The Alliance Wishes You a Happy Lunar New Year!

What's New

A Dialogue with San Diego Traditional Artists and Advocates

Amy Kitchener, Executive Director

First row: Amy Kitchener, Alliance for California Traditional Arts; Teodora Cuero (Kumiai); Leonor Farldow Espinoza (Kiliwa). Second Row: Charlie Seemann, Alliance Board Member; Ray Tafoya; Mike Wilkin, Instituto de Culturas Nativas de Baja California; Libby Maynard, Alliance Board Member, Richard Bugbee (Luiseño). Third Row: Jeannie Hofer (Luiseño); Minnie Tafoya (Juaneño); Valentina Torres, Bayside Community Center; Deborah Davis, 2nd Avenue Klezmer Ensemble; Josie Talamantez, California Arts Council. Fourth Row: Mary Lou Valencia, Danza Mixcoatl; Diania Caudell, California Indian Basketweavers Association; Rose Ramirez, American Indian Channel; Pam “Pohai” Daugherty, Ke Po’okela Cultural Foundation. Fifth Row: Dan Sheehy, Alliance Board Member; Makeda Dread, World Beat Center; Sojin Kim, Alliance Board Member; Maria Figueroa-Chacón, Danza Mixcoatl; Anamaria Labao Cabato, PASACAT (Philippine-American Society and Cultural Arts Troupe). Sixth Row: Anne Blankenship, Ke Po’okela Cultural Foundation; Lydia Vassar (Luiseño). Seventh Row: Michele Goldwasser, University of California San Diego; Yasmeen Hamud, Center for Bridging Communities; Gay Wayland, Ke Po’okela Cultural Foundation; Rob Sidner, Mingei International Museum; Ellen Weller, Palomar College. Eighth Row: Melanie Beene, Alliance Board Member; Malcolm Margolin, Alliance Board Member; Cathleen Chilcote Wallace (Luiseño), NATIVE TALK; Abel Silvas, Running Grunion Festival. Photo: Chike Nwoffiah

Last month the Alliance invited traditional artists in the San Diego region to a community dialogue to begin a conversation about the status of the traditional arts – the needs and challenges – as well as opportunities in the region. It was an afternoon filled with new connections and rekindling old relationships, laughter and tears, and moments of inspiration and common understanding around the shared values of those engaged in traditional arts practice.

An amazing array of people attended the gathering at the World Beat Center, representing many of the cultural communities of the region, some hailing from south of the border: Luiseño, Kumiai, Jewish, African American, Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Kiliwa, Chicano, Mexican, Somali, Samoan, Hungarian, Persian, Mixteco, and Juaneño. Also present were administrators from the Museum of Man, Mingei International Museum, and California Arts Council, joined by the Alliance board and staff and a few academic cultural specialists from the fields of folklore, anthropology, and ethnomusicology.

Kumiai elder Teodora Curero and Mike Wiken of the Instituto de Culturas Nativas de Baja California. Photo: Sherwood Chen

Teodora Cuero, a Kumiai elder from Baja California, opened with a blessing in her native language, circling the room with prayers and burning sage. Afterwards, when facilitator and Alliance board member Chike Nwoffiah began the meeting asking people to reflect on the importance of what they do, a well-spring of emotions and ideas gushed out:

• “There is healing in the arts. Coming from a community who has lost everything, the thing we brought was our culture and our traditions. For the moment we come together in the tradition, we forget the pain.” – Yasmeen Hamud (Somali), Bridging Culture and Community

• “There is no exposure [to culture] in the schools. We do it to save young Filipino Americans. When they connect with tradition, they connect with their parents.”
  – Anamaria Labao Cabato, PASACAT (Philippine-American Society and Cultural Arts Troupe)

• “A strong cultural foundation leads to ownership and activism within the community. Engagement in your community results in a core sense of self.”
  – Mary Lou Valencia, Danza Mixcoatl

• “If I don’t share these dances, they will die.”
  – Anne Blakenship, Kuma Hula, (traditional teacher of Hula), San Diego

• “In my community there are just five speakers left. We haven’t been able to do anything about it. All the elders are gone. The younger ones don’t want to learn anything. They have a different way of working; they don’t want to work with us. I learned all of this from my grandmother and mother and aunts. I speak more Kiliwa than Spanish. I don’t know what is going to happen because I haven’t seen that there is any support. A lot of students come from Ensenada to learn from me, but they take their recordings and I don’t know what they do with them. I don’t like to turn anyone down because I feel it’s so important.”
  – Leonor Farldow Espinoza (Kiliwa)

Read more about the Alliance’s San Diego community dialogue on the Alliance’s website.

