Hank Knerr serves as director of the Lively Arts at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, promoting and presenting nearly 200 in-house and visiting artist events each year through the College of Fine Arts.
He is a current board member and has served as a past president of PA Presenters, a state organization dedicated to presenting guest performing artists, which presented him with the first Presenter of the Year Award in May 2009. He is also on the board of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance and has served as a board member with the Indiana County Humane Society, Indiana Arts Council, and Indiana County Tourist Bureau.
Knerr holds a B.A. in music and theater from Lycoming College and an M.F.A. in arts administration from Penn State University. Highly active in local, regional, and state arts advocacy and arts-in-education programs, he participates regularly as a conference panelist and consultant in the fields of performing arts presenting, community outreach, and arts-in-education.
He has chaired several professional conferences and has received grants from the Japan Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Arts Midwest, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, among others.