Professor Norman is an internationally respected scholar, and is highly regarded for her successful leadership and management of major profile creative arts projects in Europe.
Currently Professor of Performance Technologies and Co-Director, Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex, Professor Norman is a New Zealander and holder of a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in French from the University of Canterbury.
“Professor Norman has an unusually strong background in integrating scholarship and performance that will further strengthen the diverse programmes of the NZSM and its commitment as the home of New Zealand music,” says Victoria Pro Vice-Chancellor of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor Jennifer Windsor. “It’s an exciting time for Professor Norman to join Victoria and we’re delighted that she brings a commitment to music in all its forms and to its creative and civic power.”
"Drawing on historic and emerging art forms, with renowned strengths in classical, jazz, contemporary music, and music therapy, NZSM is a vibrant player in a multidisciplinary, capital city university, tuned to civic engagement and Asia-Pacific culture," says Professor Norman. “I look forward to working to extend the resonance of NZSM’s distinctive voices.”
Professor Norman holds a Doctorat de 3e cycle (PhD) and Doctorat d'État (habilitation) from the Université de Paris III and has wide research experience in music and performing arts. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, Beijing, and the Peking University National Centre for Research into Intercultural Communication of Arts. She has served as artistic co-director of the Studio for Electronic Music (Amsterdam), is a European Sound Studies Association member, European Research Council expert, and sits on academic advisory boards in Korea, Australia, Canada, and several European countries.
Professor Norman contributed to the creation of a Master of Arts in Music and Sonic Media at the University of Sussex and has led Digital Performance research at Sussex Humanities Lab since 2015. From 2010 she steered refurbishment of the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, providing Sussex with state-of-the-art performance infrastructure. Previously founding Director of Newcastle University's award-winning interdisciplinary Culture Lab, she has been an external examiner and guest lecturer in music and performance programmes throughout Europe and North America.
“We have been very fortunate to have the leadership of Associate Professor Dugal McKinnon as the Acting NZSM Director. Dugal will continue to lead NZSM until the end of June 2017,” says Professor Windsor.
Professor Norman will begin at the NZSM 3 July 2017.