Community empowerment via symbiosis: the impact of collegiate taiko drumming in the United States, 1990-2019

While the community of taiko drumming practitioners at the college or university level has spread rapidly throughout the United States, their impact thus far has largely been overlooked. Here, we present a model that illustrates the historic and ongoing symbiotic relationship between the collegiate taiko and greater taiko communities which has had an empowering effect upon each other over the last thirty years. We describe the genesis, development, challenges, and ecosystem of the collegiate taiko community, and the ways in which they helped strengthen the greater taiko community in return. Our work not only demonstrates the importance of understanding the extent of collegiate taiko’s impact, but also signals a call for more scholarly attention towards community arts practiced on college campuses.