Delaney Martin (b. 1976, Honolulu, Hawaii) Martin is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work engages the historical and cultural specificity of people and places to create spectacular, immersive environments marked by frequent collaborations and performance. Martin has lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, London and New Orleans. In 2008, she founded New Orleans Airlift with Jay Pennington out of a desire to give back and go back to New Orleans post-Katrina. Her work as Airlift’s Artistic Director from 2009 -2023 led her to create ever more ambitious, highly collaborative multidisciplinary art works that became Airlift’s creative calling card. This era of her work with Airlift was a deeply rewarding experience that enlarged her practice and her commitment to the power of collaboration between artists and communities. Martin left her full time duties in 2023 to pursue her independent art practice.

Jay is a music producer, cultural-connector, artist manager, writer, event producer, curator.Airlift is a concept that originated in his attempt to find purpose and retain community in the aftermath of post-Katrina New Orleans. Jay left full time duties at Airlift in 2022 to pursue personal work in music and event production.

Christian Repaal (b. 1971 in LaPlata, Maryland), an art fabricator, bass player, building contractor, and sometimes art teacher, has lived in New Orleans since 1994. In his many years here Christian has forged deep ties into the local communities of visual artists, musicians, tradespeople, and educators. Both a mason and a carpenter he has been in the trades for nearly 25 years. In the last ten years, since attending UNO for history and fine art (1999- 2003), Christian has built quite a reputation as an art fabricator. Camille Henrot, Christopher Saucedo, and dozens of other museums and artists have utilized and appreciated his ability to communicate their visions through his handiwork. Most recently he has worked closely with celebrated artist Swoon to help her realize some of her more complex three dimensional pieces. Christian has, in his time, trained many young carpenters, masons, and would be sculptors in the proper and safe use of tools, building techniques, and use of materials; both on the job and in the classroom. For the past seven summers he has taught at Lusher Charter Schoolʼs Summer Arts Intensive Program, helping young artists gain new skills.

Taylor Lee Shepherd has been the lead sound artist for New Orleans Airlift since the inception of The Music Box. Shepherd, along with Delaney Martin and Swoon formed the very early collaborative meetings around building a musical house and has advised and influenced the process and the realization of the project. Shepherd has exhibited at numerous museums including The Museum of Curiosity in London, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, and Art Arsenale in Kiev, Ukraine. Additionally, he has shown his work widely in galleries including Barristers (New Orleans), The Candle Factory, (New Orleans), L’art Noir (New Orleans), Gallery T (Denver) and Bereznitzky Gallery (Berlin). His work was included in the wildly popular Sequence of Waves show organized by the Rabid Hands Collective at St. Cecilia’s Church in Brooklyn and he continues to build new musical instruments and inventions with Airlift in New Orleans and most recently Shreveport, LA.

Eliza brings over 12 years of non-profit experience working at the intersection of alternative education, direct services, and program management and currently works independently for various organizations around New Orleans developing programming and curricula. She comes to Airlift with Masters in both International Development (Program Development) and Philosophy (Ethics, Critical Theory). Her work has largely been informed by a commitment to restorative justice and concentrated in the fields of sexual & reproductive health and criminal justice in New Orleans, DC, New York, Chicago, and abroad. New to the field of Art, she comes to Airlift with a shared interest in the power of collaborative, multi-disciplinary work and the process of maintaining and creating community in unconventional ways. She team joined the Airlift as a teaching artist in 2016 and currently leads the education initiative, manages open hours, and more.

Syd Kleinberg's mission is to empower people to launch and develop their business through the intersection of Strategy, Events, and Marketing. Her career began with owning and managing an all-female Event Production and Staffing company in the Baltimore/DC area. Since moving to New Orleans six years ago, she has worked with a wealth of clients and community members to produce events, launch venues, and develop young and established businesses. She's thrilled and honored to join the Music Box family this Fall. Special Events & Membership CoordinatorNew Orleans Airlift // Music Box Villageneworleansairlift.org // musicboxvillage.com

Leah Hennessy is a vocalist, curator, and educator. As lead creative producer for the Music Box Village, Leah has collaborated with artists across multiple genres to shape one-of-a-kind, immersive concert experiences. Her creative practice combines tools of improvisation with jazz, blues and folk influences to play with and investigate the tension between traditional forms and experimental expression. As a curator, Leah’s work focuses on promoting pathways for multi-disciplinary collaboration and creativity—particularly as it relates to fostering local arts and culture. From 2013-2015 she was co-director of Gallery 263, a non-profit arts organization that provides a contemporary voice for the arts in Cambridge, MA through an eclectic array of public programs. In addition, Leah is an experienced music educator and has worked across multiple settings as a teaching artist, curriculum designer, and arts integration consultant. Leah holds a B.M. in Jazz Voice and M.M. in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory, has three independent releases of her own (Talk Listen Door - Talk Listen Door, Leah Hennessy & Nicholas Morrison - Make Your Cozy Little Corner in the Bright Electrified World, The By & By - Some Bright Morning) and is featured on Anthony Coleman’s 2013 recording, The End of Summer (Tzadik).

Leah Espinoza is obsessed with creating artful and transformative experiences, learning and laughing along the way. With a decade under her belt with art direction, curation and exploratory design - she believes in the power of art as language and influential experience. Inspired by sentimentality, silliness and the senses and originally from the midwest; she’s always excited to chat so drop her a line!

Michael Glenboski is an architect who moved to New Orleans after spending nine yearsin New York City. A native of Omaha, NE, his education took him to New York where he studied architecture and film at the Pratt Institute. Living somewhere between art and design, Michael has worked with the MoMA, PS1, CookFox, and Jeff Koons and has had his hands in buildings, constructions, and shows around the world. Michael spends a large portion of his spare time working on his house in the St. Roch neighborhood of the city, tinkering with vintage motorcycles, and entertaining his Catahoula. As an architect his passion remains collaborating with his neighborhood and community and using the potential of the built environment to enact change and opportunity. Michael has volunteered with Airlift since its early conception.

Seth Levine is a partner at the Jones Walker law firm of New Orlean His practice involves a wide range of commercial transactions, including financing transactions, real estate, foreclosures, and bankruptcy. Mr. Levine is a 2001 graduate of Tulane University Law School, where he received his juris doctor degree. He attended New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business and received his Bachelor of Science in Finance in 1998. Mr. Levine is a Licensed Real Estate Broker in Louisiana, and devotes time to serving as the President of the Board of Directors of the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association, and as a board member of the Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana. Additionally, he is a member of the American Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association.

A resident of New Orleans since 1998, Bryan's professional endeavors range from filmmaking to real estate development to technology startups. While seemingly spread over many unrelated fields, at the core of every project that Bryan takes on is a desire to create experiences that bring communities together and that enrich people's lives.