PROTESTRA

Co-founder of PROTESTRA and Director of Operations and Chairman of the Board Ian Vlahović is a co-founder of PROTESTRA and serves as Director of Operations and Chairman of the Board. Ian is a brass instrument repair technician by trade and, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, maintained a busy performance schedule as a freelance horn player in the NYC metropolitan area. He is a regular member of the Adelphi Orchestra (Oradell, NJ), the Richmond County Orchestra (Staten Island, NY), and the Westchester Symphonic Winds (Tarrytown, NY). Ian is a certified K-12 music educator in the State of New Jersey. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Spanish from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. This past January, Ian returned to Rutgers, where he is now pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Ian is fascinated by the power of art and culture to affect broader societal change and is passionate about harnessing the power of the public and nonprofit sectors to support those efforts. He hopes to see PROTESTRA become a model of what a 21st century classical music organization can and should be. He is inspired and heartened to see—and is excited to be a part of—a growing community of people who believe that music and advocacy can be one and the same.