OIART's Executive Directors

After more than 25 years, OIART is well-established as a leading institution for training audio engineers, sound designers and music producers. Hundreds of young graduates have launched successful careers after their year at the Institute. Despite many changes, the origin and ongoing development of the school still stem from the collaborative efforts of a uniquely inspired and visionary trio.

Paul Steenhuis, an accomplished recording engineer, producer and musician, founded OIART in 1983, and within a year or so he brought in two musician/artists: Peter Kryshtalovich and Ken Trevenna. Whether coincidence or fate, the three seemed destined to meet and work together — a creative union that has sustained the school for three decades. From the school’s inception it was quickly apparent that these three shared the dedication and idealism necessary to create a new and unique educational experience.

Although radically different in background and artistic temperament, all three grew up with a passion for sound and technology, but came of age at a time when educational experiences like OIART just didn’t exist. However their experiences turned out to be the ideal prelude for creating a ground-breaking school. As idealistic young men inventing their way into the professional audio world, Paul, Peter and Ken developed character traits and skills necessary to craft a new way of learning.

Today there are imitators, but OIART is the first of its kind, and it still draws its strength and stability from the original founding trio. To Paul, Peter and Ken, the year-long immersion program they’ve developed over three decades is like an extended and minutely detailed composition. Of course, they also recognize that each creative generation adopts its own new technologies, so course content also evolves to stay current and relevant.

Every aspect of the program — from faculty selection, to courses, to directed lab content, to classroom studio settings — has been carefully crafted over decades with a single-minded, audio-centric focus.

And vision, idealism and passion fuel everything they do, then as now.