Executive Office
The common bond between the three members of OIART's executive office is a lifelong involvement with sound — inventing, shaping, capturing, composing, producing, engineering, designing it, thinking about it, and even playing with it. Attendant to this has been the desire to work with and understand the technology associated with these arts as well as sharing such knowledge with those aspiring to working with sound as a way of life.

Ken Trevenna
Ken, OIART’s Director of Operations, is the administrator in charge of scheduling, requisitions, and marketing, which includes maintaining an Internet presence, as well as Intranets for the Faculty and student body. He currently teaches Audio for Pictures and Music Theory.

Ken's arrival at the school in 1985 came as the culmination of over a decade of studio experience as a session musician, assistant engineer, and producer. He has composed music for award-winning jingles and video productions, supervised audio postproduction, and he has also musically supported scores of artists working in a wide variety of musical genres — from traditional jazz to rock and roll. He has also accompanied Orchestra London and held the percussionist’s chair for shows at London’s Grand Theatre.

Before coming to OIART, Ken, a native of Northern Ontario, developed and taught both a course in music appreciation from 1979 to 1986 for the Montessori School for Children, which he co-owned and directed, as well as a private instruction in drums and percussion between 1981 and 1986 at the Maestro Music Academy, at which time he authored an innovative drum instruction manual.

AT OIART, Ken has been responsible for developing and teaching Music Theory for Audio Engineers as regards rhythmic notation and song structure; Audio for Pictures; Practical Aspects of Music Production; and Internet Fundamentals. In addition to his contribution to the development of much of the school’s fundamental courseware, Ken has played a major role in the development of OIART’s studios, labs, and screening room. He also initiated and developed OIART’s web presence in 1996, and continues to serve as the Institute’s Webmaster.

Ken has been a Member of the American Federation of Musicians, the Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers, the HTML Writers Guild, the Society of Professional Audio Recording Services, the Audio Engineering Society and the London Film and Electronic Media Association. He is also a founding member of the Audio Industry Advisory Council (AIAC). In 1991, Paul Steenhuis, OIART’s President and Founder, awarded him an honorary diploma in recognition not only of his significant contributions to OIART’s curricula, but also his leadership role in determining the Institute’s strategic direction. He regularly attends a wide range of business and industry-related courses and seminars, from AES seminars to film courses at the University of Western Ontario to workshops in African percussion.

“My philosophy of education was, to a large degree, shaped by exposure early in my career to the Montessori methodology,” Ken observes.“ Like a Montessori school, we strive to provide a kind of flexible matrix within which our students can grow and develop their innate abilities through collaborative and active learning — a combination of clear, concise explanation, followed up by direct, real-time, hands-on experience under the guidance of a mentor.”

He continues, “My goal is to enable our students to take responsibility for and to direct their own learning, not only while they’re here, but afterwards, when they are out making a name for themselves within the industry. Given ongoing technological advances and the rapid pace of change, the ability to teach themselves is the most effective survival mechanism with which we can provide them.”

Ken is currently engaged in jazz harmony studies on the piano, and counts among his interests developments in digital audio post-production, the tools and technologies required for our emerging television-centric internet, and travel. He works out regularly, enjoys as much time as possible in the woods with his Golden Retreiver, and studies dance at a competitive level with his partner and wife, award-winning writer Melissa Hardy.