Meet the Board

Marchette DuBois, Austin, Texas
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
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.

Lea Anne Kangas, Columbus, Ohio
Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair. 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.

Craig Kurumada, Arcata, California
Secretary. Term: 9/2017 —
I attended my first Balkan Camp at the Mendocino Woodlands in 1988 and have been coming ever since.

My educational background is in linguistics and German. I played French horn from childhood to college and enjoyed playing Western European classical music. I have always been attracted and intrigued by traditional music and dance. I became a folk dancer, singer, and musician in rapid succession upon joining Salt Lake City’s Živio Ethnic Arts Ensemble, and toured Macedonia, Croatia, and Hungary in 1987 and 1989. I co-founded the Arcata, California-based international band Chubritza after a trip to Bulgaria in 1993.

Although I was a development staff member for the EEFC in the mid-1990s, this is my first term as a Board member. I look forward to using my training and experience in fundraising and nonprofit work to bring long-term financial stability to the EEFC.

I retired in 2016 from Humboldt State University’s Math and Computer Science Departments, where I was an administrative coordinator. I’m currently assembling Bulgarian bagpipes (gajdi) with the mission of getting them into the hands of those who want to learn to play.

Alex Marković, Chicago, Illinois
President, Chair of Administrative and Development Committees. Term: 9/2017 —

I am a cultural anthropologist interested in music and dance, identity, and politics in the Balkans. I am also Serbian-American, and I grew up in the Serbian community in Chicago where I began dancing at the age of seven. Throughout my teenage and young adult years, I was active in various Serbian and Greek folk dance groups, and began to teach dance as well as research the cultural context of dance and music in the Balkans. I went on to earn an M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Illinois-Chicago, conducting ethnographic research on Romani music and ethnic identity in southeastern Serbia.

It was during my graduate study that I was first exposed to the EEFC. At the suggestion of my mentor Dr. Carol Silverman, I attended my first camp and was blown away by the music, the dancing, and the community! I have been an avid supporter of the camps and of the educational mission of the organization ever since. Because my interest in performing Balkan folk dance and music intertwines with my scholarly work and anthropological training, I anticipate drawing from these different spheres of my life as a board member to support the work of the East European Folklife Center. I am committed to using my experiences to guide important discussions about cultural aspects of the organization’s mission, and for long-term strategizing for the sustainability and growth of the EEFC.

Maclovia Quintana, Oakland, California
Program Committee Chair. 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 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program Director at Earthjustice. I’m delighted to be serving on the board of the EEFC!

Alysha Shaw, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Term: 9/2020 —

I am a vocalist and percussionist who first discovered Balkan music in 2005 through the Balkan and Mideast Ensemble at the College of Santa Fe, taught by Polly Tapia Ferber and Paul Brown. I owe a debt of gratitude to Polly and Paul for opening up my world to music, dancing, folklore, and community, which has forever changed my life.

The first camp I went to was in 2008 in Mendocino. It blew me away. That immersive, communal experience inspired me to become a better musician and to never stop learning. I love being a part of this community. There’s a richness and meaning to it that is unlike much in American life.

I perform solo and with Rumelia Collective. I teach voice and percussion in a variety of musical styles. I love performing for folk dancers and traveling to learn more about the extraordinary folk traditions of Eastern Europe.

I hold a BA in Politics and Interdisciplinary Art from the College of Santa Fe and an MFA in Art and Social Practice from Portland State University. I am a community organizer, artist, and administrator who has spent more than a decade in the trenches of community organizations, campaigns, and nonprofit programs in a variety of roles. I currently serve as the Constituency Services Director and Executive Assistant to the Commissioner of Public Lands at the New Mexico State Land Office. I am honored and excited to serve on the board of the EEFC.

Corinne Sykes, Quinte West, Ontario
Online Offerings Committee Chair. Term: 1/2020—

I first stumbled on the wonders of Balkan music through the Yale Women’s Slavic Chorus in 2006.  Since then, the enchantment has only grown as I discovered the folk dance, food, culture, and wonderful people who surround the Balkan music & dance scene here at home and abroad. I am grateful for my early mentors on the East Coast who ushered me in at Golden Festival and Iroquois Springs camp (Kef Scholarship.) In 2010 I had the delightful opportunity to go west and join Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble and receive my induction into the Mendocino camp “village.” I’ve had the joy of singing and playing with fabulous Bay Area bands including Fanfare Zambaleta and Zabava! Izvorno, while continuing to attend Mendocino every year. For the past several years I have served as the Mendo Site Manager and have loved every minute of it.

Outside the Balkan bubble, I pursue my passions for food and beverage, and homesteading. You can catch me nerding out about culinary trends and craft cocktails with Avital food tours, or off in the garden trying to perfect my San Marzano tomatoes. Most of all I love creating experiences—whether it’s a home gathering, a nutty party in the redwoods, or a newfangled virtual camp, I love to show folks a good time. Someday I hope to open a permanent “Kafana” so we can party all year long!

Kristina Vaskys, Brooklyn, New York
Vice President; 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.