PT.FWD

pt.fwd is an independent non-profit program that presents arts and cultural programming in Bloomington-Normal, IL.

pt.fwd's mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art.

03/22/2026

Just added: local artist IVO will open for Danz CM this Friday, March 27, at - starting at 6pm! This show is free to attend and open to the public.

IVO is the moniker used by Bloomington, IL based musician Brian Kael. He is set to perform an extended ambient drone piece composed from home recorded samples and a minichord.

is the self-produced musician, songwriter, and composer formerly known as Computer Magic whose beloved Synth History zine has reinforced her DIY all-star status.

MYTHS, the new cryptic ambient manifestation by Danz CM, is out now via Channel 9 Records. It’s a sweeping, cinematic universe of waves that feels both timeless and otherworldly.

Danz CM will be a 2026 David B. Williams Visiting Artist in the School of Creative Technologies at Illinois State University. This concert is generously supported by the David and Kay Williams Music Education Endowment.

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pt.fwd (pronounced “point forward”) is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit dedicated to organizing contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

Committed to celebrating the communal experience of listening to powerful new sonic art, pt.fwd presents compelling programming that supports local and regional artists. All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

02/22/2026

.fwd will be holding a DJ Night Fundraiser at this Thursday, February 26 from 6-9pm!

This evening of curated playlists and craft beer will benefit pt.fwd’s upcoming programming season, featuring new merch and themed playlists assembled by our volunteers and board members - featuring some former and upcoming pt.fwd artists. We’ll also be selling some new merch (including these bumper stickers) and unveiling some details about forthcoming concerts. See you there!

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All .fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

www.ptfwd.org

10/23/2025

Last night was such a beautiful show ✨

Thanks to everyone who came out!

pt.fwd will be taking our usual winter break from hosting concerts, but stay tuned for other events in the community until we're back in the spring!

💖🩵💛

10/12/2025

🌞 It was so nice to see at the Sugar Creek Arts Festival in Uptown Normal this morning! 🌞

Catch them again on Tuesday, October 21!

pt.fwd presents Cole Pulice, with Swim Ignorant Fire
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 6:30pm
McLean County Museum of History
200 N. Main St
Bloomington, IL

Saxophonist, composer and improviser .pulice (Oakland, CA) traffics in shimmering, otherworldly beauty. On Land’s End Eternal, their first album for , the Oakland, CA-based artist expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements. The result is a prismatic collection of pastoral chamber jazz in six parts. Cole’s previous release, a 22-minute electroacoustic odyssey titled "If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You In the Pasture" (Longform Editions, 2023), was named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork and included in the publication’s Best Songs Of The 2020s. Cole has also released a smattering of solo and collaborative work on beloved labels including Moon Glyph, Aural Canyon and Cached Media. Their performance history includes appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival (UK), Rewire (NL), ÜBERJAZZ (DE), Drone Not Drones (US), & Noise Pop Festival (US).

Local artist (ft. Stefen Robinson , Nate Hahn , and Michael Carlson ) will perform tracks and jams from their latest release on .

This concert is generously funded by the Mirza Foundation.

Don't miss it!!!

Link in bio! 🔗

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All .fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd's mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

www.ptfwd.org

09/25/2025

🔊 This Saturday, Sept. 27, computer music pioneer John Bischoff & will kick off the 2025-2026 pt.fwd season! 🔊

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FREE ADMISSION
1613 East Emerson Street, Bloomington, IL
Saturday Sept. 27, 7pm

Bischoff (Oakland, CA) will perform new compositions for DIY electronics and laptop software. star tilde (Bloomington-Normal, IL) will perform new ambient pieces written using custom software instruments and plugins.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2025pulice &

Saxophonist, composer and improviser Cole Pulice (Oakland, CA) traffics in shimmering, otherworldly beauty. On “Land’s End Eternal”, their first album for Leaving Records , Pulice expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements. Swim Ignorant Fire (Bloomington-Normal, IL) will perform new tracks arranged for an ensemble of performers.

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Date TBD, Spring 2026
👀 Mystery Artist 👀

Stay very tuned!!! You won’t want to miss this one... 👀

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Saturday, May 9, 2026

Normal Community High School Experimental Ensemble

NCHS students will play arrangements of American classics and improvisations with faculty members Stefen Robinson and Zachary Sargent and guest artists.