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Attention San Francisco Bay Area! The Alliance Launches Traditional Arts Roundtable Series

Starting this month, the Alliance for California Traditional Arts launches its Traditional Arts Roundtable Series, a free, participatory monthly series of gatherings at various locations in San Francisco for folk, traditional, and tradition-based artists and arts advocates. Monthly sessions focus on specific themes and offer opportunities to engage in discussion, networking, and technical assistance in order to develop local, critical community amongst folk and traditional artists and their allies.

To receive announcements regarding the rest of this series, please contact us, call (415) 561-1562, or check for updates on our website. This pilot series is made possible with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grants Program.

This Sunday!

Work Sample Open Laboratory

Date: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Time: 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Location: Bay Area Video Coalition, 2727 Mariposa Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA  94110

Description: How do you best represent and document your work?  To people who may not be familiar with the complexities of a tradition?  In merely a few minutes?  Join us with other artists, presenters, and funders in conversation about artist work samples (video, audio, images, etc.) which are often required to accompany competitive grant applications and proposals.  The opening hour will address work sample and documentation challenges for traditional artists, how to put your best foot forward in representing your work, what review panels look for, and resources to develop compelling work samples. The second part of the session will offer a chance for traditional artists to openly share audio, video, or visual work samples (sign up required) to spark supportive discussion, feedback, questions, and insights amongst participants.  Sign up to show your work or come to share your perspective and to learn what other artists are doing with their work samples. Space is limited. Sign-ups strongly encouraged!

Featured Participants:
Rob Bailis – ODC Theater
Kutay Kugay – KPFA’s Music of the World and San Francisco World Music Festival/Door Dog Music Productions
Frances Phillips – Walter & Elise Haas Fund and Creative Work Fund

Upcoming Traditional Arts Roundtables

Investigating the Post-Multiculturalism Landscape: Experimentation, Representation and Appropriation in Traditional Arts

Date: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Time: 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Location: CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission St. (near 9th), San Francisco, CA  94103

Description: As part of the Dance Discourse Project – an ongoing series of artist-curated conversations about specific topics in the Bay Area contemporary dance scene in partnership with Alliance for California Traditional Arts, CounterPULSE, Dancer’s Group, and choreographer Mary Armentrout – this gathering will address the multi-faceted complexities of Bay Area work that utilizes tradition-based dance forms.  We will examine cultural and intercultural contexts linked to performance and identity.  Featured artists will share examples of their work to provoke discussions on issues including articulation, recording or rediscovering traditions, transmission, experimentation, and context.

Featured Participants:
Danongan (Danny) Kalanduyan – Palabuniyan Kulintang ensemble
Prumsodun Ok – Classical Cambodian dancer and filmmaker
Teela Shine – New Style Motherlode
Joti Singh – Duniya Dance Ensemble

Read more about upcoming Traditional Arts Roundtables on the Alliance’s website.

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The Alliance’s Traditional Arts Development Program makes contracts up to $1,500 to support consultancies, mentorships, and travel opportunities that foster a new level of growth for individual folk & traditional artists and organizations engaged in this field in California. Requested services may be focused on organizational, program, and/or artistic development goals. Individual artists and cultural practitioners, as well as organizations, whether incorporated or not, may apply.

A sampling of past contracts include:

Artistic Mentorships

Gen Taiko (San Francisco), an organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and presenting Japanese traditional arts including taiko (traditional Japanese drumming), traditional folk dance, and folk song forms. Its artistic director, Melody Takata, was trained by National Heritage Fellow Madame Fujima Kansuma to learn the Nihon Buyo (Japanese classical) dance called Kojo No Tsuki (Moonlit Castle Ruins). Ms. Takata taught the dance to four of her students and performed it at Gen Taiko’s 10th Anniversary Concert in November 2005.

