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Paducah Symphony Orchestra Taps Smith as New Executive Director

Paducah Symphony Orchestra

  The Paducah Symphony Orchestra has chosen Katie Smith as the new Executive Director.  The Oakland, California native says it has been a long journey coming from the far west to the east--living in more than 10 cities, 5 states and one foreign country.

Smith says along with her ten years of experience in the industry, from folk to commercial music, her passion lies within classical variations.  Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in Clarinet Music Performance and completed a two year Professional Certificate program in Non-Profit Management at Fort Lewis College, Durango CO.

Smith says she wants to focus on extending educational outreach with the PSO and the community in her first year.

“We really believe that is vital to our mission and expanding our audience base as well as great service to the community. So that's something we are going to be taking a really strong look at this year. “

Smith learned about the Executive Director’s position while attending a PSO concert in October, when previous director Daniel Sene said he would be leaving.

She recently moved from Martin, Tennessee where she and her husband worked for the University of Tennessee Martin.

Smith says the community will have their first meet and greet opportunity at the February 18th Crescendo Fundraising Dinner. Smith took on the position officially Jan. 16.

Additional Info from PSO Press Release:

Organizations she has worked for include, San Juan Symphony (CO), Music in the Mountains (CO), Durango Songwriters Expo (CO and CA) and the Tennessee Soybean Festival (TN). Smith has also worked in Higher Education at Fort Lewis College (CO) and at the University of Tennessee at Martin (TN). Smith brings with her extensive background in organizational structure and development, streamlining processes through leveraging the use of technology, event planning, and program design and development. Success stories include reducing costs to organizations by as much as 50% through reorganization of established processes and introducing the use of new technology. For the Tennessee Soybean Festival, attendance of first-time patrons doubled in one year at the annual Guitar as Art Contest and Exhibition event. Smith is originally from Oakland, CA and has had the privilege of living in many locations across the United States and overseas including: Oregon, Colorado, Tennessee and American Samoa. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in Clarinet Music Performance (2005) and completed a two year Professional Certificate program in Non-Profit Management (2015) at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.

Nicole Erwin is a Murray native and started working at WKMS during her time at Murray State University as a Psychology undergraduate student. Nicole left her job as a PTL dispatcher to join the newsroom after she was hired by former News Director Bryan Bartlett. Since, Nicole has completed a Masters in Sustainable Development from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia where she lived for 2 1/2 years.