SARAH KORNFELD

CULTURAL EXECUTIVE: Creative Economy

In 2021, Sarah co-founded Rising Partners with Carolina Cappabianca, Lucrezia Arena and Lorenzo Giombini, a global consulting firm based in San Francisco, California, and Rome, Italy. The firm specializes in reimagining relationship marketing for the Creative Economy, supporting museums, brands, policymakers, and cultural institutions. Rising Partners believes that the Creative Economy, powered by blockchain and Web3 culture, will define the 21st century, and the firm is committed to guiding clients through this transformation.

In Web3, Sarah curates, produces, and leads art and technology projects. She is a council member of SHE IS NEAR, the first women-centric DAO on the NEAR protocol, supporting women developers, leaders, and creators on-chain. Her partnerships span Africa, Lisbon, Brazil, the UK, and the US, promoting fair practices for artists and developers on the blockchain.

She was a founding member of the NEAR Digital Collective, the largest democracy movement on a Layer-1 platform. Sarah curated THIS IS WHERE IT IS NEW at EthMilan (2023), showcasing global Web3 artists. In 2024, she was a speaker at the first Women in Web3 Global Summit during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

CULTURAL PRODUCER OVERVIEW: Art and Technology

Sarah started installation and site specific work at sixteen, when her mentor, Elise Bernhardt, founder of Dancing In The Streets trained her on both the French American Dance Exchange and the seminal, Grand Central Dances. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she studied dance and choreography with Viola Farber, Bill T. Jones, David Gordon and Elizabeth Streb. At Sarah Lawrence she also studied writing and developed plays utilizing the pastiche approach developed by David Bowie and Brian Eno.

She studied in London at the Royal Court Theater in 1990, and upon her return to the United States founded her first theater/circus. The 15 person Aids apocalyptic production of The LoveDeath of Clowns was a play she wrote for/with the cast of dancers, martial artists, actors, and performance artists; it premiered at The Theater for The New City. In 1993, burnt out by the impact of Aids on her community and family, she moved to San Francisco to join the burgeoning Virtual Reality and interactive technology movement. She has worked since with interactive experience designers, Obscura Digital (creators of The Sphere), as well as many Virtual Reality companies and artists.

Sarah's first commercial venture in the Art and Technology space, Brave New World Group (founded in 2001), was one of the earliest organizations dedicated to supporting creative collaborations between artists and technologists. Over 20 years, she has worked with renowned organizations and individuals, including AM Hoch, Kristin Jones/William Kentridge’s TEVERETERNO, The Kitchen, Pop!Tech, The Blue Mind Summit, California Academy of Science, Zaccho Dance Theatre, UC Irvine’s Beall Center for Art and Technology, Institute for The Future, and The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. Highlights include:

Mitosis: Formation of Daughter Cells (Beall Center for Art and Technology): A complex installation by interdisciplinary artist, A.M. Hoch featuring voiceovers by Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg and performances by Brigid McInnes Connelly and Francine Dreyfus. The project required intricate digital architecture by Mark Shepard, Carlos Tejada, and Fiona Cate Murphy. This was the debut installation of the Beall Center at UC Irvine. (Images Below)

Plastic Century (2010): Created during a residency at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, this installation was commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences on the 100th birthday of Jacques Cousteau, and was on of the first installations to explore ocean conservation and the impact of plastic pollution, developed alongside futurists and scientists Dr. Jake Dunagan, Dr. Stuart Candy and Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. The installation was covered by Fast Company, Pastic Pollution in the Water? Drink Up! She was honored to continue this work to support Dr. Nichols launch his seminal Blue Mind Summit, exploring the interconnection between Oceans and Neuroscience — The Blue Mind Movement. Plastic Century was incubated at the Gray Area Foundation For the Arts (GAFTA) as a part of their residency program.

(Images below)

ACTIVISM

Born and raised in the civil rights and AIDS movements in New York City, Sarah’s activism is deeply personal. Her mother was a founding member of the AIDS Resource Center/Bailey House, which serves homeless individuals living with AIDS. Sarah has been active in social justice movements, including at Judson Memorial Church in New York and Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. She also works with Jewish activist communities, including The Kitchen, Urban Adamah, and Torah of Awakening.

BOARDS

Sarah has contributed her expertise to several advisory boards, including:

• The Kitchen’s Art and Technology Advisory Network

• ZeroOne

• Plastic Pollution Coalition

• CalArts

• Glide Memorial Church

• National Writers Union (AFL-CIO)

TEACHING

Sarah has taught Cultural Curation at the University of San Francisco and Education/Multicultural Studies in the Graduate Department of Education. Her teaching reflects her commitment to fostering critical thinking, creativity, and cultural understanding in the next generation of artists and leaders.