Asian Improv Arts

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Asian Improv Arts

Founded in 1987, Asian Improv aRts’ (AIR) mission is to produce, present and document artistic works that represent the Asian American experience.

06/03/2026

This Friday and Saturday, June 5 -6 @ 8pm
Noh Space, San Francisco

Link in bio for tickets!

“Memento Forest — katami”, a new multimedia dance performance serves to nurture the connections with loved ones after they have passed a way through the objects, memories, people, and places that were left behind.

Reflecting on a continuity and ephemerality of life and family, the multimedia dance creation cultivates a sense of lightness through the journey, opening layers of release and renewed communal relations.

04/20/2026

Come join us Saturday, April 26 at 2pm to celebrate our latest cohort of AIR Fellows with performances followed by a community reception! See you there!

Free RSVP link in bio or at bit.ly/continuations2026

ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP

Over 18 months, we support each artist with one-on-one mentorship, grant writing, professional development, and production, as they step into becomings leaders of the next generation.

Fellows receive a generous stipend to assist with rising living costs in the Bay Area, while having the opportunity to interact with multiple generations of AIR artists and engage with community organizers through site visits shining light on the Asian American movement past and present.

10/13/2025

PURPLE GUMS Residency Recap 🎺🎶 Last month, hosted an experimental three-day residency with The Purple Gums, featuring jazz luminaries Francis Wong (saxophone), Bobby Bradford (cornet), and William Roper (tuba). This powerful trio immersed audiences in their adventurous, improvisation-driven soundscape that blended unique musical vocabularies in a living dialogue! Here is a sneak peak of their end of residency showing 💜 

📸 Video ℅

10/07/2025

THIS FRIDAY ✨ From the Golden Age to the Golden Gate: Roots & Reimaginations | Roopa in Flux

Two distinct performances. One unforgettable evening.  Experience an extraordinary double-header program featuring sets by legendary mridangam maestro Prof. Trichy Sankaran and genre-defying vocalist, composer, and AIR 2025-26 Fellow Roopa Mahadevan ! This one-night only show blends ancient and classical Carnatic tradition with jazz, funk, and improvisation joined by some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians: Sruti Sarathy (violin), Rohan Krishnamurthy (mridangam/drumkit), Frank Martin (piano), Kai Eckhardt (bass), and Hemmige Srivatsan (violin).

Don’t miss the opportunity to experience these vibrant sonic journeys through generations, geographies, and genres✨ 
📍 15400 Montalvo Rd Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga 🗓️ Friday, October 10, 2025 | 7:30 PM
🎟 Tickets on sale now: my.montalvoarts.org/2740 ➣ Follow  
📸Photos ℅ the artists

09/20/2025

NEXT WEEK 🔜 An evening of reflection, art-sharing, and collective solidarity featuring artists Johnny Huy Nguyen, Tim Kim, Terrence Paschal, Adam Ahmed, Christine Huang, and more! Come. Create. Interact. There will be plenty of ways to engage and support - all proceeds will directly benefit the Sameer Project and other mutual aid efforts in Gaza. If you’re looking for a space to witness and be in solidarity with other artists, find yourself at Understory in Oakland on the 27th from 6-9 PM.

Uncivil Disobedience: Art Against Empire | Fundraiser for Gaza
Saturday, Sep 27 | 6:00 - 9:00 PM  3340 International Blvd.

🌱 Featured Artists huy.nguyen

💚 There will also be community donation to help pay Understory staff and artists.

🍁COVID safety: To keep the community safe, we encourage folks to wear a mask indoors and test before coming to the event!

📸 Graphic c/o .disobedience

09/17/2025

New grants, new works! 🎉 We are thrilled to celebrate .huy.nguyen —multidisciplinary dance artist, choreographer, and long-time AIR staff— whose artistry continues to shape and strengthen our communities through his sweeping physicality and dramaturgical depth. Johnny was recently awarded two major grants from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and San Francisco Arts Commission Arts Impact Endowment (AIE) to develop a new full-length experimental dance theater solo, BURN, and support his ongoing artistic growth through professional development and capacity-building🔥 
As an artist deeply rooted in community, Johnny’s work bridges tradition and contemporary creations that bring radical depth to cultural themes of intergenerational healing, masculinity, resilience and care. These awards are not only a recognition of his visionary artistry, but a reflection of his active commitment and contributions to the artistic community in the Bay Area and beyond.  Please join us in congratulating Johnny on these well-deserved achievements—we can’t wait to witness the powerful work to come!  > Follow .huy.nguyen  > Sign up for his newsletter: www.johnnyhuynguyen.com

📸 Photo by .huy.nguyen

09/11/2025

Celebrate Little Saigon’s 50th this Saturday 🎉 To commemorate 50 years of Vietnamese refugee resettlement in the U.S., Little Saigon will be hosting all-day festivities as part of their Second Saturdays in the Tenderloin. Join the community on September 13th for a festive afternoon of live performance, DJs, fashion shows, and vendors honoring the cultural legacy of Vietnamese communities in San Francisco and beyond. AIR Artists .huy.nguyen and .truc will be part of special street performance ritual (dance, music) and activation of the Guardian Lion statues in SF’s Little Saigon—don’t miss out!

✨Little Saigon 50th Anniversary Celebration✨ Saturday, September 13 | 12–6 PM  Larkin Street (between O’Farrell & Eddy) FREE & open to the public

📸 Graphic by .huy.nguyen

09/10/2025

Celebrate Little Saigon’s 50th this Saturday! 🎉 To commemorate 50 years of Vietnamese refugee resettlement in the U.S., there will be all-day festivities as part of their Second Saturdays in the Tenderloin. Join the community on September 13th for a festive afternoon of live performance, DJs, and vendors honoring the cultural legacy of Vietnamese communities in San Francisco and beyond. AIR Artists .huy.nguyen and will be part of special street performance ritual (dance + music) and activation of the Guardian Lion statues in SF’s Little Saigon—don’t miss out!

✨ Little Saigon 50th Anniversary Celebration✨ Saturday, September 13 | 12–6 PM  Larkin Street (between O’Farrell & Eddy) FREE & open to the public

📸 Graphic by .huy.nguyen

08/26/2025

This month we held our 3rd convening with our current 2025/26 AIR Fellowship cohort at the historic ✨ AIR co-founder and Asian American jazz luminary joined us in the morning as we shared strategies and approaches to business management, budgeting, financial planning as independent artists in the Bay Area. This included discussing what solidarity economies look like and how to envision short-term and long-term creative, career, and personal goals holistically. 
After a delicious lunch at in the Mission where we further discussed and connected over the morning’s topics, previous 2024-25 AIR Fellow, Peekaboo aka facilitated an expansive and nourishing creative exchange with the cohort. Surrounded by the paintings of legendary Bay Area artist and percussionist, Pete Escovedo, each fellow shared an offering to the group based in their artistic medium. All of us left feeling nourished physically, creative, and spiritually, and we are excited for the still remaining 11 months of the fellowship to see how this cohort continues to deepen!

📸 Photos & videos c/o .huy.nguyen

Address

456 Montgomery Street, Ste 1350
San Francisco, CA
94104

Website

http://www.asianimprov.org/

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