Search Results

WORKSHOPS View Workshop Calendar Our in-house taiko, classical Japanese dance and shamisen programs periodically offer beginner workshops ranging from one-day to five-week sessions. All workshops take place at our AIRMW building (4875 N. Elston)　 Taiko Shamisen Dance ↓ Current offerings below ↓ Taiko UPCOMING WORKSHOP DATES 1.5 hour beginner workshops Monday, April 20 All adult workshops from 6:30-8pm *Kids class from 5:30-6:15pm (ages 4-10) when offered AT THE AIRMW HUB 4875 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60630 Register Minimum of 5 participants required for workshops to proceed. Maximum of 20 participants. Payment due upon registration and is non-refundable. For questions email: tsukasataiko@airmw.org Shubukai UPCOMING WORKSHOPS New workshop dates coming soon Register For questions email: rika@airmw.org Shamisen UPCOMING WORKSHOPS New workshop dates coming soon Register For questions email: info@airmw.org

SUPPORTERS Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, National Endowment for the Arts, the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Walder Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts and the Joyce Foundation. Our Dojo Project is supported in part by a Chicago Cultural Treasures Grant by IFF.

Asian Improv Records (AIRecords) is record label project managed by Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) to support experimental music and Asian & Asian American artists. More than a label, AIRecords is a cultural archive of Asian and Asian American artists active in the creative music communities in Chicago and beyond. AIRMW oversees the project to continue supporting underrepresented artists and musical experimentation. AIRecords was founded in 1987 by Bay Area musician-activists Jon Jang and Francis Wong as a vehicle for Asian American composers, performers and their collaborators to release music to the public during the emergence of the Asian American Consciousness Movement. Beginning with Jang’s landmark LP recording The Ballad or the Bullet? and in quick succession Glenn Horiuchi’s three LP releases Next Step (1998), Issei Spirit (1988), and Manzanar Voices (1989); the label catalog has grown to over 100 titles. Visit our website: asianimprovrecords.com LEARN MORE

AIRMW NEWSLETTER

CHICAGO ASIAN AMERICAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025 marks the 30th anniversary celebration programming starting in September at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival with guest Yamashita Yosuke. Main programming is presented over four days in November at Elastic Arts featuring established and emerging voices that represent the multigenerational landscape; plus a discussion panel our AIRMW space about the history, inception and growth of the festival. We celebrate the last event of the CAAJF at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in December with a special Reduction 11 program in conjunction with the Yoko Ono exhibition, reviving music from the SKYLANDING album from Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project commissioned to celebrate Ono's permanent sculpture in Jackson Park, in 2016. 30th ANNIVERSARY of the CHICAGO ASIAN AMERICAN JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025 MAIN PROGRAM November 7-10, 2025 at Elastic Arts (3429 W. Diversey Ave. #208) from 8:30pm Friday, November 7 @Elastic Arts Set 1 (8:30pm) – Francis Wong and Chicago Time Code Set 2 (9:30pm) – Jeff Chan and Ratchet Saturday, November 8 1pm @ AIRMW (4875 N. Elston Ave) – CAAJF Panel Discussion 8:30pm @ Elastic Arts Set 1 (8:30pm) – Ester Hana Set 2 (9:30pm) – Yoko Noge and Jazz Me Blues Sunday, Nov 9 @ Elastic Arts Set 1 (7:30pm) – Takashi Shallow Set 2 (8:30pm) – Chien-an Yuan and All Things Shining Set 3 (9:30pm) – Kioto Aoki, Haruhi Kobayashi and Mai Sugimoto Trio Monday, Nov 10 @Elastic Arts 8:30pm – Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project Tickets available at the door $20/ $10 with student ID CAAJF programming at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival September 2025 Satuday, September 27 • Nikutai Mondo Trio @ 1pm • Asian American Jazz Fest 30th Anniversay Panel @ 4:30pm Sunday,September 28 • CHICAGO ASIAN-AMERICAN ENSEMBLE: Origins of Now 2025 @ 3pm Visit the full Hyde Park Jazz Festival schedule here CAAJF and TL22 CAAJF is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation, the Walder Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and a special project grant from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. REDUCTION 11 Friday, December 19 @ 7pm Edlis Neeson Theater at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago In tandem with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko is delighted to present Reduction 11, as part of our annual end-of-year concert series. This year's program features the music of Yoko Ono's SKYLANDING, a project recorded by Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project in 2016 and a collaboration with Yoko Ono for her sculpture in Jackson Park. The MIYUMI Project plays with Tsukasa Taiko to present this project on the theatrical stage with traditional Japanese music & dance. *Tickets available November 10* 29th CAAJF in 2024: November 1 & 2 8:30pm @ Elastic Arts (3429 W Diversey Ave #208) Francis Wong Ensemble & Chien-An Yuan + Naomi Columna AIRMW presents two acts for the first night of the 29th edition of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. The evening opens with Chien-An Yuan and Naomi Columna, followed by Francis Wong's ensemble with Chicago musicians. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 Joy Yang Trio (Joy Yang, Mitchell Maftean & Ori Sergel) Day two of the 29th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival (CAAJF) presents the Joy Yang Trio at Elastic Arts to celebrate her newest album "LIVE ON" released through Asian Improv Records November 4 7pm @ Green Line Performing Arts Center (329 East Garfield Boulevard) Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project closes out this year's CAAJF at Arts + Public Life's First Monday Jazz The MIYUMI Project is a cross-cultural music journey and one of the first Asian-American/African-American collaborative music projects to come out of the Midwest in the late 90s. This project illuminates the drum traditions of Japanese taiko and jazz in a musical approach that incorporates the drummer languages of each genre. Infusing Japanese-influenced aesthetics of accompaniment within the rhythm section, the group carries this concept of time into, through, and underneath the music as an essential and natural thread. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4 LEARN ABOUT CAAJF CIRCA 1995