Organizational Consultancies:

Kwashi Amevuvor (Los Angeles), a master drummer from Ghana, West Africa, worked with consultant Janet P***t, who assisted him with marketing and web design to develop professional promotional materials to publicize the work of the artist and the traditional cultural arts of Ghana. In addition, Ms. P***t’s consultancy supported Mr. Amevuvor’s efforts in organizing a cultural study tour of Ghana.

Travel Opportunities

The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble (Foster City) traveled to Southern California to perform for an audience of over two thousand at the annual Magyar Sajtónap (Hungarian Press Day) hosted by the newspaper California Hungarians. At this event Eszterlanc dancers had the opportunity to perform with members of the Karpatok Folk Ensemble of Southern California, which is led by Istvan Szabo.

Requests for organizational consultancies, artistic mentoring, and travel support may be submitted to the Alliance at any time.  Download the application and application instructions from the Alliance’s website or call (559) 237-9812 to request a copy be mailed to you.

The Alliance’s Traditional Arts Development Program is supported by grants from the California Arts Council, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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The Guitar Center Music Foundation

Deadline: Ongoing

The Guitar Center Music Foundation’s mission is to aid nonprofit music programs across America that offer music instruction so that more people can experience the joys of making music.

The Guitar Center Music Foundation accepts grant applications throughout the year from 501(c)(3) organizations that offer music instruction programs to participants of any age. The applicant program must successfully enhance the state of music education in the United States. The Grant Committee reviews all applications three times yearly, and grant awards range from $500 to $5,000.

For more information visit the Guitar Center Music Foundation’s website.

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Elaine Weissman L.A. Treasures Award

Deadline: Monthly
Restricted to Los Angeles County

The California Traditional Music Society (CTMS) and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) have announced the Elaine Weissman L.A. Treasures Awards 2007-2008 deadlines.  This program supports folk and traditional performing and visual artists with $1,000 in funds for two public performances, workshops or exhibits - one planned by the award recipient, another chosen by CTMS and DCA.

The Awards are named after Elaine Weissman, founder of CTMS and great promoter and supporter of folk and traditional arts, who passed away last year.

An average of three L.A. Treasures Awards are given each month. Application deadlines are the first of each month from November 2007 through April 2008. Applications must arrive in the CTMS office no later than these dates.

For more information, including guidelines and application forms, visit the California Traditional Music Society's website. If you would like a hard copy of the application sent to you, please contact Lisa Richardson at (818) 817-0094.

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Master Musician Fellowships

The Durfee Foundation
Restricted to Los Angeles County
Application Deadline – February 12, 2008

The Durfee Master Musician Fellowship program supports master musicians in Los Angeles County to teach their craft to advanced students. The purpose of the program is to support the passing of musical skills to a next generation of artists through intensive apprenticeships.

Priority will be given to artists whose musical traditions are not widely taught at established institutions; jazz and new music are unlikely to be funded. Candidates must have an accomplished record of performance, as well as demonstrated teaching experience. Grant recipients will be expected to devote a significant portion of their time to teaching for the duration of the two-year grant period. In addition to the cash award, the program provides significant technical assistance toward building the musicians' careers during the Fellowship.

For more information, including guidelines and application forms, visit the Durfee Foundation’s website.

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Tribal Preservation Program

National Park Service
Deadline – February 15, 2008

The Tribal Preservation Program, administered by the National Parks Service, is dedicated to working with Indian tribes, Alaska Native groups, Native Hawaiians, and national organizations to preserve, protect, and promote their unique cultural heritage and traditions. The main purpose of the grant program is to help tribes strengthen their capabilities for operating sustainable preservation programs. Projects that provide training for tribal members and have a lasting impact on the tribe are given the highest priority in the funding process. Programs targeting historic places, oral history, cultural traditions, etc. are eligible for funding.

For more information, including program details and guidelines, visit the National Park Service’s website.

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CounterPULSE’s Artist in Residence Program

Deadline – February 15, 2008

The Artist in Residence Program extends CounterPULSE’s commitment to provide a nurturing space for low-income and emerging artists committed to innovation and growth. This program offers artists an opportunity to rehearse, perform, and make money too! Two selected artists or companies will receive 50 hours of free rehearsal space, and in exchange, they will present the work developed during the residency in a shared weekend of performances from September 11-14, 2008.

For more information, including guidelines and application forms, visit CounterPULSE’s website.

