Huib Schippers has a long and diverse history of engagement with music across various settings and cultures. With a Masters degree in English literature and twenty years of traditional training as a professional sitar player, he proceeded with (partially overlapping) careers in performance, education, research, journalism, the record trade, arts policy, and project management. He founded the World Music School in Amsterdam (1990-1996), worked in and with conservatoires in Amsterdam and Rotterdam (1998-2003), was the driving force behind the World Music & Dance Centre in Rotterdam (2001-2006), and became the founding Director of the innovative Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia (2003-2015) before moving to Washington DC to take up the position of Director and Curator of the iconic Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. His monograph on learning and teaching music across cultures, 'Facing the music: Shaping music education from a global perspective', was published by Oxford University Press in 2010 to critical acclaim, as was his recent volume on understanding music sustainability in ‘musical ecosystems’, co-edited with Catherine Grant: ‘Sustainable futures for music cultures: An ecological perspective’ (2016).