Cultural Insight. Commercial Instinct.
Originality deserves a strategy equal to its ambition. We understand both the integrity of creative work and the business decisions that determine its future.
Our perspective connects artistic value with commercial opportunity, recognizing what makes an idea distinctive and where it has the greatest potential.
The Agency
Your Ambition.
Our Commitment.
Your goals set our agenda. We bring decisive thinking, sound judgement, and focused action to every engagement, with a clear scope and accountability for the work you entrust to us.
Expect direct access, candid advice, and disciplined follow-through. We protect your interests, respect your resources, and keep your objectives at the center of every decision.
Our Philosophy
Originality. Connection.
Lasting Value.
We believe progress comes from people with a distinct point of view and the willingness to act on it. Our role is to recognize that potential, challenge convention where it matters, and create the conditions for meaningful work to succeed.
We look across disciplines because ideas gain depth when different perspectives meet. We take the long view because reputation, relationships, and cultural significance are earned over time. These beliefs guide the people we represent, the advice we give, and the opportunities we pursue.
The Alliance
Business. Culture. Creativity.
The Alliance is our internal team, working alongside leadership to strengthen the agency and the opportunities we develop for our clients. It brings together business expertise, cultural insight, and creative talent to inform decisions and support our work.
- The Assembly
Business expertise in strategy, finance, law, and operations that strengthens our agency’s commercial foundation. - The Council
Cultural insight and independent perspective that guide our direction, inform decisions, and uphold standards. - The Collective
Creative talent whose work we develop, careers we advance, and interests we actively represent.
Leadership
Christopher Durst
Founder & Principal Agent
Christopher Durst brings an artist’s perspective and an entrepreneur’s resolve to his work with creative people and organizations. His career spans artist management and development, licensing, distribution, fashion design, creative direction, and executive production.
As Founder & Principal Agent of Velaharra, he advises brands and organizations, supports creative careers, and develops partnerships grounded in shared purpose and respect for the work. His international relationships connect people and ideas across disciplines and borders. Having built businesses, produced live experiences, and maintained his own artistic practice, he understands the personal investment behind original work and the importance of helping it reach audiences without compromising what makes it distinctive.
His earlier career as an internationally published music and culture photographer took him across the world, documenting artists, tours, festivals, and the creative communities surrounding them. He has photographed artists including Lady Gaga, Jane’s Addiction, Stevie Wonder, Parker McCollum, and Willie Nelson. His photography has appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, MOJO, Uncut, Billboard, and The Wall Street Journal.
Christopher Durst
Founder & Principal Agent
Will Loconto
President, North America
As President of North America for Velaharra, Will Loconto brings decades of experience as a recording artist, songwriter, composer, producer, and creative entrepreneur.
His band T-4-2 signed with Columbia Records, and he toured with Information Society. His work spans recorded music, television, and video games, with credits including American McGee’s Alice, X-Men: The Official Game, and music featured on American Ninja Warrior. He served as Audio Director at Ion Storm, co-founded Third Law Interactive, and built an independent audio production business.
This combination of artistic practice, production expertise, and business leadership brings a practical perspective to Velaharra’s work connecting creative talent with opportunity, developing partnerships, and building projects across disciplines.
Rob Durst
Vice President & CAIO
Rob Durst brings years of hands-on experience with artificial intelligence to his role as Vice President & Chief AI Officer of Velaharra. He leads the agency’s AI strategy, connecting emerging technology with the needs of a business built around people, ideas, and culture.
His remit is to identify where AI can strengthen the agency’s work—from research and planning to creative development and day-to-day operations—and turn those possibilities into practical approaches the team can use. Working alongside leadership, he will guide how Velaharra evaluates and adopts AI in support of its priorities and the work it undertakes for clients.
His focus is on tools that help people do better work, with clear decisions about where AI is useful and where human judgement and creative expertise matter most.
