The mission of The Lewis Prize is to partner with leaders who create positive change by investing in young people through music.
Our vision is for every young person, regardless of who they are or where they live, to have the opportunity to access music programs from a young age.
However, inequitable systems fail to prioritize music learning in all young people’s lives. As a result, too many young people are not supported to express themselves creatively. This stifles their potential to thrive and become powerful citizens. Through high-quality music learning, performing and creating experiences with peers and caring mentors, young people can develop greater agency over their lives and contribute positively to their communities.
Our vision can only be achieved through equitable systems change. We recognize that systems change happens through a dynamic intersection of catalysts, including philanthropy. We invest in and partner with creative youth development leaders to fill gaps where systems fail and imagine new systems for young people to thrive and lead the way for future generations. We also understand that in order to be an effective partner in disrupting inequitable systems, we must do so from the inside out, as actors in systems ourselves. This is why the Lewis Prize strives to center racial equity in our internal practices as well as our funding and external relationship, so that we reflect the values and change that we seek.
Daniel Lewis, Founder and Chairman
Mr. Lewis has devoted the last 19 years to philanthropic activities, with his greatest focus being on social and musical arts investing. He initiated the Cleveland Orchestra’s multi-week residency in Miami as founding chairman of Miami Music Association, the support organization created in 2006 to produce 3-4 weeks of Cleveland Orchestra concerts and educational activities in Miami-Dade County each season. He was the board chair of the Festival of North American Orchestras, the sponsoring organization for Spring for Music at Carnegie Hall. Spring for Music's format is now part of the Kennedy Center, renamed the Shift Festival. He also served on the executive committee of The Cleveland Orchestra and the board of the League of American Orchestras.
Mr. Lewis recently founded and chairs M:X (Miami Experimental), to pursue making music education accessible and affordable to all Miami-Dade County children. The Lewis Prize for Music, his most recent start-up, is another ambitious effort to drive social change through musical arts. Mr. Lewis is also chairman of The Management Center, which provides management training and consulting to socially and politically progressive organizations, and on the board of Third Way, a centrist progressive think tank.
He graduated from Miami University with an accounting degree, taught three years at Cleveland's Glenville High School, was a real estate developer in Phoenix, and retired from Progressive Corporation having had general management, control, claims, product management, and board membership responsibilities.
Our Board of Directors
María López De León
María López De León is the President, CEO and board member of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC). Ms. De León has been involved in all aspects of development and implementation of the NALAC programs and strategic initiatives. Under her leadership, NALAC developed and launched multiple grant programs including the NALAC Fund for the Arts, the Catalyst for Change; and the Transnational Cultural Remittances. Ms. De León serves on the National Council on the Arts and on the boards of the First People’s Fund, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, the Performing Arts Alliance, and the United States Department of Arts and Culture. She is an advisory council member of Women of Color in the Arts.
Omari Rush
Omari Rush has engaged the arts as both a passion and profession, and in each mode, he continues to enjoy discovery and deepening impacts. As executive director of CultureSource in Detroit and as the governor-appointed chairman of the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, he advances efforts to have creative and cultural expression thrive in diverse communities. Complementing that work, Omari is a board member of Arts Midwest in Minneapolis and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in Washington, D.C. Degrees in music Omari earned from Florida State University and the University of Michigan created a foundation for all of these activities.
Rebecca Fishman Lipsey
Rebecca Fishman Lipsey is President and CEO of The Miami Foundation, the $400 million philanthropic, civic, and leadership backbone for Greater Miami. At The Miami Foundation, she led the institution to run the region’s largest nonprofit recovery effort in its history, initiated the region’s Racial Equity Fund, and co-launched Miami Connected to bring internet access to every single child and family in the County. Previously, Rebecca founded Radical Partners, a social-impact accelerator that incubates ventures solving civic and community challenges. During her tenure, Radical Partners helped scale over 100 social impact ventures focused on issues ranging from sea level rise to equitable music education access. Rebecca served a four-year term on the Florida Board of Education, was Executive Director of Teach for America in Miami, and began her career as a teacher.
Stefon Harris
Stefon Harris’ passionate artistry has propelled him to the forefront of the jazz scene. In 2020 on National Public Radio (NPR), Harris' feature highlighted his contributions as a musician but also as an educator and thought leader who teaches empathy from the bandstand. In 2019, Hot House and Jazz Mobile awarded Harris best vibes as part of the best and brightest for the New York Readers Jazz awards. Heralded as “one of the most important artists in jazz” (Los Angeles Times), he is a recipient of the prestigious 2018 Doris Duke Artist Award, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, has earned four GRAMMY nominations, and has been named Best Mallet player eight times by the Jazz Journalist Association.
Board Director Emerita
Valerie Dillon
Past Board Members
Aisha Fukushima
David Horwitz
Our Staff
The Lewis Prize for Music is comprised of people who share a belief in music’s power to strengthen individuals and communities for the benefit of all. We are committed to collaborating with others who share this belief and aspire to see it come to life across the United States.
Arielle Julia Brown
Senior Research and Knowledge Generation Officer
Arielle Julia Brown is a creative producer, cultural strategist, social practice artist and dramaturg. She is the founder of The Love Balm Project (2010-2014). She is also the founder and director of Black Spatial Relics, a new performance residency about slavery, justice and freedom. Arielle is a co-creative producer on Remember2019, a performance and residency project based in Phillips County, Arkansas. She received her B.A. from Pomona College and was the 2015-2017 graduate fellow with the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University where she received an M.A. in Public Humanities.
