Michael Dorf is a New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 entrepreneur, impresario and philanthropist. He is the founder of the Knitting Factory

Knitting Factory

The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....

, a music performance venue in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. After selling out his interest in that in 1994 he founded City Winery - a combined winery and performance venue - also in downtown New York City.

Dorf is married with three children.

Knit media years

In 1986, at the age of 23, Dorf started the Knitting Factory in the East Village

East Village, Manhattan

The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...

. The Knitting Factory later became a widely known club for jazz and rock music. A spin-off entertainment company, KnitMedia, eventually established 8 record labels and 700 titles, 200 of which Dorf was the executive producer. In 2002, Dorf resigned as CEO of the Knitting Factory and he sold his interests in 2007.

In 1996 Dorf founded the Digital Club Network with partner Andrew Rasiej. The business grew and was eventually acquired by eMusic

EMusic

eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....

 Group.

Event Production

Since 1993 Dorf has been the producer a number of New York's largest festivals including: The New York Jazz Festival, the Intel and Apple New York Music meets Technology Festivals. He produced a tribute series at Carnegie Hall to the songwriters Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Sedaka, Elton John, REM and The Who. Dorf has produced over 100 events in Europe. Partnerships include the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Vienna Jazz Festival.

Philanthropy

In 2004, Michael started three different initiatives, one being the Tribute series at Carnegie Hall which has raised over $500,000 in 7 different concerts including the Music of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springstein, Elton John, REM, THe Who, and Neil Young. That same year as the first concert at Carnegie, Michael founded two Jewish focused organizations, Tribeca Hebrew, an after-school Hebrew program in Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...

 and Downtown Arts Developement, which produces the New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival. The later organization currently has developed and produces the annual Schmooze conference and IJPA, International Jewish Presenters Association.

Acknowledgements

Michael Dorf has been profiled in Inc. Magazine. New York Magazine named him one of "The Ten Most Influential New Yorkers".

External links

• http://www.michaeldorf.com
• http://www.citywinery.com
• http://www.jewishpresenters.org