Karen Young is DS4SI’s RIRJ Project Lead. Karen is a cultural organizer, taiko player, and teaching artist based in Boston. Influenced by Japanese-American taiko activists of the 70s, Karen combines taiko and creativity with community organizing strategies to empower, engage, and inspire people into action. She has founded and helped launch many creative projects on a local, national, and international level including The Genki Spark, the Brookline Cherry Blossom Festival, Re-Imagining a New World, and Older and Bolder as well served in an advisory capacity for the Radical Imagination for Racial Justice regranting program and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy's Olmsted Now Parks Equity and Spatial Justice grant. She deeply values joy and is passionate about building an equitable, diverse arts ecosystem in Boston.