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All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and other local venues, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

Visit the links in our bio or www.ptfwd.org for full details! 📌

09/24/2025

.fwd presents John Bischoff &
Saturday, Sept 27, 2025

Opening for John Bischoff, star tilde (Jael Oriekaose) is a music technologist and digital instrument designer based in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. A recent graduate from .creativetech , he will perform new ambient pieces written using custom software instruments and plugins.

~~~~~~

All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd's mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and other local venues, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

Visit the links in our bio or www.ptfwd.org for full details! 📌

09/05/2025

As we gear up to announce more of our 2025-2026 programming season at pt.fwd, join us for a look back at some of the wonderful images made during last year’s shows.

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All .fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

www.ptfwd.org

07/02/2025

✨ Upcoming Season sneak peak! ✨

pt.fwd presents Cole Pulice
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 6:30pm
McLean County Museum of History
200 N. Main St
Bloomington, IL

Saxophonist, composer and improviser .pulice (Oakland, CA) traffics in shimmering, otherworldly beauty. On Land’s End Eternal, their first album for Leaving Records (released May 9th), the Oakland, CA-based artist expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements. The result is a prismatic collection of pastoral chamber jazz in six parts. Cole’s previous release, a 22-minute electroacoustic odyssey titled If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You In the Pasture (Longform Editions, 2023), was named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork and included in the publication’s Best Songs Of The 2020s. Cole has also released a smattering of solo and collaborative work on beloved labels including Moon Glyph, Aural Canyon and Cached Media. Their performance history includes appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival (UK), Rewire (NL), ÜBERJAZZ (DE), Drone Not Drones (US), & Noise Pop Festival (US).

This concert is generously funded by the Mirza Foundation.

Don't miss it!!!

Link in bio! 🔗

~~~~~~

All .fwd concerts are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

pt.fwd's mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in a historic, acoustically curious setting.

www.ptfwd.org

04/26/2025

On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the NCHS
Experimental Ensemble will perform a concert in the at 7pm. This concert will showcase NCHS’s young noise-makers as they explore new sounds, instruments, and performance techniques.

Local artist Colin Winkelman will open the concert with new songs and electronic compositions. This concert is free and open to the public.

Full event details are available on pt.fwd’s website.

Since 2018, pt.fwd has been a vibrant force in the Central Illinois arts community. We are an independent, artist-run 501c3 non-profit that organizes music events in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. pt.fwd’s mission is to celebrate the communal experience of coming together to listen to powerful new sonic art. In partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and other local venues, pt.fwd promotes new work by local and regional artists in historic, and acoustically curious, settings. All of our events are free and open to the public.

pt.fwd is an artist-run, independent non-profit program that organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. All pt.fwd concerts are free and open to the public. pt.fwd’s programming is generously supported by the Mirza Foundation and the Town of Normal’s Harmon Arts Grant.

04/20/2025

Last month, played songs from their new album on ahead of ’s set at the . Enjoy these photos by and a clip of the audio recording.

Next up:
On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the NCHS
Experimental Ensemble will perform a concert in the at 7pm. This concert will showcase NCHS’s young noise-makers as they explore new sounds, instruments, and performance techniques.

Local artist Colin Winkelman will open the concert with new songs and electronic compositions. This concert is free and open to the public.

04/13/2025

Last month we were honored to host for a beautiful evening of sound art at the . Enjoy these photos by and a clip of the audio recording.

Next up:
On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the NCHS
Experimental Ensemble will perform a concert in the at 7pm. This concert will showcase NCHS’s young noise-makers as they explore new sounds, instruments, and performance techniques.

Local artist Colin Winkelman will open the concert with new songs and electronic compositions. This concert is free and open to the public.

03/11/2025

pt.fwd and the are honored to present live, tomorrow (Tuesday, March 11, 2025). Don’t miss this opportunity to see one of the world’s most enthralling sound artists!

Fujita will perform a concert in the Old Courtroom at the Museum at 7pm. This concert will showcase Fujita’s audio-visual performance techniques, including his signature handcrafted pipe organ, amplified electronics, and large-scale video. Local artist will open the concert with songs from his new album from Island House Records. This concert is free and open to the public.

FUJI||||||||||TA is a Sound Artist living in Japan. His unique practice utilizes various natural phenomena that respond to his interest in wanting to hear unheard sounds and unknown sounds. Instead of playing a composed piece of music, he aims to go as far as possible towards his own unknown state of being, with an emphasis on observing the sound closely.

In 2009 Fujita hand fabricated a Pipe Organ that has only 11 pipes and no keyboard. Fujita conceived and built it using his imagination, without any prior or specialized knowledge. The air pump (called “FUIGO”) which is kept moving by the left hand when playing, and is based on associations with an ancient blacksmith. This unique instrument is too delicate in its nature to be played properly without a great deal of experimentation and trial and error. Fujita has spent a long time inventing ways to play it and experimenting with ways to utilise this instrument in sound systems.

Address

200 N Main St
Bloomington, IL
61701

Website

https://www.ptfwd.org/

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Mission

pt.fwd is an independent non-profit program that presents arts and cultural programming in Central Illinois. pt.fwd organizes contemporary music and sonic arts performances featuring new work by local and regional artists in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.