Meet the Team | Make Music Day

Aaron Friedman

Executive Director

The founder of Make Music New York, a nonprofit organization that produces a city-wide outdoor musical celebration in New York on June 21st. Launched in 2007, the celebration has grown to become the most expansive musical event in the city’s history. In 2002, while studying composition at Columbia University, he founded an environmental advocacy group called “Silent Majority” to combat noise pollution in New York. The group’s research prompted new legislation in the City Council to regulate car alarms, and its lobbying efforts led to the bill’s passage in 2004.

Matt Fox

Deputy Director

The owner of Fox in a Box Marketing & PR, co-founder of Make Music Nashville and a contributing writer for Nashville’s alt-weekly, Nashville Scene. He has won first place for his cherry tomatoes in the TN State Fair five years in a row.

Peter Cobb

Managing Director

Peter is a lifelong musician with a love for jazz saxophone. He has a background in law and has worked extensively in the nonprofit arts world. He previously owned and operated a hybrid laundromat and concert space, and currently serves on the boards of several music and arts organizations.

Catherine Sikora Mingus

Special Projects Manager

Catherine was first electrified by the sound of air vibrating in a metal tube when, as a child, she heard the wind playing tones and overtones in a metal gate. She has devoted her life to researching the magic of that sound as a tenor and soprano saxophonist, improviser, composer, and educator.

Frank Garcia

Marketing and Communications Consultant

Frank is the co-owner of Peruke, a ukulele store and community based in Peru which is currently leading the ukulele wave in LATAM. He is also the head of Marketing & Artist Relations at Flight Ukulele, where he currently works with over 100 artists around the world and has helped Flight become the most followed ukulele community in social media.

Aaron Friedman

President

The founder of Make Music New York, a nonprofit organization that produces a city-wide outdoor musical celebration in New York on June 21st. Launched in 2007, the celebration has grown to become the most expansive musical event in the city’s history. In 2002, while studying composition at Columbia University, he founded an environmental advocacy group called “Silent Majority” to combat noise pollution in New York. The group’s research prompted new legislation in the City Council to regulate car alarms, and its lobbying efforts led to the bill’s passage in 2004.

Andrew Horwitz

Vice President

Andrew is a cultural consultant, creative strategist and writer living in Los Angeles. He has served as the VP, Director of Programs at the Skirball Cultural Center, and from 2011 – 2013 he curated and produced Manhattan’s free, outdoor, multidisciplinary arts festival, The River To River Festival, for LMCC where he served as Director of Public Programs. He has worked producer at Performance Space. 122, curator of the PRELUDE Festival at the Graduate Center at CUNY and as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Foundation for Jewish Culture among other positions. He is also the founder of arts website Culturebot.org, launched in 2003, and was a 2014 recipient of the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant.

Andrea Berman

Secretary

Andrea has spent her career working in philanthropy, leading grantmaking at family, community and private foundations. Andrea’s expertise is in nonprofit management and she has led organizations and taught others best practices. Currently, Andrea is the Grants Manager at the Future of Life Institute and is responsible for planning, administering and implementing philanthropic grants programs aimed at reducing global catastrophic risk.

Joe Carroll

Joe is a producer, composer, ad executive and founder of the Manhattan Producers Alliance. He has written and produced hundreds of songs for TV and film including award-winning projects for Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, Sesame Workshop and The Jim Henson Company. His career highlights include performing with Zippy the Chimp, a tuxedo-clad chimpanzee whose skills included drinking bourbon and roller-skating, sometimes simultaneously.

Mark Green

Mark is an internationally known family business consultant, speaker, author, educator, and researcher. Mark leads his own family business consulting firm, and is co-founder of the Pacific Family Business Institute. He is very active in the arts, music, and civic activities and is the co-founder of Make Music Day Salem. He enjoys life in Salem, Oregon, with his wife, Karen, and daughter, Danielle in their own family business, RiverCity Rock Star Academy.

Jack Lang

Jack is President of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. In 1982, while serving as France’s Minister of Culture, he created the Fête de la Musique. Along with his celebrated career in government (including eight years as Minister of Culture and four years as Minister of Education), he was the founder and director of the World Theater Festival at Nancy, and Professor of International Law at Nancy and Paris X University-Nanterre.

Max Lester

Max is the Director, Program Management & Business Operations at The Orchard – Sony Music Entertainment, a global leader in music distribution and artist & label services. Max graduated from New York University in 2014 with a double major in Global Liberal Studies & Spanish/Latin American Studies, and received his MA in 2016 from University College London in Art Conservation. Before moving to New York, Max attended the Lycée Français de San Francisco.

Mike Rosenthal

Mike is the Head of Strategic Marketing for Mick Management, overseeing brand partnerships and strategy for acts like Childish Gambino, Walk the Moon, Animal Collective, Leon Bridges, and many others. Previously Mike spent five years handling brand partnerships and digital strategy for the band OK Go and running their record label, Paracadute.