DOJO PROJECT
Our New Home!
AIRMW is delighted to share that we now own a permanent home at 4875 N. Elston in the North Mayfield neighborhood! When we bought the building it was mostly unfinished, so we have been working on installing doors, windows, electricity, plumbing, HVAC system, and more over the past 16 months. As of March 2023, there are a few more finishing touches and that need to be completed before we can fully move in.
Our big move is scheduled to be in early April, and we look forward to opening the space to everyone soon!
At AIRMW our mission is to build a vital, self-empowered Asian American community in the Chicago area by maintaining traditional practices and recontextualizing them within the contemporary arts landscape—keeping traditions alive while informing new works with an underlying artistic value. As we consider the sustainability of our organization and cultural mission, we began our Dojo Project Campaign to officially fund our move to a new space in 2019. We envision our new space to be not only AIRMW’s foundational base but as an art center that can support other smaller organizations, projects and individual artists within the Chicagoland community. We are looking to create a small black-box theatre space to support performances and productions of AIRMW and by other artists and organizations within the community.
We would like to thank our early fundraising donors, dedicated organization members who shape our programs, community supporters, and the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF for making this dream possible. We could not have done it without your investment and support.
February 2023: Soft Opening!
On February 24 & 26, AIRMW hosted a two-day private celebration at our new arts hub at 4875 N. Elston. Our very first event at the space included a warm welcome from the Pulaski Elston Business Association and local Alderman, support from the Consul-General of Japan, our affiliates from the West Coast, and concluded with a traditional kagami-biraki ritual.
– Behind the Scenes –
The Dojo Project sponsored in part by the Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF
