Diana Hancox, Director

Diana entered the world of pans when she was working as an English Second Language teacher at Coten End School in the 1990s. During this time, she was also the school’s Multicultural Coordinator. 

Inspiration struck her after she borrowed a set of pans to support a project in St Lucia; Diana then bought pans for her own school, which led to the creation of 4 successful bands. It certainly didn’t take long for steel pans to capture her heart and take over her life! Later on, she became the Head of World Music at Warwickshire’s County Music Service. Diana held this role from January 2000 to March 2007. This gave her the opportunity to fulfil some of her goals by increasing steel pan teaching resources in Warwickshire. 

It was during this time that she successfully developed a strong team of wonderful teachers in a growing number of schools and set up community steel pan groups for juniors, youths and adults in all areas of the county. In addition to this, Diana also ran 3 incredibly successful steel pan festivals.

In 2006, Diana was involved in several pan projects across the country and decided it was the perfect time to establish the Steel Pan Academy. In March 2007, Diana began working for the Steel Pan Academy full time. Her goal was, and still is, to increase access and opportunities for quality steel pan playing, teaching and learning in the Midlands and beyond. Diana works tirelessly with her friends and colleagues to make this happen and to raise the status of steel pans to that of other instruments.

Another personal highlight for Diana was joining the Nostalgia Steel Band as part of the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony with two other members of the Steel Pan Academy. This performance encapsulated one of the things Diana loves most about steel pans, creating a sense of belonging and playing amongst a group to bring steel pans to a wider audience.

Diana loves teaching with a passion and she believes that working as a team always achieves the best results. Steel Pan Academy has an exceptionally strong team who not only work well together but also with other organisations including Phase One Steel Band, T&T Pan Workshop and London’s Nostalgia Steel Band.