About Akiko Yanagisawa

Akiko Yanagisawa

International Arts Curator, Creative Producer & Artistic Director

Akiko Yanagisawa is a London-based international arts curator and creative producer, and Founder and Director of Mu Arts. With over two decades of experience, she specialises in the curation, artistic direction and production of Japanese music and performing arts in an international context.

Committed to artistic excellence, she has developed and produced festivals, concerts, international tours and cross-disciplinary collaborations, working with leading artists and cultural institutions worldwide. Her projects have been presented at major venues and festivals including Kings Place, the Aldeburgh Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Museum Rietberg in Zurich, WOMAD and WOMADelaide.

In 2016, she founded Noh Reimagined, an international platform presenting classical Noh theatre alongside contemporary artistic collaborations and new commissions. As Artistic Director, she has developed partnerships with leading Noh performers and international artists, exploring new possibilities for this classical art form. Recent projects include collaborations with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Opera North and the University of Leeds.

Her professional practice also extends to artistic research, cultural exchange and publishing, including the development and coordination of English translations of contemporary Japanese plays for The Methuen Drama Book of Contemporary Japanese Plays, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation.

She holds a BA in Philosophy (Aesthetics) from Gakushuin University, Tokyo, and a Master’s in Arts Management from City, University of London. In 2022, she received the Global Promotion Award from the Asian Art Fund, Edinburgh.

In 2023, she established Mu Arts Japan in Tokyo to further develop international artistic collaboration and cultural exchange.