(St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador)

Susan Knight is a choral conductor and music educator of international repute. A relentless advocate for music education, she also serves as a consultant, keynote speaker, clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor. A socio-cultural entrepreneur, Ms Knight follows a philosophy that celebrates the value of the arts to society, yet seeks to transcend that intrinsic value with extrinsic application. In her artistic and cultural practice with young people, she intentionally works through the transformative power of the arts to create community, nurture cultural identity, promote leadership and consciously develop critical agents of change.

Ms Knight is the artistic director of Shallaway (formerly the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir) which she founded in 1992. She also founded Festival 500 in 1994, a biennial international choral festival in St. John’s, which she initiated as a means of cultural affirmation and exponential economic renewal for Newfoundland and Labrador. She was invested in the Order of Canada in 2004, and the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005, and holds an honorary doctorate from Memorial University.

Susan Knight was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of the Canada Council for the Arts on September 15, 2006 for a three-year term. In May 2009, it was announced that her term was renewed for another four years effective September 15, 2009 to September 14, 2013.

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