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An older woman with long grey braids smiles warmly at the camera while playing chrome steel pan drums.

Dawn K Batson

Dawn K Batson is a steel pan artist, educator and cultural leader. She has been recognised globally for her transformative contributions to multicultural education, arts administration and the advancement of the steel pan as a medium for cross-cultural engagement.

Batson established the first steel band programmes at the University of Miami and Florida Memorial University, where she also served as tenured professor of music and Chair of Visual and Performing Arts. Among her honours is a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to the International Steelband Movement, in Who’s Who in America, and by the Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival.