Speakers Profile - Alex Sarian










Travels From:
North America

Fee Range: B


Alex Sarian is globally recognized as an expert on arts, creativity and education. He currently serves as the Director of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts� international division, which is responsible for worldwide affairs, consulting and philanthropic initiatives at the world�s leading performing arts center. Before his appointment, he served as Director of Business Development & Operations for Lincoln Center�s education, family and community-based programs.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Mr. Sarian spent 15 years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before moving to New York City to pursue a career in education. As a consultant, he has built a career on helping others discover the importance of creativity in education, business, economy, and other vital sectors. As an educator, he has designed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses on entrepreneurship, business management, audience development and community engagement. As a sought-after speaker, he has delivered a variety of keynotes presentations, ranging in topics from �Creatively Contextualizing Concepts: Why Education Needs the Arts� at the Ontario Science Centre in Canada to �Arts Education & the Creative Economy� at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. As a lobbyist, he has advocated for the importance of public funding for the arts and nonprofit tax laws before the United States Congress.

As an entrepreneur, he has played pivotal roles in the development of some of the most important arts and arts education initiatives in the United States: the award-winning rebrand of Lincoln Center�s 40-year old education department; the Lincoln Center Scholars Program, making Lincoln Center the first cultural organization to certify music, theater and dance teachers for public schools; Up And Away, the first theatrical experience in New York City designed exclusively for young audiences on the autism spectrum; and Lincoln Center at the Movies, bringing the best of American dance and dance education to movie theaters around the world; amongst others. He has had the privilege of working with Disney, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, National Arts Council of Singapore, New York University, Columbia University, Auckland University of Technology, TED, Canon, American Express, and other world-class companies.

Since 2011, he�s served as an advisor to Americans for the Arts, the largest organization in the world dedicated to arts advocacy. Since 2015, he�s served as an Academy Member for the Varkey Foundation�s Global Teacher Prize (along with Chelsea Clinton, Luis Alberto Moreno and Kevin Spacey), which awards $1MM to a teacher at the annual Global Education & Skills Forum in Dubai.