DiversityInc - January/February 2008

leadership

Black violinists are a rare breed. Aaron Dworkin discovered this growing up when he was teased about his passion for the instrument since playing it wasn’t considered a “black” thing to do.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, Dworkin answered a simple question: “Why was I always the only one? Why would I go to major concerts and not see African Americans and Latinos in the audience?”

Dworkin founded The Sphinx Organization, which in 2006 celebrated its 10th anniversary. The national arts group works to develop classical musicians with a mandate of increasing black and Latino representation in music schools and as members of orchestras. Currently, blacks and Latinos represent less than 4 percent of the orchestra musicians.

Dworkin also created Sphinx’s artist-development program, a national competition for string players of color featuring more than $150,000 in prizes

and scholarships annually.

Sphinx’s Classical Connection programs focus on developing awareness of classical music in elementary-school children, and Sphinx Presents is a concert showcasing its string players of color.

AARON DWORKIN The Sphinx Organization

Beyond Sphinx, Dworkin helped design the required arts curriculum for Michigan schools as co-chair of the Arts and Cultural Education Task Force for the state.

Dworkin notes that the audience’s interest is still piqued when they see Latino and black string players. “But the reaction is much different now, and one of celebration and excitement rather than one of total shock,” says Dworkin. “For the black and Latino communities, it’s excitement and pride at our community and what we’re able to do.”

JIM BLAZAR: CLOSING THE HEALTHCARE GAP

Jim Blazar’s strong marketing background and ability to connect with customers is key to his leadership in the battle to close the racial gaps in healthcare.

As president of Toronto-based Cleveland Clinic Canada, Blazar’s goal is to ensure that health optimization and

sickness-prevention programs reach the city’s black and Latino populations. Although medical coverage is provided to all Canadian citizens by the government, health-and-wellness programs are not.

Previously, Blazar was chief marketing and communications officer for U.S.-based Cleveland Clinic.

“One thing I learned in marketing that carries over is that in marketing, you look for and try to understand customer needs and wants. I’ve been doing that for a long time and that fits with diversity, which is

JIM BLAZAR

Cleveland Clinic Canada

appreciating difference, knowing the needs and wants and sharing them across cultures and communities,” he says.

Almost 43 percent of Toronto’s population is a “ visible minority,” approximately 1 million non-whites. It’s projected that people of color will be a majority in Toronto by 2012.

Blazar is sending doctors into the community. Through lunch-and-learns, doctors go to companies and present health-and-wellness seminars. Also, clinic doctors write columns on health and wellness for a national newspaper, the National Post.

“If there is something specific to a group, such as a new medication, and there is a difference in how it works in [different people], we make sure that is understood. Or, if certain [medications] are more acute among different groups, we include that information,” says Blazar.