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Creative Work Fund
Literary Arts or Performing Arts

Deadline – March 5, 2008

The Creative Work Fund invites letters of inquiry for projects in which artists and nonprofit organizations collaborate to create new works. Grants range from $10,000 to $40,000. In 2008, projects featuring literary artists or performing artists are eligible to apply. Collaborating artists must reside and organizations must be based in the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, or Sonoma. The receipt deadline for letters is 5:00 pm on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. For detailed guidelines and a complete schedule of informational seminars, please visit the Creative Work Fund’s website.

The Creative Work Fund is a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, also supported by generous grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation.

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National Endowment for the Arts
Grants for Arts Projects – Access to Artistic Excellence

Deadline – March 10, 2008

Access to Artistic Excellence grants are designed to encourage and support artistic excellence, preserve our cultural heritage, and provide access to the arts for all Americans. Support is available to organizations for projects that do one or more of the following:

• Provide opportunities for artists to create, refine, perform, and exhibit their work.
• Present artistic works of all cultures and periods.
• Preserve significant works of art and cultural traditions.
• Enable arts organizations and artists to expand and diversify their audiences.
• Provide opportunities for individuals to experience and participate in a wide range of art forms and activities.
• Enhance the effectiveness of arts organizations and artists.
• Employ the arts in strengthening communities.

The National Endowment for the Arts is particularly interested in projects that extend the arts to underserved populations – those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. An organization may request a grant amount from $5,000 to $150,000.

For more information, including guidelines and instructions to apply, visit the National Endowment for the Arts’ website.

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Margaret McKinney Folk & Traditional Arts Fellowship
Arts Council for Long Beach

Restricted to Long Beach
Deadline – May 6, 2008

The Arts Council for Long Beach has announced a call for 2008-09 folk and traditional arts fellowship applications. The Margaret McKinney Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowship honors one Long Beach-based folk and traditional artist or group each year. These awards recognize exemplary folk and traditional arts work. Awards are based on artistic merit.

Applicants must reside or be based in Long Beach and be an active folk or traditional arts artist or group. Projects or programs must be performed or exhibited within the City of Long Beach.

It is anticipated that one fellowship in the range of $500 to $1,500 will be awarded to one individual or one folk/traditional group during the 2008-09 grant cycle.

For more information visit the Arts Council for Long Beach’s website or contact Emiko Ono, Director of Grants, at (562) 432-5100 ext. 236 or via email.

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National Endowment for the Arts
Challenge America: Reaching Every Community

Deadline – June 2, 2008

Challenge America: Reaching Every Community grants are for support, primarily to small and mid-sized organizations, of projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations – those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Grants are for $10,000.

For more information, including guidelines and instructions to apply, visit the National Endowment for the Arts’ website.

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National Endowment for the Arts
Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth

Deadline – June 9, 2008

Learning in the Arts grants are designed to advance arts education for children and youth in school-based or community-based settings. This category supports in-depth, curriculum-based arts education experiences that occur over an extended period. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art. All projects must include the following components: 1) the opportunity for students and their teachers to experience exemplary works of art, in live form wherever possible; 2) study of the art experienced including the acquisition of skills for practicing the art form where appropriate; 3) the performance/making of art within the discipline(s) studied; and 4) assessment of student learning according to national or state arts education standards.

For more information, including guidelines and instructions to apply, visit the National Endowment for the Arts’ website.

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Common Ground
First Nations Initiative
American Composers Forum

Deadline – April 1, 2008

The First Nations Composer Initiative, a program of the American Composers Forum, is dedicated to serving the needs of American Indian/Alaska Native/First Nations/Indigenous makers of new music throughout Indian Country.  The initiative's new granting program, Common Ground, will support activities that boost Indigenous creative musicians, such as commissions, residencies, performance and production, travel/study, and outreach.

Common Ground is open to Indigenous makers of new music: composers, performers, groups, sound artists, songwriters, etc.  Native Artists must be a documented affiliate of a United States and/or Canadian Tribe/Indigenous Community and committed to building the strength of Native communities by sharing their skills and talents with others.  The program seeks to award grants to varied artists from the many genres of music represented in Indian Country, and from diverse Indigenous cultures.

Individual awards will range from $500 to $7,500. Grants are designed to give an immediate financial boost to composers, performers, and other makers of new music at a time when this help would have a significant career-enhancing effect.

