Meet the Board

Hannah Blair

Daly City, California
Term: 10/2022—

I came to Balkan music via shape note singing, punk and metal—I like any kind of music where the whole village gets together to make a ruckus! I was born and raised in Washington State, and the San Francisco Bay Area has been my home since 1998. I’m a visual artist, a DJ and mix-tape maker and a lover of non-commercial radio. I make a music education podcast called Every Record Ever Recorded, and I’m a member of Polynya, a tiny choir which sings folk music from Eastern Europe and beyond.

I first attended Mendocino camp in 2015 and have been a member of the Program Committee since 2017. I am equally proud of my service on the Mendo bath crew! Volunteering has been part of my EEFC experience from the very beginning, and one of my favorite things about our community is the cooperative spirit. I’m pleased to be asked to join the board, and honored to serve the community that has given me so much joy!

Marchette DuBois

Seattle, Washington
Chair of Marketing & Communications Committees.
Term: 9/2020—

My Balkan journey began with a class on the music of Hungary and Eastern Europe, which I took on a whim at Cornell University, after I completed my music degree at SUNY Potsdam. Soon after that, I moved across the country to Seattle and joined the Romanian-influenced Ensemble Sub Masa. We discovered the EEFC as a group, and I first attended the Mendocino workshop in 2004 as an instrumentalist and singer. I eventually went on to study music and language in Romania before founding my own band, Bucharest Drinking Team, which flourished in Seattle from 2010 to 2017. This string and brass ensemble performed music informed by folk, pop, and rock music from the Balkans and Eastern Europe. After obtaining an MFA from Seattle University in Arts Leadership, I relocated to the third coast, to Austin, Texas, where I currently serve on the planning committee for the HONK!TX Festival of Community Street Bands.

In the nonprofit sector I have also worked with HONK! Fest West in various event production capacities. I volunteered with the American Romanian Cultural Society, helping to produce the Seattle-based Romanian Film Festival. And from 2009 to 2017 I worked with the Northwest Folklife Festival, where I coordinated the “Balkan Misfits” and “HONK! Fest West” showcases.

Through the years I have been inspired by Balkan hospitality, and find any excuse to throw a party. Even if it’s a socially distanced, technically challenging party! I look forward to serving the EEFC community.

Anna Goldberg

Edwards, Colorado
Vice President.
Term: 9/2020—

I was born in New York and grew up in Michigan. My Balkan music and dance journey started before I was born—both of my parents were and are still involved in the Balkan music and dance community. I began attending East Coast Balkan Camp in 1999. It has become such a big part of my life ever since, and because of my experiences there, I have had an enduring love for and appreciation of playing musical instruments and learning Balkan dances. Perhaps more important, growing up in such a loving and caring community has really shaped me into the person I am today.

One of the greatest experiences of being a part of this community was being a member of the East Coast Balkan camp youth band, formerly known as Čoček Nation, now known as Mlado Selo. In 2019 we had the opportunity to travel as a group called YAMMS (Young American Musicians to Macedonia and Serbia) to the Balkans and actually learn the music we listen and dance to from the musicians in their home environments.

With all of my involvement in and appreciation for this community, I am very honored to serve on the EEFC board.

Camille Holmes

Oakland, California
Term: 10/2022—

The Balkan music and dance community has been a defining element of my life since my first camp in Mendocino when I was 6 years old. While I’ve studied music classically and love to sing, dancing is what drives me. I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10 years and studied Literary and Cultural Studies at Mills College. In addition to dancing and music, I am passionate about travel, food, and language. My day job is administrative business support at a software company, and I’ve also had experience in event management and travel operations. I’m excited to be part of the EEFC board to continue to bring community together through music and dance!

Lea Anne Kangas

Columbus, Ohio
Treasurer, Chair of Finance and Technology Committees.
Term: 10/2019—

My path to the EEFC began with international folk dancing during my teens, soon gravitating toward Balkan music and dancing. My first full-immersion experience of Balkan camp was in 2012, and I’ve been a steady attender since.

A background in music theory and composition along with coursework in audio recording led me to work as a sound engineer for a number of years while living in the Washington, DC, area. I also do a fair amount of music transcription. More recently, I’ve taken up a number of instruments in addition to a renewed interest in singing, performing with the Balkan band Hajde, as well as several other bands in styles ranging from bluegrass to American folk and jazz. At camp, I can usually be found somewhere in the tambura and singing classes.

