SARA VALENTINE
Artistic Director / Producer
Sara Valentine (she / her) is 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.
ELIJAH J. THOMAS
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.”
ELIJAH J. THOMAS
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.”
SANDRA GLAZER
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 enables 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.
SKLYER HAGNER
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 HONKNYC, 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.
DANIELLE KOLKER
Associate Producer
Danielle Kolker (she / her) is a multi-instrumentalist from New York City who has played countless HONKs over the last decade and is stoked to be on the organizing team this year! You can catch her around town with Funkrust Brass Band, Out of System Transfer, HONK Family Band, and many others.
LARA KELLEY
Associate Producer
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.
VICTORIA LINCHONG
Associate Producer + Web Mistress
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.
SYDNEY PATRICK
Socia Media Manager
Sydney Patrick (she / her) is a multi-faceted Brooklyn-based artist. Ranging from a trained professional actor touring all over the world in Broadway shows/TV, a voice-over artist, to performing shows around the city as a Singer-Songwriter with her indie pop band— syd+nico— she is also a freelance Graphic Designer & Honk NYC’s Social Media Manager. Along with her love for the coolest street band phenomena in NYC (obviously) …she is a passionate Certified Yoga + Mindfulness Meditation Teacher specializing in Loving Kindness and Compassion Meditation.