John Knecht

Arts, Administration
805-684-4127 x115
John_Knecht@cate.org

BA, University of North Carolina
MS, UCLA

John has been performing and teaching music since he was 14 years old. His musical journey continued at the University of North Carolina, where he earned top honors as a drummer and percussionist.

In 1994, he first moved to the west coast to join the Los Angeles Performing Arts Center. John's role was to design and manage long-term arts residencies in the LAUSD public schools. After earning a master's in Business from UCLA, he headed to Chicago to work in strategic consulting. He then formed a company called Pulse Beat Music, which offers world music programming in the Chicago public schools. John also taught privately at Chicago high schools while performing professionally. Additionally, he taught arts education programs through the House of Blues, Chicago Symphony, and Urban Gateways.

Over the last 6 years, John and his wife Ashley have traveled to study music in over 20 countries. John is extremely excited to be back on the west coast and living on the Mesa with Ashley and their sons Ashton and Dylan.