JoVia Armstrong is a well-traveled musician, composer, producer, and educator from Detroit, Michigan. She won the 2014 Best Black Female Percussionist of the Year through the Black Women in Jazz Awards. Shortly after, in 2015, she became an official member of Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Armstrong is now on the executive board serving as the organization’s Secretary and chair of its membership committee. She is an endorsed artist with QSC, Sabian, Icon Pro Audio, and Gon Bops.
Eunoia Society is Armstrong’s current project as a bandleader. The ensemble experiments with immersive technology while composing music intended to be therapeutic entertainment. This project relies heavily on repetition, drones, reverb, delays, and other time-based processed effects. In their practice, they explore performing in multichannel audio systems, telematic shows, and various techniques using high-end audio. United, these compositional and technological experiences are to be consumed as contemplative elements of music, offering a musical palette of sounds to help cope with the everyday stresses of life. While performing, Eunoia Society is dedicated to facilitating electronic music workshops with young Black girls to gain their interests in technology.
She has performed with El DeBarge, Omar, Les Nubians, Rahsaan Patterson, Maysa, Eric Roberson, Frank McComb, The Impressions, Isaiah Sharkey, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble, Malian musicians Ballaké Sissoko & Babani Kone, Joe Vasconcellos, Martha Reeves, and many more. You may also catch her performing in Johnny Gill’s music video, “Soul of a Woman,” featuring Tiffany Haddish.
She was a Teaching Artist for over 20 years and received the 3Arts Siragusa Foundation Artist Award in 2011 for her work as a Teaching Artist. Like most urban producers, she is a self-taught beatmaker, composer, and producer. She was also a mentor alongside Bro. Mike Hawkins at Digital Youth Network, serving the students at YOUmedia Chicago. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of California-Irvine in the music department’s Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology program in June 2022. She is now an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Virginia’s Department of Music.