In my local school and dance groups, I’ve served many times as Treasurer among other organizational roles. Since 2015, I’ve been a member of the EEFC Program Committee. I look forward to helping keep this wonderful community flourishing.

Matt Moran

Brooklyn, New York
Secretary.
Term: 1/2022—

My first EEFC experience was east coast camp in 1997, and I’ve been coming back ever since, as a camper, teacher, and eventually also as a parent. The EEFC transformed my understanding of music and community and I’m deeply grateful for the joy, experiences, and friendship that the organization has afforded me.

I’m a musician and educator, with a masters degree in composition, playing and teaching music in the Balkan, new music, and jazz worlds. Vibraphone is my primary instrument, but that first EEFC camp revealed my enthusiasm for tapan, which became my instrument in Balkan music. I’ve had the great fortune to make music with many of the musicians in our EEFC community, and also with visiting and immigrant Balkan masters.

Music education is something I spend a lot of time thinking about, and I’ve been increasingly active in music education for incarcerated populations for over a decade. I currently co-lead Carnegie Hall’s music education program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, and help connect the musical communities we have created both inside and outside prison.

For the past two decades I’ve led Slavic Soul Party!, a brass band that brings together American musical influences and Balkan traditions. Learning how to keep a group engaged in learning and expressing tradition and creativity, how to find funding and performance opportunities for that work, and how to create meaningful community, has been a huge part of my leadership and learning process. I hope to help make the EEFC an inspiring community for many years to come!

Rob Pleshar

Chicago, Illinois
Term: 10/2022—

I started coming to East Coast camp in 2006 and have been coming ever since, working the last several years as stage manager for the dance hall. My experience with Balkan music started before that, hearing tamburitza and other groups at community events growing up in the Chicago area and Hibbing, Minnesota. I started playing tuba when I was in junior high school and picked it up again after college. While in college (in 1986 or so) I found a record in the radio station record library called Golden Horns: Brass Band Music of Serbia, listened to it and instantly realized this is the stuff I’d been looking for but didn’t know existed! I started collecting and listening to as many records as I could find, expanding from brass bands to other music from the area as well. I had no idea there was even such an organization as EEFC until 2006. As soon as I found out, I signed up for camp and was hooked.

I am a librarian by trade, working at University of Chicago, and am a semi-professional tuba player. I have played in a Chicago-based Balkan-inspired brass band, Black Bear Combo, for many years, and also play jazz, polka, rock and other music. I am excited and honored to be a member of the EEFC board and I will work hard for the organization. I have learned so much, made so many friends and had so many wonderful experiences due to the EEFC, and I am happy to give back in whatever small way that I can.

Maclovia Quintana

Oakland, California
President, Chair of Administrative and Program Committees.
Term: 9/2018—

I was born and raised in northern New Mexico by artist/musician parents. I’ve been performing Balkan and Eastern European music since college, when I joined the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus. I sang with the Slavic Chorus for 10 years.  In 2012, I co-founded the Balkan band Orkestar BAM, which played for five years in the greater New York City area. I’m also a percussionist, having studied doumbek with Polly Tapia Ferber and Faisal Zedan; and I sing with the Bay Area’s Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble. When I’m not playing music, I am the Director of People and Culture at Kitchen Table Advisors. I’m delighted to be serving on the board of the EEFC!

Kristina Vaškys

Brooklyn, New York
Chair of Scholarship, Governance and Nominating Committees.
Term: 9/2018—

I am a dancer, singer, and instrumentalist who first attended camp in 2004. I was first exposed to Balkan music and dance while performing with the Duquesne University Tamburitzans for two years in college, and the experience left me curious to discover more. Upon finding Michael Ginsburg’s dance class in New York City, I was introduced to the wider EEFC community, Golden Festival, and Balkan Camp. It has been a significant part of my life ever since.

I currently play tambura and sing with Niva, an all-female Macedonian village band formed in 2010. I also sing with Accord Treble Choir, and have been a music educator in New York City independent schools since 2006. I am excited and honored to be serving on the board of EEFC.