About Us

Bullhorn Arts and Education is an artist and volunteer-led nonprofit collective that amplifies Durham, North Carolina-area music through play, performance, and possibility. Some of our activities include organizing concerts, offering workshops, and managing the Ellerbee Creek Music online “record” label. We receive funding from people like you and through grants from the Durham and NC Arts Councils.

Why Durham, North Carolina-area music?

1. Bullhorn’s staff and volunteers live in or near Durham

2. On a large scale, music promotes cultural exchange, understanding, and cohesion. In individuals it can aid in focus, relaxation, and healing.¹

3. Durham has a history of great music we’d like to help continue. A very small fraction of the great artists who have called the Bull City home includes Fulton “Blind Boy Fuller” Allen, Mary Lou Williams, Betty Davis, Alice Gerard, and Ken Moshesh. Check out our Durham Music Wall of Fame for more!

Board of Directors

Nadeen Bir – Nadeen is a natural-born entertainer and community builder with roots in Palestine, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Durham. She has worked with El Centro Hispano, Student Action with Farmworkers, Southern Vision Alliance, and currently directs HR and Finance at Press On.

Sammy Truong AKA DJ Yammy – A self-styled People’s DJ who has been serving sounds and bringing people together through music for over 15 years. He straddles the line between community and club DJ, supporting a range of diverse events from Latin music rent parties and sweaty-walled basement clubs to just about any occasion where people gather to struggle and live life through music and dance. In this way, his art is inseparable from his life and politics. Growing up as a second-generation Vietnamese-American immigrant in the arid Arizona desert, he found a connection to music through all-ages ska and punk shows buffered with hours and hours of after-school MTV. His musical influences include the 80s, of course, but also the holy trifecta — funk, soul, jazz — and all of its derivative soundscapes which can be found in the disco lofts, house warehouses and night clubs all across the globe.

Josh Zaslow – Josh has lived and played music in the Triangle for most of his life. He has served musicians and audiences by organizing festivals and fundraisers, teaching stringed instrument lessons, and teaching music at Lakeview Secondary.  He has served the greater community through the Durham Solidarity Center, the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, and the Mental Health Association of Orange County among many other organizations.

5-Year Plan

• Offer educational experiences for youth and adults in production, group music-making, and basic vocal and instrumental technique, and more.
• Continue creating opportunities for local artists to share their music with Durham
• Learn from Durhamites about how to best support their music making. Begin providing project-based technical and financial assistance for local artists who positively impact Durham’s social and sonic landscape
• Start regular community music making sessions
• Begin offering performances and workshops in institutional settings such as prisons, hospitals, schools and nursing homes
• Create opportunities for regional, national, and international artists to share their music with Durham

10-Year Plan

• Same as above, plus
• Establish a brick and mortar facility to host workshops, lessons, jam and recording sessions, rehearsals, and performances

Works Cited

1 https://www.uchealth.org/today/benefits-of-music-5-ways-to-use-music-to-improve-your-daily-life/