ARTS INITIATIVE PROGRAM The Arts Initiative Program is an incubation program where AIRMW provides organizational structure, financial support and other resources to Asian and Asian American artists and smaller organizations outside of AIRMW; with the ultimate objective being to increase the capacity of both partners to create and produce work in a sustainable manner. SELECT PROJECTS AIRMW at Elastic Arts (2023-24) In collaboration with Elastic Arts Foundation, AIRMW presents a monthly AIRMW at Elastic Arts series inviting local and national musicians and performers for an evening celebrating Asian and Asian American artsists. Jackie Andres, Inangbayan / Motherland (2023) AIRMW presents Jackie Andres's debut solo show Inangbayan / Motherland at Hairpin Arts Center. In the exhibition, we are given the unique opportunity to follow a gentle and restless investigation of the ‘inbetween’. Motherland offers insight into drawing the lines and making connections for ourselves. To be both outside and inside, to be at home and far away, but more than anything, to chase a feeling that feels so close, yet is unreachable. Andres reaches from her own experience as a child of Filipino immigrants and as a young person in the world experiencing a primitive desire to belong. The show features hand manipulated film, Super 8 footage, and print media to lead her audience with care to an intimate look into the peripheral details of the Asian American diaspora. More about this event HERE . NOBLE Exhibition by Nancy Wong (2022) AIRMW hosted Nancy Wong's solo exhibition at the Hairpin Arts Center, featuring her ongoing photo project titled Noble. This work seeks to build a diverse, multigenerational archive of contemporary Asian America through portraits of its constituents. Each portrait acts as a visual acknowledgement of the vast and varied stories – the dreams, the fears, and everything in between – that constitute the Asian American community. Wong’s subjects are invited to select the clothing in which they are photographed, and to bring an object of significance to their Asian American identity to be photographed with as well. Our Perspective with Mia Park (2019-2021) Mia Park is a Chicago actress, TV show host and co-founder of A-Squared Theater Workshop. Mia’s project is the Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings, which is a staged play reading series intended to provide inspiration, space, and audiences for Midwest Asian Pacific American playwrights, directors, and actors. They are script-in-hand concert readings where actors read plays written and directed by Asian Americans, and is the first ever Asian American play reading series in the Midwest. As the sponsored artist, Mia is given full curatorial and creative agency to organize event proceedings. Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project | 思考回路 • Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought (2018-2022) Initiated in 2018, the Chicago Obihiro Exchange Project is a program produced by Asian Improv aRts Midwest that facilitates an immersive exchange between Japanese-American artists in Chicago and artists from the Obihiro & Tokachi region of Japan. The exchange began in 2018 with AIRMW artist Kioto Aoki's residency and exhibition in Obihiro City, then a series of exhibitions titled 思考回路 / Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought between 2019–2021. The 2022 programming realized the release of Hiroshi Mehata’s solo album through Asian Improv Records, recorded during his visit to Chicago in 2019 as part of the first 思考回路 • Shikoukairo presentation.

