Kumi Maxson’s micro-residency culminates in an evening of collective improvisation and discussion. Accompanying this performance, Maxson created a small program / zine with a range of exercises for facilitating improvisation, written both by themself and others. This event is welcome to all and is the culmination of three months of hosting weekly exploring improvisation sessions at Indexical’s space.

Kumi Maxson is facilitating weekly collective improvisation workshop spaces, every Monday* from March 27 to May 29 from 6-8pm. The workshops will consist of a short reading and listening session, followed by discussions of the liberatory political implications of musical improvisation. The workshops will cater to all levels of improvisational and musical experience (including none!), striving to create an accessible space for non-hierarchical participation and experimentation. Musicians are encouraged to bring their own instruments, however some will be provided for those who do not have their own.

Kumi Maxson will facilitate discussion, activities, and improvisation throughout the two-week period leading up to their residency performance. Drop in and visit with or without an instrument during these times:

Tues 5/23 from 1-4pm
Wed 5/24 from 1-4pm, improv session 3-4pm
Wed 5/31 from 1-4pm, improv session 3-4pm
Thur 6/1 from 11am-1pm

From May 22 to June 1, Indexical’s space will be transformed into a site for ongoing collective music-making, community, and creativity. Two final evenings of long-form improvisations for an audience will be held on June 2 and 3, open to participation from any past workshop participants. 

Masks are required for these workshops. Wind players and vocalists may perform without masks if needed.

*There will be no workshop on April 10 while an installation is being set up in the space. April 24 will be a POC only space, May 8 will be a women/trans/gnc space, and May 22 will be a QTPOC only space. 

This evening of long form improvisation is the culmination of two months of weekly workshop spaces where participants engaged in non-hierarchical discussion and musical experimentation. The aim of these spaces is to build community around collectively investigating the role musical improvisation plays within political and social change. Participants read selected excerpts and discussed their interpretations and experiences. These discussions were then creatively synthesized through collective improvisation. For the last two weeks of the residency, the space was open every day as a site for ongoing collective music-making, community, and creativity. Performance in the final evenings is open to any participants of the two months of workshops. The reading materials as well as transcribed selections from the discussions will be in the space during the final performance.

Masks are required for these performances.

Kumi Maxson is an experimental musician who practices within the jazz tradition. They perform using upright and electric bass, using composition and improvisation to explore a liberated sense of being through embodied practice. As a transgender individual and anti-imperialist activist, Kumi is continually navigating ways the creation of new worlds can flourish within themselves, their communities, and all people who seek existence beyond the bounds of the dominant structures.