December 26, 2023
Provided image/Paralee Knight
Paralee Knight, right, takes over as board chair of the nonprofit concert venue World Cafe Live in January. She is pictured about with incoming vice chair Robert Crowder.
Three years after the pandemic shut down live performances, Philadelphia's concert venues are still inching back to normalcy. For World Cafe Live, that recovery will continue in 2024 with new leadership.
Paralee Knight, a vice president and senior social impact and sustainability specialist at Wells Fargo, becomes the new board chair of World Cafe Live in January, taking over for Lori Landew.
World Cafe Live is a nonprofit, independent venue that opened in 2004. It is widely know for it concerts, particularly the namesake Word Cafe sessions, produced and broadcast by WXPN, the radio station that shares space with the venue.
The other part of the World Cafe Live's mission is creating and hosting educational programs, related to the music and the arts, for people of all ages. Knight highlighted the organization's work with schools to support student artists.
Knight will be the first Black woman to serve the board chair of World Cafe Live. She has been a board member since 2015 and currently is the vice chair of the board. She also is on the board of the Ronald McDonald House in Southern New Jersey and a member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Recording Academy.
Knight said she's always loved music and wanted to join the World Cafe Live board after seeing the work the organization was doing with artists. Philadelphia, she said, is a city with a wealth of musical talent and she's proud to work in the space.
"(Philadelphia is) vibrant, full of legacy and experience, probably some of the most talented artists and musicians that have come out the world, to be honest with you," Knight said. "It's just so rich in legacy and history in the Philadelphia sound and just from the grit that comes from the artists that are here."
Music in the city changed over the past few years, Knight said, with artists struggling to survive and venues struggling to fill seats. But now, she hopes, that people see the ability to be out again and support artists.
"One thing about not just the Philadelphia music scene, but about Philadelphians, is that they're survivors and they're fighters," said Knight, who in her own music career has worked in artist management and development and as a songwriter and producer. "I think that (the scene) is getting back to a place of vibrance, and one thing about Philadelphia's music scene is that you're never going to be able to shut it down because that's what Philadelphians do — they survive."
As the new chair, Knight said she will continue guiding the organization in sharing music and connections through the venue. She's also committed to ensuring voices throughout the organization are heard, and that the atmosphere and organization are inclusive.
She also hopes to increase people's awareness about World Cafe Live, promoting work that's been done — events like the Free at Noon concerts World Cafe offers — and engaging more support. As board chair, she see her job as highlighting the success of the venue and Philly music history.
"What I hope is that Philadelphia will get its just due for what it has added to the music community as a whole," she said.