DONATE Support from our community is vital for us to be able to continue our educational efforts and to produce high-quality arts presentations, raising the awareness of the Asian American experience on an international level. Donations help us support the in-house programs and artists, as well as our collaborative, curatorial and artistic production ventures. Your contributions are meaningful and help us to continue our work. PAY WITH CREDIT CARD ON PAYPAL CHECKS / CASH Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) 4875 N Elston Ave, Chicago IL, 60630 Checks can be made out to: Asian Improv aRts Midwest OR FIND US ON PAYPAL / VENMO / ZELLE admin@airmw.org @AIRMW admin@airmw.org THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

TSUKASA TAIKO taikolegacy.com Artists History Taiko Workshops Tsukasa Calendar Taiko Legacy Contact TSUKASA TAIKO is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest that aims to preserve, develop, and pass on the traditional concepts of Japanese art as a cultural legacy, while expanding and evolving the art of taiko. Dedicated to understanding and strengthening Japanese American, Asian American, and Japanese identities, Tsukasa Taiko offers taiko instruction, workshops, educational presentations, and performances that advance the understanding of taiko within the context of the cultural, performing and musical arts. Special workshops also include, shamisen (3-stringed lute), and shinobue (bamboo flute) to all ages and skill levels. It works closely with schools, companies, and organizations to provide special performances and presentations on the history of taiko and Japanese music. As an active performing group, Tsukasa Taiko presents over fifty shows a year, both locally and internationally, including venues and events such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Steppenwolf Theater, the Chicago Cultural Center, The Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Harris Theater, Millennium Park, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Chicago Symphony Center, the Smithsonian, and the Malta International Theater Festival in Poland among others. Tsukasa Taiko’s director, teachers, and staff are all dedicated professionals, recognized as world class, working artists. Director Tatsu Aoki is a renowned musician, composer, and recording artist, who works in traditionally based Japanese music as well as experimental and jazz idioms. Guest artist Noriko Sugiyama has returned to Chicago from Japan, to work with Tsukasa Taiko. Lead performer Kioto Aoki is Chicago's sole taiko artist, working on solo musical projects and installations while simultaneously maintaining a visual arts practice. With strong leadership and aesthetic vision, Tsukasa Taiko works to cultivate artistic excellence and is positioned to further expand and advance Japanese music in Chicago, and to develop as a cultural beacon for the future. NATIONAL PRESENCE, COMMUNITY ROOTS Tsukasa Taiko maintains an active national performance schedule and has presented its works at venues outside of Chicago including the Smithsonian, Krannert Art Museum, Indiana State Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco among others. Tsukasa Taiko established The National Gintenkai Project, regularly collaborating with GenRyu Arts (GRA) in San Francisco to expand our professional unit activities and partnership across the nation. This National Gintenkai is the premier performing ensemble dedicated to reviving compositions from 1970’s Tokyo to maintain the traditional aesthetics of the Japanese arts through taiko. 司太鼓は、シカゴ定住者会を拠点に活動するシカゴ地域で唯一の日本人太鼓グループです。プロ指導陣により、太鼓を通して日本の文化・ 伝統を継承すると共に、より進化した太鼓芸術をめざして活動を続け地域の日系・アジア系コミュニティーの発展に尽くしています。 また、年間を通してシカゴ市内のみならず海外においても幅広く活動しており太鼓クラス、ワークショップ、レクチャー等で太鼓の叩き方を教えるだけでなく、文化・芸術活動がコミュニティーの歴史・伝統を反映する大きな存在であるという認識を深めてもらうことにも努めています。 太鼓ワークショップには4歳以上なら参加者年齢、経験を問わず体験して頂けます。 詳細、ご質問、メッセージ等々メールにてお問い合わせください。日本語・英語と双方随時受け付けておりますので、以下のアドレスへお気軽にご連絡ください： tsukasataiko@airmw.org Specific inquiries about Tsukasa Taiko can be directed to tsukasataiko@airmw.org or info@airmw.org

OUR MISSION Asian Improv aRts Midwest’s (AIRMW) mission is to build a vital, self-empowered Asian American Community in the Chicago area by advancing the understanding and profile of Asian American cultures through the traditional and contemporary cultural arts. Our work at AIRMW is grounded in an understanding of tradition as an aesthetic lineage. We believe that we represent and offer something more than a simple image of tradition and culture. Our resident artists are part of a legacy that one is born into or dedicates truly a lifetime to and as such is an immensely valuable and irreproducible experience. In an effort to continue preserving these experiences that only express themselves through the non-canonized pedagogical model, we offer training sessions in lieu of "classes" that are more applicable to folk art and craft histories. We recognize however, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to preserve this form of rigidity of pedagogy, even in the classical arts, and especially in the US. But we believe there is a way to retain the aesthetic and philosophical principles that still can flourish within the contemporary world. Our artistry is founded in the preservation of a philosophy that is rooted in traditional performing, musical and visual arts: the aesthetic lineage. AIRMW artists are more than just craftsmen or artisans, but artists who can recontextualize the practical applications of our technical expertise to create new and contemporary works relevant to the current cultural landscape. To do this, one must understand the underlying aesthetics of what makes a work "traditionally Japanese" or "traditional," and it is this philosophy that AIRMW continues to share through taiko, nihon-buyou and shamisen. Through our in-house programs and collaborative projects, AIRMW is dedicated to creating productive relationships with artists, communities and institutions. We continually strive to maintain the responsibility of professionalism as part of cultural preservation by producing high quality arts programs that accurately reflect the multicultural, multi-ethnic reality of Chicago and the nation.

