Professional Biography
Dawn K. Batson, Ph.D. is currently Chair of the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at Florida Memorial University. From her pre-teen years, she has been involved with and in Caribbean culture. While trained in classical music, she has also been involved in the folk music of the Caribbean as well as serving as the orchestra leader and later conductor of the Trinidad and Tobago Youth Symphony. She plays a number of instruments and has performed internationally as a violist, but her first love is the steelpan. Over the years, she has been involved with the cultural arts movement as a performer, arranger, conductor, teacher, judge, composer, musical director, grant writer and producer. She has toured Europe, the Caribbean, North and South America as Music Director and Conductor with cultural groups and steel orchestras such as the Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Orchestra, Amoco Renegades, Pamberi, and the champion school steel orchestra, WoodTrin, participating in international events such as Sports Aid and organizing the steelband portion for Quincy Jones/David Salzman Productions for the gala concert for the heads of state at the Summit of The Americas. Dr. Batson has also given lectures and coordinated teacher workshops on the steelpan and Caribbean culture in places such as Trinidad and Tobago, Great Britain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, North Africa and the United States of America.
Dr. Batson coordinated three international expositions on the steelband, Pan Into The 21st Century I, II, and III, held at the North-South Center of the University of Miami in 1994, 1995 and 1996. These expositions attracted scholars, performers, tuners and students from many parts of the world and created the impetus for an international steelband organization. Dr. Batson has also produced cultural shows for the President of Trinidad and Tobago for visiting dignitaries such as Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, Princess Anne of Great Britain. Dr. Batson was one of the Musical Directors for the opening of Carifesta VI in Trinidad in August 1995 and in October and November 1995 jointly coordinated 21st Century Steelband of Miami with the Florida Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra for a concert series featuring the marriage of the symphony orchestra and the steel orchestra.
Dr. Batson has a Ph.D. in International Affairs and Music, a Master of Music Industry from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education, specializing in strings from Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. She initiated the Steelband classes at the University of Miami, New World School of the Arts and the Steelband Program at Florida Memorial University. Dr. Batson is a cultural consultant for various law firms, private and public bodies such as the Tourism and Industrial Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (TIDCO), and the Consulate General for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Miami. In 2000 she was awarded a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship to study the culture of Morocco and Tunisia and her original work "Black Holes Do Exist" premiered at the World Steelband Festival 2000 in Trinidad performed by the Florida Memorial Steelband joint winners of the Ensemble class under her baton. Dr. Batson was the first Chairman of the Board of the Trinidad and Tobago National Steel Orchestra. She has also judged for international steelband competitions such as the New York Labor Day Panorama, the Cayman Islands Youth Steelband Festival and the European leg of the 2002 World Steelband Festival held in Sete, France.
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