May Member Spotlight on Alliance for California Traditional Arts

In May, the photo banner features groups and projects supported by GIA member the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). Founded in 1997 by cultural workers, arts administrators, and traditional artists, ACTA is the only nonprofit organization in California dedicated to supporting and sustaining folk and traditional arts at the statewide level. ACTA, in partnership with the California Arts Council, has worked as an intermediary grantmaker since 2006, regranting funds statewide through its Living Cultures Grants Program and in the San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast through the Community Leadership Project, building the capacity of nonprofits with cultural missions to serve low income communities of color. Below, in their own words, ACTA staff describe the links between recent grantees and the organization's mission:

A deliberate cross-sector approach defines ACTA’s field of work, bridging links between culture & social justice, health & wellness, education, civic participation, and youth engagement efforts statewide. Listening, ethnographic observation, and cultural contextualization have been an important element of ACTA's success in making over one hundred grants and contracts awards per year. Over time, ACTA has made 783 grants and contracts totaling over $3.4 million. 89% of ACTA’s applicants have budgets under $500,000 per year and a large majority of our grant recipients serve low income people and/or communities of color. 

We’ve been thinking a lot about the ways in which traditional arts practices build public engagement while deepening understanding and appreciation inside and between cultural communities. Some compelling examples from our recent round of Living Cultures grants that address these themes include the Islamic Center of Northern California, which is poised to respond to the current inhospitable political environment that has painted a monolithic portrait of Muslim people. Two public exhibits will feature the art of calligraphy as an opportunity to expand the perceptions of these communities. Iranian calligraphy of several schools will be exhibited, as well as an intercultural exhibit of calligraphy from Hebrew and Chinese sources. This effort maximizes the traditional art form to serve as a bridge builder in difficult times and underscores the Bay Area communities’ willingness to cross boundaries in search of dialogue.

The Peralta Hacienda’s work with Cambodian folk musicians in Oakland has been several years in the making. The project affords the documentation of elders by young people who will be able to reflect on their own art-making efforts as next generation Cambodian Americans. Their interests range from traditional music to Khmer hip-hop. These recordings will be aired as a three-part radio series with regional and national audiences.

Laga Circle California was created to provide Filipina women an opportunity to learn from master weaver Jenny Bauer Young of the Kalinga tribe. Creating a circle for women weavers to work and learn in is the transnational version of a traditional tribal art practice. The learners are committed to Filipino cultural arts and have been active in Bay Area dance and music activities for many years.

Youth-focused projects involve intensive immersion with master artists and tradition bearers. Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu of San Francisco, which began as an adults-only group, has matured into a family-centered school, reflecting its longevity as a community. Teaching keiki (children) begins with 5-year olds, ensuring that the lineage of this hula school will be maintained. 

Kwanzaa celebrations are the focal point for two community-based events where culminating year-long workshops will be presented and feted. San Francisco-based Dance Kaiso will teach the Carnival-based arts of Trinidad and Tobago, while Ile Omode School will concentrate on the arts of West Africa. Each community celebration involves hundreds of participants on.  Both projects are based in neighborhoods and districts long neglected by mainstream city services.

Social justice themes continue in the work of the True Colors Mural Project under the direction of Juana Alicia, master artist and contributor to the landscape of many beloved San Francisco murals. Schooled in the movement of Chicano art murals, the project will pass on the skills needed to create and implement a mural through consensus building and group execution. Cultural community organizing is effectively addressed by Glide Memorial Church through their Healing through Negro Spirituals program. The community is made up of disenfranchised women, largely afflicted by issues of diminished health, poverty, addiction, and domestic violence.  The weekly meetings center around the learning and singing of a spiritual. The corresponding emotions of this musical heritage speak to the women’s situations and they are then led through a group writing exercise to create their own words to the song. The continuity of program for this population provides safety and bonding, and the vehicle of the spirituals for this population is probably as closely aligned to the original intention of the songs as any circumstance could be. The project provides a clear understanding of how social justice and traditional arts have intersected historically and continues to do so today in this unique environment.

Image: The annual Fiesta de la Virgen de Fatima in Selma, California is celebrated by the indigenous Mixteco farmworker community from Mexico with a music and dance procession that covers several miles. Photo: A. Kitchener, 2011.