Adam Shead is an accomplished percussionist, composer, improviser, and performance curator based in Chicago. He frequently performs with the Stein/Smith/Shead trio, microplastique, and Cellular Chaos, and is a sought-after percussionist in the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene. For nearly a decade, Shead has curated performances at notable Chicago art galleries such as Slate Arts & Performance and Comfort Station, where he helps promote both emerging and established artists, enriching the local cultural landscape.

Shead has collaborated with prominent figures such as Marilyn Crispell, Roscoe Mitchell, Jason Stein, Damon Smith, John Dikeman, Angel Bat Dawid, Mary Oliver, and Molly Jones, amongst others. He has released music through various record labels, including Amalgam, Ears & Eyes, Scripts, Balance Point Acoustics, Shifting Paradigm, and Irritable Mystic. Shead is the founder and composer of the Adiaphora Orchestra, microplastique, and Adam Shead Quintet and works regularly as a sideman in such groups as Ben Zucker’s Fifth Season, the Jake Wark Quartet, and Undisclosed Sims. From 2018 to 2020 Shead curated and hosted the impro jam, a bi-weekly multi-disciplinary free improvisation jam session, at Slate Arts and Performance - from 2021 to 2022 the impro jam took place at Cafe Mustache.

In 2016, Shead served as an artist in residence for the Birdsell Project’s summer season in South Bend, IN, where he transformed the city's decommissioned hydroelectric plant into a site-specific interactive sound installation. In March 2018, he premiered an audio-visual performance and installation titled "The Presence of Stillness" at Slate Arts and Performance. This work incorporated climate change data, and footage of oil fracking and melting glaciers, alongside original music. In August 2021, Shead held his first solo exhibition of visual art at Birdhouse 606 in Chicago, IL. The exhibition, titled "In Limbo," featured his paintings, photography, and collages, complemented by a performance of his musical compositions.

Shead holds a Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance from Columbia College Chicago, as well as a Master of Music in Contemporary Improvisation and a Graduate Certificate in Performance Studies from the University of Michigan.