NEWS ARCHIVE *We're currently working on updating this section – thank you for your patience!* 2026 • Daniel A. Brown, Globe Unity – Miminari Album Review , The New York City Jazz Record Issue 287, March, 2026. • Akira Saito, 『青木希音＋小林春日＋杉本舞 / miminari』 JazzTokyo. January 17, 2026. • Akira Saito, “30th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival.” Jazz.in VOL.027, February, 2026. 2025 • Malachi Favors away from the Art Ensemble of Chicago , Andrey Henkin for Bass on Top (2025) • With its own home base, Asian Improv aRts Midwest and its jazz festival are here to stay, Hannah Edgar for the Chicago Tribune (November 2, 2025) • Crescendo: How Art Makes Movements (1981-1999) – exhibition at the Asian Arts Initiative curated by Joyce Chung (March 1 - June 28, 2025) • Midwest Buddhist Temple Bulletin – Happenings , January 2025 (Vol. 30, No.1) • Review: Hyde Park Jazz Festival conquers federal funding cuts with historic attendance, Chicago Tribune (September 29, 2025) 2024 • Review: Genres and Cultures Meld as Taiko, Jazz, and Shubukai Dance Fusion Perform on MCA Stage Third Coast Review (December 17, 2024) • Tatsu Aoki / AIRMW feature in the Wednesday Journal (December 10, 2024) • Chicago Tribune's "Things to Do This Weekend" (December 13, 2024) • Around Town with Ana Belaval stops by AIRMW to learn taiko and dance. (December 3, 2024) • Stooping to Talk to a Cat on a Doorstep (Asian Improv Records) reviewed in The New York City Jazz Record (Nov 2024) • Taiko Legacy 21 in Newcity's Today in Culture (October 30, 2024) • AIRMW is a recipient of a 2024 CityArts Program grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (September 23, 2024) • "Carrying on Tradition Through Music: Tatsu Aoki and the Toyoakimoto legacy of innovation and tradition in the Japanese cultural arts of Chicago," Pacific Citizen Vol.179, No.6 (September 20, 2024) • The MIYUMI Project mentioned the Hyde Park Jazz Festival preview on Chicago Reader (September 18, 2024) • Tatsu Aoki selected for 2024 Avant-Garde Masters Grants, awarded by The Film Foundation and the National Film Preservation Foundation (September 10, 2024) • Stooping to Talk to a Cat on a Doorstep (from AIRecords ) reviewed in Dusted Magazine (June 2024) • Toyoaki feature on Chicago Shimpo, English version , Japanese version (June 2024) • Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project mentioned as a Quick Pick feature in 10 must-see shows happening during EXPO Chicago for EXPO ART WEEK (April 2024) • Asian Improv Records' newest releases Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves by Chicago-based musician Mai Sugimoto is on recommended new release list of The New York City Jazz Record's annual “ Women in Jazz Issue "(March 2024) • View the archived recording of Haruhi Kobayashi's interview of Tatsu Aoki on Fred Anderson's legacy. Event co-presented by AIRMW & Experimental Sound Studio (February 2024) 2023 • Tatsu Aoki interview for Jazz Tokyo: https://jazztokyo.org/interviews/post-89664/ (July 1, 2023) • AIRMW awarded a Chicago Arts Recovery Program grant from the Chicago Mayor’s Office & the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (May 9, 2023) • Tsukasa Taiko on WGN's Daytime Chicago segment (May 8, 2023) • BEST EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC ON BANDCAMP: APRIL 2023 featuring Tatsu Aoki's new album "Actual Music Now" (May 3, 2023) • CHICAGO SHIMPO “Grand Opening of New Dojo, AIRMW Cultural Hub” (March 30, 2023) • 2022 • Tsukasa Taiko on NBC Chicago Today (August 10, 2022) 2021 • Chicago’s Cultural Treasures: 40 OF CHICAGO’S BIPOC ARTS ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE $14.4M (July 16, 2021) *news prior to 2021 not listed*

CONTACT US Email us at: info@airmw.org Or use this form ↓ First Name Last Name Email Write a message Submit Thank you for your submission. We will respond to you soon. Stay upated with our activities!

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES In addition to traditional performing arts programs, AIRMW and its artists are active within the contemporary performing, music and visual arts landscape. Learn more about our in-house and collaborative projects below. the MIYUMI project LEARN MORE Tatsu Aoki's ensemble, The MIYUMI Project, is one of the longest-standing amalgams of Chicago's avant-garde jazz and Japanese traditional music. Drawing from aesthetics rooted in the Japanese tradition and Japanese taiko drumming permeate the laboratory of sound where he explores the nexus of cultures: Asian and American; Japanese and African; past and present.