2025

NORTH AMERICAN TAIKO CONFERENCE

Phoenix, AZ

Labor Day Weekend: August 29-September 1

Phoenix Convention Center

Registration Still Open! Tickets Available!

Workshop selection in order of registration

Many Ways to
Register!

PARTICIPANT Registration Includes:

  • 24 hours of live-instrument workshops over 4-days of conference

  • Discussions, presentations, and activities throughout the conference

  • Tickets to Taiko Ten (Saturday Night) and Taiko Jam (Sunday Night)

  • Full site access, including the marketplace

  • Exclusive Fat Rabbit Farms t-shirt

  • Payment Plan available!

COMMUNITY Registration Includes:

  • Discussions, presentations, and activities throughout the conference

  • Tickets to Taiko Ten (Saturday Night) and Taiko Jam (Sunday Night)

  • Full site access, including the marketplace

A LA CARTE Registration: 
The A la Carte Ticket is designed for those that are on a limited time schedule and offers maximum flexibility by allowing the purchaser to decide how many instructional hours they'd like to attend.   A la Carte Tickets do not come with shirts, or any other registration materials.

DAY PASS (8-hour) Registration: 
Participants will have access to eight hours of workshops across the entire conference (Fri-Mon) in addition to unlimited lecture/discussion sessions as well as access to plenary sessions, the marketplace, AND all night-time concerts (ie: Taiko Ten, Taiko Jam).  Day-Pass tickets do not come with shirts, or any other registration materials.

CONCERTS

TAIKO JAM

Taiko Jam is our premier concert, featuring invited special guests as well as local Arizona groups representing their history and community. This special concert is a rare chance to see these groups sharing the stage together and presenting the best of our artform.

TAIKO TEN

Join us for this exciting, community-centered concert featuring taiko groups from across the USA. It's a great opportunity to see different taiko styles and songs, and to cheer on the groups as they play their hearts out!

SWINGPOSIUM

Swingposium is an immersive theater production created by San Jose Taiko that tells the story of Swing music and dance at “camp” during the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. This lecture demonstration is a behind the scenes peek of how San Jose Taiko’s unique immersive touring experience was conceived, developed, and continues to evolve. Participants will learn small portions of various taiko choreography from the show along with takeaways for how an artform can be utilized to tell Asian American stories that connect to many communities.

Source: San Jose Taiko

Taiko in the Desert

The theme of ‘taiko in the desert’ is intended to reflect both the literal and the metaphorical. Our aim is to not only highlight the unique taiko ecosystem of the desert southwest, but also to consider deserts more broadly. Although often places of limited resources and difficult conditions, deserts are rich with their own kind of beauty. The goal of the conference is thus to showcase taiko that has arisen from these distinct factors - taiko that not only exists but thrives in the face of uncommon challenge, whether that is posed by historical and cultural context, geographic isolation, or the limitations of the human body. We strive to honor the ingenuity and resilience demonstrated under these circumstances, and to acknowledge the ways in which communities have been built and sustained in resource-poor environments around a connection to and love for our shared art form.

Theme Written by Ishani Deo

Volunteer Time and Talent!

Looking to volunteer at the conference? We’d love to have you! We rely on volunteer like you to have a fun and successful conference. Thank you!

Buy an Ad in the Program

You can help support our conference and spread the word about your group or organization through the purchase of an advertisement in the program.

Sponsor or Vend at NATC

You can help us support the conference and reach a large audience by vending, exhibiting, or advertising at our conference. Please see the above portal.

Calling all Taiko!

If you are a nearby group or driving to the conference, please consider loaning some equipment. We have discounts on registration for groups loaning drums.