2025 HONK! Committee

Abbie Smith-HoweHONK! has been the most sacred holiday in my personal culture since I moved to Camberville 12 years ago. It is a time and place without hierarchy; where musicians and dancers create a space that is joyful, connecting and deeply human. It is the one weekend of the year when I feel the most like myself and I feel so lucky that I get to work on making HONK happen for everyone else.

Cherai MillsI first heard of HONK! through word of mouth after moving to Somerville in 2015. I went to HONK! for the first time and volunteered in 2018. I loved the craziness of bands playing at the same level as spectators. Finding ways to combine music and activism within the festival is fun for me because they are two things that I love.

David Blank-EdelmanI could not (and still can't) believe my eyes when I ran into this amazing festival called HONK! by mistake one sunny October day in my home town.

Once upon a time, a friend asked if I could help out on the tech side and I jumped at the chance. Since then, it's been my honor to push the bits for HONK! and work with these amazing people to create this one-of-a-kind street spectacle of revolutionary proportions. Enjoy!

Eric SutmanI fell in love with HONK! the first time I laid eyes on it at the Sunday parade. When I met up for a date later that same day to see Rude Mechanical Orchestra play in Harvard Square, we bonded over our shared reaction to the festival. We started volunteering the next year and have done so every year since. Now that we're married and have started a family, I can't wait to share HONK! with our children. I'm thrilled to be a part of the festival's organizing committee. It means a lot to me to be able to give back to the HONK! community which has given so much joy and so much meaning to me.
Photo: Renee Sutman

Harris GrumanTrue to his metier as a labor and community organizer, Harris Gruman doesn't perform, he is a HONK! organizer! For Harris, HONK is the perfect blend of art and politics -- it's the answer to the age-old conundrum of how to work for our dream of the future while living it in the present.

John BellJohn Bell (middle) plays trombone with Good Trouble Brass Band, the band formerly known as Second Line, and started playing brass music with Bread & Puppet Theater. Exhilarated by the possibilities of global street culture traditions, activist art, D.I.Y. festival organizing, and Cheap Art philosophy encountered during his years touring with Bread & Puppet, he has been part of the Honk! Festival since its inception.
Photo: Chris Yeager, Book of Honk

Matt TaylorI'm Matt! I play trombone with Good Trouble Brass Band, the band formerly known as Second Line, and School of HONK!. I do some conversation facilitation, including conversations around anti-racism. I also work on housing justice in the Greater Boston Area. During the day, I work on a website/online community that supports kids learning to use code to express themselves creatively. Please come chat with me about: brass band music, social movement structure, anti-oppression facilitation, improv comedy, or pretty much anything :).

Reebee GarofaloAs soon as I saw the first HONK! poster, I knew I wanted to be part of this scene. For someone whose life has been about music and politics for decades, this was a no brainer. I joined the HONK! Committee in 2007 and two months later a snare drum slot opened up in the Good Trouble Brass Band, the band formerly known as Second Line, and I was asked to join. I have been doing both ever since.
I was a member of the faculty at UMass Boston for almost thirty-five years, where I taught popular music history and media literacy, among other things. And I have been a musician, activist, and popular music scholar for as long as I can remember. I play in two or three bands, (depending on how you count) and I still have a number of popular music research and writing projects going; there may even be a book about HONK! in the offing. So stay tuned. I am retired now, but I have never been busier.
Photo: Coralie Lecomte

Trudi CohenIn 2006, several members of Good Trouble Brass Band, the band formerly known as Second Line, wondered -- are there other bands around the country who formed like us with a mission to support social justice and anti-war efforts? We found a few, enthusiastic about the chance to come together. And so, HONK! was born.

I play bass drum.
I'm a puppeteer. I love thinking about public space, about finding creative ways to speak my mind, about bringing thinkers and artists and activists together outside of traditional institutions. And I love street bands!

Whitney KayI went to the first HONK! because a pal was in one of the bands. It was love at first hearing! As a red diaper grandbaby whose political roots were originally planted in the soil of the IWW of my grandparents, music and politics have always been interwoven. HONK! feels like the obvious place for me to be. As part of my day job, I’ve spent decades doing ethnomusicological research in India and how could I not fall in love with the Indian street bands. As a teacher, I teach about music, culture (including religion), and politics. But my heart is happiest when I am out claiming public space with my people! I am thrilled to join the HONK! Committee crew.

In addition to the coordinating committee above, there are a number of HONK! organizers who take on coordination and leadership of various other parts of the festival. These folks include:

• Laura Borrelli
• Maren Chiu
• Dylan Foley
• Paul Gregory
• Ruchika Madan
• Lori Segall
• Kashif ul-Huda