We are an Austin-based organization dedicated to creating collaborative artistic experiences that bring people together across cultural lines. Our programs — from the monthly Maqam Gathering to Atash, our seven-time Austin Music Award-winning world music ensemble — are built on genuine encounter rather than surface fusion. We believe that depth is what makes the difference. Any tradition worth engaging deserves to be engaged seriously.

We also believe that society is strengthened by the plurality of voices within it. Our work is not only about music — it is about amplifying those voices, bridging cultural and generational gaps, and fostering the kind of mutual understanding that a city like Austin, with its extraordinary diversity, both needs and deserves. We seek to catalyze collaboration among individuals, communities, institutions, and disciplines — building an ecosystem where creativity and connection can flourish together.

Our founder, Roberto Paolo Riggio, has spent four decades building relationships with musicians and traditions across the Arabic, Hindustani, flamenco, West African, and Latin worlds — not as an observer, but as a student, a collaborator, and a fellow traveler. AMAI is the organization that grew from that life’s work.

We are rooted in Austin and oriented toward the world. And we believe the time is now.

AMAI exists because the world is bigger than a tradition, and smaller than we think. Welcome to our community.