Wendy Jones is the quintessential ambassador of the Steel Pan. Wendy’s pan journey started in 1977 with Afro Pan Steelband. She deserves the highest praise for using the Steel Pan as a cultural tool to draw families into the Pan Fraternity: to inspire youth, to ignite leadership skills, and to affect social change. She is one of the co-founders and present band leader of the award-winning Steelband “Pan Fantasy”, which celebrates its 36^th anniversary this year.

Most recently, Pan Fantasy won this year’s Pan Alive competition – an unprecedented eighth year in a row. Wendy has received numerous awards for her exceptional skills as a pannist, and her work in pan is recognized internationally.

As a founding member of the North York Inter-Community Youth Group (NYICYG), she has organized concerts, fashion shows and numerous recreational activities in the Jane-Finch area and other communities. These efforts proved to be an early training ground for some of Canada’s great musical artists and positioned Wendy as a mentor and master pannist to over 800 children across the Greater Toronto Area.