I am an arts leader & strategic marketer from Santa Fe, NM based in Edmonton, AB, Canada. I draw from Hispanic, Navajo Diné, & 2SLGBTQI+ lived experience, applying a decade of experience & extensive arts-based leadership training by top-rated institutions to innovate the classical music field.

My name is Dorian Block and I fell in love with opera as a youth attending annual productions at The Santa Fe Opera (SFO), given access through their incredible educational programming. I worked as an usher, performer, and supernumerary at SFO, and interned in The Santa Fe Desert Chorale offices in high school for their 30th Anniversary Season. These opportunities introduced me to the administrative side of music. Passionately pursuing a singing career, I performed with many additional school and professional choirs—earning accolades in choral and solo singing. McMurry University’s vocal department recruited me to perform in four choirs as a scholarship singer and I completed two years of music study. I hold my BA from McMurry University in English with an Arts Administration concentration (2015) where I led multiple campus-wide and national organizations, serving as Editor of The War Hawk Herald and Art Editor for The Galleon, championing creative teams into publishing success and earning international awards for my legal writing. I earned appointment to the Alumni Board of Directors in 2020 serving as the Engagement Committee Chair and just accepted another three-year term. Enjoying board leadership, I also serve as Secretary of the Board of Directors at Opera Canada and as a member of the Digital Strategy and Fundraising Committees (2023).

My operatic passion led me to manage marketing for two of the most renowned Tier I opera companies in the US. For SFO, I leant my expertise in copywriting and copyediting to the successful publication of all season materials and external communications for the 2017 Season including the annual 160+ page program book, Grammy Award Winning The Revolution of Steve Jobs Hybrid SACD,  and Crescendo seasonal magazines. For The Dallas Opera, I defined the role of Digital Marketing and Social Media Manager serving two seasons and strategically planning two years of content through 2023—supporting the launch of thedallasopera.TV and re-structuring top internationally ranked operatic digital programming initiative, TDO Network, to support updated organizational goals; increasing website conversions from social media; recruiting a cross-departmental team to strategize and plan content; creating a social media campaign for equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives; and assisting with the launch of the overwhelmingly successful Under 45’s group, Crescendo, for audience development. 

I am a member of the fifth SphinxLEAD Cohort for Black and Latinx Arts Administrators, attending networking, mentoring, and leadership sessions at top-rated institutions. I was an Opera America (OA) 2022‒2023 Opera Leader of Color (OLOC) sharpening my leadership specialties under respected IDEA Arts Leader, Rebekah Diaz, Pittsburgh Opera. In this capacity, I put in the hours with industry leaders to identify classical music’s largest challenges and brainstorm from different perspectives on how best to leverage these gaps as opportunities. I sat down one-on-one with multiple General Directors/CEOs in the performing arts, interviewed their entire staff, and examined the effectiveness of different strategies for running musical organizations. I participated in conversations with leading IDEA leaders as well as the highest-level marketers doing audience development and sales projections daily. I believe I have a good grasp of challenges facing classical music today. I am fortunate for the work I have done with leading companies in digital innovation, heading up and contributing to teams creating content and programming in the digital space as well as expanding programming to develop new audiences. Stepping into my next role in classical music, I am ready to lead.