Author: Raising Arts, Service for the Arts

Hank Knerr served as the executive director of the Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania, promoting and presenting nearly 200 in-house and touring visual and performing arts events and projects each year. In his position, which he held for 28 years through June 2016, Knerr supervised extensive arts-in-education outreach activities, the IUP Community Music School, performance facilities management, and web maintenance. He currently serves on the Board of North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA) serving four years as its secretary and as its 2020 Retreat Director. He is a past president of PA Presenters. He is also the vice president of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance. Knerr has also served on the boards of the Indiana Arts Council, Indiana Country Tourist Bureau, and Indiana County Humane Society. He is an active member of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals and recipient of numerous grants including such funders as National Endowment for the Arts, Japan Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, National Dance Project, PNC Charitable Trusts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and others. Highly active in state and national arts advocacy and arts-in-education programs, he has chaired several professional conferences and headed the planning for the 2014 Pennsylvania Governors Awards for the Arts. Knerr received his B.A. in music and theater from Lycoming College and M.F.A. in arts administration from Penn State University. Previous positions include faculty and director of public relations for theater at Minnesota State University—Mankato, faculty and business manager for the theater at the University of Northern Iowa, managing director of the Mankato Ballet, and general manager for the Mule Barn Theater in Missouri. An award-winning graphic designer, he also works as a free-lance consultant in arts management and arts-in-education.