The Creative Work Fund invites artists and nonprofit organizations to create new art works through collaborations. It celebrates the role of artists as problem solvers and the making of art as a profound contribution to intellectual inquiry and to the strengthening of communities. Artists are encouraged to collaborate with nonprofit organizations of all kinds.
The Creative Work Fund, a program of The Walter and Elise Haas Fund with additional support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, awarded the Taiko Community Alliance (TCA) one of eleven Performing Arts Grants this year. This highly competitive grant will support the collaborative creation of a new piece entitled “Taiko Voices” by Franco Imperial of San Jose Taiko, Kate Meigneux of Kinnara, and Ryan Kimura of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo.
To celebrate 50 years of taiko in North America, this team is tasked with harnessing the creative energy of the original voices of these three ensembles and fusing it with their current voices, creating a new open-source taiko piece that will debut in late 2019. The project plan also includes publicly available teaching resources with the additional possibility of a teaching tour.
Rome Hamner and the TCA Fundraising Committee are to be credited for initiating the project. After reviewing the results of the 2016 Taiko Census the TCA Fundraising Committee recognized the enormous demand in the taiko community for open source pieces and resources to learn them. At this 50-year milestone, they also realized the unique opportunity that the taiko community has to invite current and original representatives of the first three groups in North America to work together on a lasting gift to the vast community that has grown from their early efforts.
This song commission marks TCA’s entry into new works creation. The taiko community is indeed fortunate that The Creative Work Fund recognizes the significance of the 50th anniversary of taiko in North America and the rich contribution that “Taiko Voices” will make to the hundreds of taiko groups and thousands of players who wish to honor our legacy and forge new connections through the art of taiko.
More information about “Taiko Voices” is provided here by the Creative Work Fund.