up-
and-coming talents and
veteran professionals with
the tools necessary to face
the real-world challenges of
a life in the arts. “The arts
have not found a compre-
hensive way to teach and
empower the whole per-
son,” Dworkin says. “The
most significant challenge
is to change the mindsets
of our young artists and,
critically, those who teach
and mentor them.”
For his book, Dworkin turned to the
examples of artists who found success in a
range of creative industries. He conducted
exclusive interviews with 11 artists, whose
backstories provide inspiration for over-
coming obstacles and offer actionable,
practical advice for finding one’s voice
and connecting with audiences. “These
are artists with extensive portfolios
who’ve taken excellence, resilience, and
creativity to the next level and built lives
that enrich and inspire,” Dworkin says.
The roster includes professionals in
dance, theatre, music, and film. Along with
Miranda and Marsalis, Dworkin profiles
Emmy-winning actor Jeff Daniels, now star-
ring on Broadway in To Kill a Mockingbird;
Mannheim Steamroller creator Chip
Davis; classical violinist Midori; and coun-
try artist Lee Greenwood, who wrote “God
Bless the U.S.A.” Dworkin also explores
how Shakespeare and Mozart developed
their own creative enterprises.
The research and interviews reveal
similarities among Dworkin’s subjects,
including “intellectual curiosity, resilience,
and grit,” he says. Some of the most inspir-
ing narratives follow pio-
neers such as Bill T. Jones,
who faced racism,
homophobia, and the
scourge of AIDS on his way
to becoming one of the
most respected and
awarded choreographers
of our time. Other artists
bulldozed right over road-
blocks. Female conductor
Marin Alsop endured blow-
back from all sides during
her rise through classical
music’s ranks, and violinist
Rachel Barton Pine
wouldn’t let a serious com-
muter train injury that severed her left leg
and mangled her right foot keep her from
a stellar career on the concert stage.
Dworkin himself knows a little some-
thing about breaking through barriers.
“Being a black, white, Jewish, Irish-Catholic,
Jehovah’s Witness adoptee raised as a vio-
linist positions you with a certain rare per-
spective on life,” he says. While still an
undergrad at Michigan, he was inspired to
create the Sphinx Organization, a nonprofit
dedicated to increasing diversity in classi-
cal music. More than 20 years later, the
Sphinx Organization sponsors several pre-mier ensembles; runs classes and compe-
titions; reaches more than 100,000 young
people and two million in audiences annu-
ally; and donates instruments to under-
served youth around the world. “Without
Sphinx, I don’t think I’d be where I am
today,” Dworkin says. His journey has
brought him a MacArthur Fellowship and
nomination by President Obama to the
National Council on the Arts. Reflecting on
his own growth as a musician, Dworkin
says he was driven to “bring about some-
thing greater than myself, something that
benefits and serves others.”
Like Dworkin, many of the artists pro-
filed in the book share a commitment topaying it forward, whether through men-
toring, establishing arts organizations, or
bringing music education to New York
City’s public schools. Rachel Barton Pine
established a foundation to create oppor-
tunities for underprivileged musicians and
to promote the work of black composers,
and Marsalis’s world-renowned Jazz at
Lincoln Center hosts performances and
educational initiatives.
Dworkin advises emerging artists to
remember that inspiration is only the
beginning and that success is achieved
only through hard work. Sometimes artists
must “reinvent themselves to stay relevant,”
he writes, but all of the work goes toward
capitalizing on their voice, which he calls
a “passport to a fulfilling creative life.”Spotlight on
Aaron Dworkin
DREAMS ARE FOR REAL:
Lessons from 13 artists who made their mark on the
worldArt is not just our
passion; it’s our
creative enterprise.
— Aaron DworkinSponsored by Rowman & Littlefield