Dr. Dawn K. Batson

Chair, Visual & Performing Arts
Professor of Music
Director Florida Memorial Steelband (FMSB)

Dawn K. Batson, Ph.D., has over the years been involved with the Caribbean cultural arts movement as 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 Amoco Renegades, Pamberi, and the champion school steel orchestra, WoodTrin.  Dr. Batson has also given lectures and coordinated teacher workshops on Music Business and Caribbean culture in places such as Trinidad and Tobago, Great Britain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, North Africa and the United States of America.

Her interest in the Music Business and her focus on economic development through culture grew from her varied experiences and led to her designing and completing a Ph.D. program in International Affairs/Music at the University of Miami.  Dr. Batson also holds 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 is currently a Professor of Music and Chair of Visual & Performing Arts at Florida Memorial University and lectures, conducts and judges international workshops and festivals.

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 from1994 to 1996.  She has also produced cultural shows for past Presidents of Trinidad and Tobago for visiting heads of state.  She initiated the Steelband Programs and classes at the University of Miami, New World School of the Arts, Florida Memorial University and was Associate Professor of Music Business at Indiana State University. Dr. Batson is a cultural consultant for various law firms, private and public bodies such as 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 judged for international steelband and calypso competitions such as New York’s Labor Day Panoramas, Trinidad and Tobago’s National Calypso Competitions, Cayman Islands’ Youth Steelband Festivals, the European leg of the 2002 World Steelband Festival held in Sete, France, Pan Fest in 2009 at Toronto’s Caribana celebrations and the Steelband Competition at Pirate’s Week for the Government of the Cayman Islands in 2010 and 2011.  She has received many awards for her contributions including a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the international Steelband Movement.