Artistic Director / Producer

Sara Valentine (she / her) is a third-generation spectacle maker who specializes in manifesting large-scale, multi-disciplinary public performances. She is a descendent of the famed trapeze troupe, The Flying Valentines, and grew up helping her mom create annual community pageants. Valentine unintentionally joined Hungry March Band when it started in her living room in 1997. Together with friends in Hungry March, she helped to "accidentally" found HONK NYC at a dinner party in Brooklyn c. 2007. The result of this unintended participation? A true love for community building through public art practice on the streets of New York City and beyond.

Musical Director

Elijah J. Thomas (he/him) is a Black Philadelphia-born, Harlem-based multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer/experimentalist. He has studied improvisation with Dick Oatts, Tim Warfield, Jr. and Walter Bell, and composition with Dr. Cynthia Folio, Kevin Rodgers, and Dr. Maurice Wright. Elijah creates “enuff music”: music for Black healing and spiritual transcendence. Elijah has held numerous teaching positions and has led four recorded projects: enuff music, vol. i (EP, released with Off Latch Press), Our Search (LP), Three Contemplations for Jason Moran (EP) and The Unity of Sound with The NeW Quintet (LP). He is Musical Director of the global street band performance organization HONK NYC!, whose mission is to “make events that reclaim, reuse, and redefine public space and connect communities through music-making, pageantry, audience participation, and education.”

Assistant Musical Director

Skyler Hagner (he / him) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer living in Inwood NYC. He is active on the NYC jazz scene performing or arranging for Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joe Block, Michael Feinstein, Tito Puente Jr, and Donn Trenner, among others. An active educator, he is currently the assistant musical director of HONK NYC!, and previously was the adjunct professor of woodwinds at the University of New Haven. His work has been supported by LMCC’s Creative Engagement Grants, Jazz Road Tours Grant, a national initiative of South Arts, the Guilford Performing Arts Festival, Pathways to Jazz and The New England Musicians Relief Fund. 

Treasurer, House of HONK

Laura (she/her) is a percussionist from Brooklyn, NY by way of California. With almost twenty years of experience, she has played with many Brazilian and other world music groups and musicians and currently plays with HONK Family Band, Mambembe New York and Batala New York, a renowned all women percussion group that she co-founded.  She is also the treasurer of the House of HONK! She's also been teaching herself how to play the drum kit! 

Secretary, House of HONK

Lara (she / they) is a multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, NY. She plays the saxophone and clarinet with several community-oriented groups in the city, including the HONK! Family Band, the L Train Brass Band, and the Brooklyn Wind Symphony. Lara also runs two of her own bands, Brass in a Box (@brassinabox) and Off-Beat Jazz (@offbeatjazznyc). She joined the HONK! NYC organizing team in 2023 and helps with various administrative and organizational needs.

Coordinator

Doug George plays sax in the HONK Family Band, where he’s also an innkeeper of sorts-  helping to keep things running smoothly and welcoming one and all. By day, Doug operates a neurodivergent-affirming psychotherapy practice.

House of HONK Advisory Board

Indofunk Satish plays with the HONK Family Band and sits on HONKNYC's advisory board. He is an active freelance musician in NYC, playing in Indo-jazz-funk quartet Quadrature and microtonal drone ensemble Theatre of Divine Resonance, among many other projects.

Associate Producer

Victoria Linchong  (she / her) is a Taiwanese-American director, writer, actor, and producer working in both theater and film. A New York City native, Victoria directed and hosted Berlin’s cheekiest burlesque show, Full Moon Cabaret, which received 5 star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe. Her articles on obscure history have appeared in Atlas Obscura, Messy Nessy Chic, and All That’s Interesting. Victoria is also burlesque performer known as Viva Lamore. She currently hosts Viva Lamore’s Forgotten History, a web series on women and people of color who have been sidelined in mainstream Western history.

Social Media Director

Dora Flor is a Brazilian percussionist based in New York City. She leads social media for House of HONK. When she’s not online, she’s performing forró music with her group Flor de Massapê (@flordemassape) and teaching forró dance as co-founder of Forró Brooklyn Dance School (@forro_brooklyn). Dora Is also very lucky to be part of the Honk Family Band, House of Honk’s Community Band. With a background in International Relations and a love of community-centered work, she’s all about bringing people together through music, movement, and celebration.

Promotional Development & Programming

Libby Sentz, a writer/editor/dancer now living in Richmond, has returned to HONK NYC to work on our social media and email. She was there at the start of HONK NYC and has performed with two of this year’s acts, Hungry March Band and Peniel Guerrier, so she knows firsthand the magic of collective music and movement. Ever since moving away, she’s been having vivid dreams of brass bands sweeping her back into the streets—and she can’t wait to in the middle of it all again.

Web Mistress

The extent of Eliza’s musical background is playing clarinet in elementary school and faking her way through the recital. What she lacks in instrument playing ability, she makes up for in the miscellaneous other things she’s pretty ok at. Eliza is a cyanotype collage artist, photographer, librarian, and manages the websites for HONK and Coney Island USA.

Co-Founder HONK NYC! & Creator HONK! Harlem

Sandra (she / her) is proud to be part of a vibrant force showcasing diverse and spirited musicians in NYC. Her wit and ability to wear many hats has enabled this eclectic, creative community to thrive. As HONK NYC Housing Maven she found housing for up to 60 visiting musicians for the first decade of the Fest. In recent years, she has revealed she's HONK NYC!'s MC Extraordinare from Harlem to Brooklyn.  But her biggest triumph came when she conceptualized and created HONK! Harlem.  Living in Harlem, she recognized that its community was hungry to revel in its rich musical history.  HONK! Harlem brought the music of the people to the people in the schools, streets and clubs.  Parading to the legendary Apollo Theater and seeing HONK NYC! on the marquee was more than she ever imagined.  Sandra now lives in New Orleans where she dances with the sassy Amelia Earhawts in the Mardi Gras parades and brings her wacky humor to Improv.  She returns frequently to NYC, where the magic continues.