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VOL. 10, NO. 1 
SPRING 2021 

 

BOOK REVIEW 

The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly 
Successful Creatives by Aaron Dworkin 

Jessica Voigt 
Baylor University 

ABSTRACT: Jessica Voigt reviews Aaron Dworkin’s book The Entrepreneurial Artist: 
Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives published in 2019 by Rowman & Littlefield 
Publishers. DOI: 10.34053/artivate.10.1.147 

Aaron Dworkin’s The Entrepreneurial Artist shares case studies of thirteen (fourteen if you in-
clude Dworkin himself) artists who propelled their work to incredible heights. Aptly subtitled 
“lessons from highly successful creatives,” this book serves as an enjoyable, elegantly written 
collection of stories, designed to inform and inspire its readers. 

In his introduction, Dworkin shares the history around the formation of his renowned 
Sphinx organization. From the outset, Sphinx has existed to “motivate young musicians of 
color” (p. xii), evolving over the last twenty-four years from its origins as an annual concerto 
competition to become “the social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through 
the power of diversity in the arts” (Sphinx website). Sphinx now sits as one of the world’s leading 
organizations on diversity and inclusion within the arts, having reached “more than , 
students and artists as well as live and broadcast audiences of more than two million annually.”1 

Through his own tale of determination, risk, and reward, Dworkin sets the tone for a book 

 
1 “About the Sphinx Organization.” Sphinx, https://www.sphinxmusic.org/our-history/. Ac-
cessed  February . 



ARTIVATE 10.1 

2 

that not only speaks of the steps an artist 
must take to reach their own goals but 
also lets readers peek behind the cur-
tain. By sharing his remarkable journey 
at the very opening of The Entrepre-
neurial Artist, Dworkin immediately 
demonstrates that the addition of entre-
preneurship to the arts is not only valu-
able but serves to elevate an artist’s work 
and mission on a massive scale. In one 
illuminating example, Dworkin—
speaking of his early fundraising ef-
forts—shares that he “would spend late 
nights at the computer lab” (p. xiii) in 
order to print and send fundraising re-
quests. Demonstrating his relentless 
passion to “make a difference no matter 
what” (p. xiii), Dworkin’s bootstrap-
ping, entrepreneurial spirit and his de-
termination to “build [his] own net-
work of fund-raisers” (p. xiii) resulted 
in a major contribution of ten thousand 
dollars to the Sphinx Competition.” 

To further evaluate the idea that applying entrepreneurial thinking to the arts can be ben-
eficial and answer the question of what truly separates dreamers from doers, The Entrepreneur-
ial Artist then offers thirteen truly fascinating and inspiring stories of artists who, in Dworkin’s 
opinion, “exemplify the term creative entrepreneur” (p. xix). He identifies that all of these artists 
are “exceptional at three specific things: Ideation, Organization and Communication” (p. xix), 
and further, that they are some of his own heroes. The artists featured, eleven of whom Dworkin 
interviewed personally, include: Jeff Daniels, Bill T. Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rachel Barton 
Pine, Damien Sneed, Lee Greenwood, Marin Alsop, Damon Gupton, Chip Davis, Midori, 
Wynton Marsalis, William Shakespeare, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

Quite often, when we think of the artists we admire, we have a vision of that person at their 
pinnacle. We see them through a lens showcasing their achievements, their highest accolades 
and all of their greatest successes. While an inspiring vision, if we only seek to view artists in 
those moments, we fail to see the twists and turns, the unexpected challenges, and the creative 
problem solving that they have faced in pursuit of their success: the entrepreneurial side of the 
artist. 

These steps along the journey are often the most valuable lessons we can glean from an 
artist’s story, and it is in this realm that The Entrepreneurial Artist truly shines. Serving as both 
historian and arts-entrepreneurship scholar, Dworkin masterfully tells the stories of each 



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featured artist’s rise—highlighting moments in time in which an individual has used a new skill 
or overcame a new obstacle—which provides the reader the opportunity to understand how and 
why they became who we see today. 

Not only does Dworkin share remarkable stories of remarkable artists, he cultivates deep 
understanding for the ways in which each individual has created their own success. In the lead-
ing segment of each chapter, Dworkin contextualizes each artist’s life, their trials and tribula-
tions, their successes and failures. He then supplements this material with a short segment of 
“artist-entrepreneur takeaways” at the chapter’s conclusion. This segment serves as a scholarly 
guide to further highlight entrepreneurial components that each of the featured artists devel-
oped and harnessed in their careers long before they knew who they would become:  valuable 
insight for many young artist-entrepreneurs who may be in the early stages of their own careers. 

One example of this insight is found in the chapter on Lin-Manuel Miranda. Dworkin turns 
the reader’s focus to identifying the ways Miranda applied intentional ideation to his work In 
the Heights by being “actively open to feedback” (p. ) and applying “discipline and rigor” (p. 
) to the development of his ideas. Through this discussion around Miranda’s approach to his 
work on In the Heights, readers are able to identify how he embraced entrepreneurship in his 
artistic creation (ideation), to generate his own incredible successes. 

In increasing numbers, artists are being taught to be entrepreneurial in their approach to 
their work. This is of course a wonderful thing, and The Entrepreneurial Artist can serve as a 
fantastic companion to supplement such training. Through its encouraging case stories and 
clearly outlined artist-entrepreneur takeaways—which include, among other skills, trusting 
oneself, being “relentless in your passion” (p. ), developing determination, grit, and risk tol-
erance—an artist can find a plethora of examples of how to apply their training to cultivate 
success. 

The Entrepreneurial Artist is no doubt a valuable addition to the library of any artist seeking 
to pursue their own unique career. Sharing stories of failure and of overcoming obstacles 
through grit and relentlessness, alongside victories and joys, The Entrepreneurial Artist not only 
asks “what truly separates dreamers from doers?” (p. xix), it guides readers toward some truly 
inspiring answers. The reader leaves knowing that success comes from a myriad of places, and 
that embracing entrepreneurship as artists can serve us in ways we can hardly even imagine. 