AnnaLise Cason
Operations Coordinator
A proud Saint Louis, Missouri native, AnnaLise Cason has made it one of her many life goals to express herself in all things art and the service of others. She had humble beginnings at wonderful nonprofit organizations like St. Louis ArtWorks as a visual art mentee from 2014-2018. It is there that she was introduced into the fine arts world and was the honored representative to receive the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2016 on behalf of her peers. From 2018-2022, her journey at St. Louis Story Stitchers began when she had the unique opportunity to be a Youth Council Leader and later became a part of the Stitchers Youth Council Co-Chair. She actively served communities through performing arts and civic pride before moving to Arizona with her husband. When AnnaLise is not impacting the world around her, she is busy making a beautiful mess in her studio, raising their fur child, and progressing in completing her ongoing fine arts and social work education for her Art Therapy degree.
Kenneth Courtney
Head of Press and Media Relations
Drawn to the world of arts and entertainment, Kenneth started his career in communications early, interning in the PR departments of MTV and Country Music Television. Working large-scale events such as the MTV VMAs, Country Music Awards, and CMT Artists of the Year Awards led him to New York City where he quickly began working at various PR agencies before launching Courtney Creative PR – a non-traditional and forward thinking public relations, branding and events consultancy, focused on elevating the brand profiles of LGBTQ+ clients through social impact across lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment.
Karen Cueva
Head of Operations
Karen Cueva is a violinist, educator, and arts administrator, who believes in the power of creative youth development organizations as a vital part of social infrastructure and cultural production. In addition to her work on The Lewis Prize, Karen was the Assistant Director for Learning and Engagement Programs at Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. There, she oversaw professional development for music educators working with youth nationwide, both in schools and community music programs. Karen has earned degrees from The Juilliard School and Harvard University.
Annette Fritzsche
Senior Grants Officer
Annette Fritzsche loves working and thinking strategically when it comes to education, community, family, and organizational partnerships. She has worked in public schools teaching music and as an instructional coach, and worked at the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, the LA Phil, and El Sistema USA with the vision of music education being accessible and affordable for all. Along with working at the Lewis Prize, she is on staff at a church in East Village, San Diego. Annette volunteers as a CASA for foster youth, loves hiking up or skiing down mountains, and is crazy about her young nieces.
Ann Gregg
Senior Field Learning Program Officer
Ann values creativity, equity, learning, community, and well-being. For over a decade, Ann worked with young people, nonprofit and government agency partners, artists, and community stakeholders to create the entire suite of Social Impact programs at Carnegie Hall. She also launched national youth leadership programs as Director of Education with the NPR and PBS phenomenon From the Top. Ann has taught in public schools across the country and toured internationally as a violist. Ann is a proud alum of the University of Wisconsin and Indiana University, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and two boys.
Alexis Jackson
Data Analysis Officer
Alexis is passionate about elevating youth voices alongside social impact movements. A product of holistic performing arts training, Alexis has spent over a decade working as dancer and dance educator at various youth programs across the southern United States. Transitioning into arts leadership, she served as the Director of Creative Youth Development for New Ballet Ensemble and School in Memphis, Tennessee where she worked with local and national partners to develop leadership and community impact programming for hundreds of participants in the area. Alexis is based in New Orleans, LA where she continues to work in the arts and youth development. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Classical Studies from Rhodes College.
Dalouge Smith
CEO
Dalouge is a champion for bringing people together and strengthening communities through music. He joined The Lewis Prize for Music as its first CEO in August 2018. Prior to his role at The Lewis Prize, he led San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory for 13 years and transformed it into a community instigator for restoring and strengthening music education in schools. SDYS' partner, the Chula Vista Elementary School District (California’s largest K-6 district) restored music and arts education to all 30,000 of its students as a result. Dalouge grew up singing folk songs with family and performing in professional theatre productions. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA and studied Gandhi’s non-violent movement for a year in India. He is married to Sue Ann and the father of Wright.
Shenika John Jordan
Head of Communications
Shenika is passionate about using the arts to transform communities and amplify positive change. She has served in higher education and nonprofit organizations with a focus on community engagement and audience development. With a background in vocal music, Shenika performs in the United States and abroad. Her commitment to the arts and community building has led her to work with organizations, including Midori & Friends and The Sphinx Organization. She is completing doctoral studies in voice performance with focus areas in music education and vocology at Indiana University. She also holds a Master of Music from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan.
Traci Slater-Rigaud
Senior Field Learning Program Officer
At the core of every endeavor, Traci works to empower marginalized communities through the arts and philanthropy. She is currently Director of Member Engagement & Partnerships at the United Philanthropy Forum. Prior to the Forum, she served as Director of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Her extensive background in arts education and creative youth development includes positions with the National PTA, Miami Art Museum, and Baltimore Museum of Art. Traci holds a B.S. in Social Science and a M.A. in Art Education, from University of Cincinnati.
Past Knowledge and Strategy Associates
Ariel Davis
Our Annual Reports
The Lewis Prize for Music is excited to share our latest annual report detailing the journey and range of our activities from the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 through December 2021.
