SoCal Island Sound: An Island Reggae Listening Experience

The Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum will host a guided listening experience and conversation with Chun Chia Tai, Ph.D., rooted in her research on Island reggae culture in Southern California. Through music and shared conversation, attendees will reflect on Islander experiences in the diaspora and how music helps communities hold identity and belonging.

Curated & shared by Chun Chia Tai, Ph.D.
In community with Island Block Radio & the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (PIEAM)

Through carefully curated tracks, Chun will guide us through:

• the roots of island reggae
  
• how Pacific Islanders in the U.S. use sound to reclaim Indigeneity
  
• music as storytelling, survival, and resistance
  

Through music and shared conversation, we’ll reflect on Islander experiences in the diaspora and how music helps communities hold identity and belonging.

About the facilitator: Chun Chia Tai is a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Riverside. She has worked with Island Block Network for over four years, learning Pacific Islander music, events, and community initiatives in Southern California. Her doctoral research examines reggae music among Pacific Islanders in Southern California, with a focus on migration, diaspora, and Indigenous identity. Her work centers music as a tool for community connection and cultural continuity.

Admission: 🎟️ This is a special program offered for museum visitors; standard museum admission applies. $5 general | $3 students, teachers, seniors, veterans | Free for PIEAM members
Space is limited; rsvp required to team@pieam.org. Please put ISLAND in the subject line.

Parking:
638 Alamitos Ave. (our small lot, across the street; adjacent to the teeth whitening office)
628 Alamitos Ave. (Museum of Latin American Art lot)