Preliminary Description

The 2025 HONK! Festival will include a HONK! U Conference on Thursday, October 9 at Tufts University’s Department of Music, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with breakfast available starting at 9:00 a.m.

Twenty years ago, the first HONK! Festival was held in Davis Sq, Somerville, as a celebratory public dissent. Today, street music, as practiced by brass bands to promote community-building, art, and activism, is more important than ever. The 2025 HONK! U Conference will include presentations, panel discussions, conversations, and workshops addressing the development and expansion of HONK! as a world-wide grassroots phenomenon. A preliminary program is included below.

We envision a conference that maximizes audience participation. So, we are asking all band liaisons to share this memo and encourage your members to arrive in time for the opening plenary session on Thursday, September 9. The HONK! U Conference is free and open to the public. Breakfast and lunch will be provided, courtesy of Tufts University. For those who arrive on Wednesday October 8, HONK! Housing will be available starting that day.

To help us accommodate everyone, we are asking all attendees to register for the conference at this link. We urge you to do that as soon as you can!

Register here!

Preliminary program

• 9:00 – Breakfast in Sophia Gordon Hall Foyer
• 9:30 – Welcome by the Good Trouble Brass Band outside

Morning Sessions

Distler Auditorium

• 10:00 – Plenary Welcome Intros – Reebee Garofalo (10 min)
• 10:10 – NOLA Culture and Resistance: Then and Now. Ben Barson & Ed Buckner (45 mins)
• 10:55 – Break
• 11:00 – Activist Street Band Survey: Approaches and Experiences. Sarah Bennett & John Mayer (40 min)
• 11:40 – Break
• 11:45 – How Do We Honk? Critical Learning, Listening and Social Change. Erin Allen & Jason Belcher (45 mins)

• 12:30 – Lunch in Sophia Gordon foyer and hall

Afternoon Sessions

Session 1
Sophia Gordon Hall

• 1:15 – Radical Inclusion: Gender and Democracy in HONK!. Liz Kasser & Megan Kallman (45 mins)

Remis Scupture Court (Aidekman)

• 1:15 – Conversation: Band Organization and Dynamics. Moderator: Sarah Blust (45 min)
• 2:00 – Break

Session 2
Sophia Gordon Hall

• 2:05 – Building a Singing Movement. Lisa Gallatin & Edwin Everheart (45 mins)

Remis Sculpture Court (Aidekman)

• 2:05 – Conversation: Creating a Band Action: Coordination, Chants, Costumes, etc. Moderator: John Bell (45 min)
• 2:50 – Break

Session 3
Sophia Gordon Hall

• 3:00 – Haitian Rara Workshop. Rara bel Poze (45 mins)

Remis Scupture Court (Aidekman)

• 3:00 – Conversation: Community Organizing and Movement Building. Moderator: Matt Taylor (45 min)
• 3:45 – Break

Session 4
Sophia Gordon Hall

• 4:00 – Tune share. Outdoors, weather permitting (60 min)

Remis Sculpture Court (Aidekman)

• 4:00 – Improvisation Workshop. Outdoors, weather permitting (60 min)

5:00: HONK! Conference Ends

The HONK! U Conference is produced by the Somerville HONK! Festival, with generous support from the Tufts University Department of Music and Assistant Teaching Professor Stephanie Khoury.