St. Paul Taiko group beating the drum for state support so they won’t be noisy neighbors

Hailey Gabriel’s spirit soars when she powerfully bangs the drums in her taiko class. She knows, however, that not everyone loves the boom, boom, booming.

“We make a lot of noise,” said Gabriel, a student and board member at TaikoArts Midwest. “We keep getting kicked out.”

Taiko’s true believers call it a high-energy performance art that combines music, dance, martial arts, athletics and culture. To ensure that it can finally find a permanent home, TaikoArts Midwest plans to renovate a vacant warehouse in St. Paul’s North End. But a request for state bonding to cover half the $4 million price tag is languishing.

So much so that its Senate sponsor, Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, on Tuesday said the organization will likely have to wait until 2025.

While she supports TaikoArts Midwest’s effort to secure state bonding money, Pappas said in a statement that the Legislature “is grappling with serious water, road and community needs across the state.”

She added: “We are not able to accommodate nonprofit requests as the Legislature did in 2023. I look forward to having that cash availability again next year.”

That likely leaves TaikoArts scrambling for an interim solution. Currently the group shares rented space at 655 Fairview Av. N. with another drum group, said Jennifer Weir, its executive and artistic director.

The organization’s lease expires in March 2025. Weir said the group bought a vacant warehouse at 449 Front Av. during the pandemic, with plans to soundproof it to ensure neighborhood peace while also expanding programming to make it a true community resource. They’ve raised $500,000 so far to do the work, Weir said.

Started in 1997 as an offering through Theater Mu, the country’s second-largest Asian American theater organization, TaikoArts Midwest broke off into its own organization in 2016 with Weir in the lead. The group conducts a range of classes, offers in-school residencies and regularly performs at the Ordway and other area venues.

“Interest in taiko is growing, but our capacity has to grow and completing this building is the first step to making that happen,” said Weir, an adoptee from Korea who says taiko‘s physical and spiritual energy was transformative for her and others. “We’re perfect for that neighborhood.”

She added: “As an Asian-American, [Taiko] is the perfect antidote to all the Asian stereotypes. It becomes this wonderful tool of power and connection. People just grow and expand.”

Weir’s work to open the historically male-dominated art form to women and the LGBTQ community is “revolutionary and progressive,” said Lily Tung Crystal, Theater Mu’s artistic director and a supporter of Weir’s work.

Tung Crystal said she watched Weir’s award-winning documentary “Finding Her Beat,” now available on Amazon Prime. “I didn’t really understand the enormity of the work she has done until I saw that movie,” Tung Crystal said.

On Wednesday, when told of Pappas’ statement, Weir said in a text message that work will continue even if TaikoArts Midwest has to wait a bit longer to get all the funding it needs.

“I’m still hopeful we can find the fundraising from other sources, as I know we have so much we can offer the North End neighborhood of St. Paul,” she said. “We keep fighting to make this vision happen one way or another!”