For more information, visit the Composers Forum’s website.

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Opportunities & Resources

CounterPULSE’s Boot Camp for Artists

Mondays, April 14, 2008 through May 19, 2008
6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
CounterPULSE
1310 Mission @ 9th Street
San Francisco, California

Whether you're a choreographer who's self-producing for the first time, a director who's ready to expand your company, an experienced artist looking to brush up on skills, or a performer looking to get a part-time job in arts administration, this crash course will give you the skills you need to kick-start your career.  Each session includes two 3-hour session of hands-on instruction.  Sign up for the entire series and receive a half hour of individual consultation for free.

Session I
Getting the Money – Grantwriting and Fundraising
April 14 & 21

Session II
Getting Attention – Marking & Publicity
April 28 & May 5

Session III
The Show – Production
May 12 & 19

Cost: $250 for the series or $100 per session.  Early registration discount of 10% if registered by February 15, 2008.

Space is limited.  Advanced registration is required.  Contact CounterPULSE at (415) 626-2060 or via email to register.

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Online Training Courses to Master Proposal Writing

The Foundation Center hosts several online training courses in proposal writing. The Statement of Need helps novice or inexperienced grantseekers master a critical component of proposal writing – preparing a statement of need. The Project Description is an in-depth look into the preparation and writing of the project description section of a proposal. The Budget demystifies the preparation of the project budget included in funding proposals. The Comprehensive Course is a thorough, step-by-step guide to preparing an effective proposal for foundation support, covering every section of the proposal. The courses include interactive exercises and assignments, case studies, a final exam, and a printable certificate of completion. Lessons can be taken at any pace, and can be reviewed often. For more information visit the Foundation Center’s website.

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FEATURES

What's New

Funding

Events

Opportunities & Resources

ABOUT ACTA

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts strives to "ensure California's future holds California's past" by providing programs and services to support the state's diverse living cultural heritage. The Alliance cultivates the growth of traditional arts and culture through Stewardship, Services to Artists, and Connection-Making.

Support ACTA

CONTACT ACTA

Website:
http://www.actaonline.org

Staff:
Amy Kitchener, Executive
Director
akitch@actaonline.org
559.237.9813

Sherwood Chen, Associate Director
sherwood@actaonline.org
415.561.1562

Lily Kharrazi, Living Cultures Grants Program Manager
lilyk@actaonline.org
415.561-7893

Suzanne Hildebrand, Administrative Coordinator
The New Moon Editor stoler@actaonline.org
559.237.9812

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Robert Arroyo, V.P. of Finance & Administration
Retired Instructor of Political Science & Chicano/Latino Studies, Fresno City College;
Retired Administrator, Fresno City College
Kingsburg, CA

Melanie Beene
Executive Director, Community Initiative Funds
San Francisco Foundation
San Francisco, CA

Jo Farb Hernandez, Secretary
Director, Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, School of Art and Design, San Jose State University
Principal, Curatorial and Museum Management Services
Watsonville, CA

Joel Jacinto,
Executive Director, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans
Los Angeles, CA

Sojin Kim, Ph.D.
Curator, Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, CA

Amy Kitchener (ex officio)
Executive Director, ACTA
Fresno, CA

Frank LaPena
Professor Emeritus, American Indian Studies, CSU Sacramento;
Traditional Maidu dance master; Visual Visual Artist
Sacramento, CA

Malcolm Margolin
Founder and Publisher, Heyday Books
Executive Director, Heyday Institute
Berkeley , CA

Libby Maynard
Co-founder and Executive Director, Ink People Center for the Arts
Eureka, CA 

Chike Nwoffiah, V.P. of External Development
Executive Director, Oriki Theatre
Mountain View, CA

Peter Pennekamp, Executive Director
Humboldt Area Foundation
Bayside, CA

Charlie Seemann, Board President
Executive Director, Western Folklife Center
Elko, NV

Daniel Sheehy, Ph.D.
V.P. of Governance
CEO, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Washington, D.C.

Deborah Wong, Ph.D.
Professor of Music
University of California, Riverside

Honorary

Bess Lomax Hawes
Retired Former Director, Folk & Traditional Arts Program, National Endowment for the Arts
Woodland Hills, CA

FUNDERS

THE COLUMBIA FOUNDATION

EVENTS

Mi Coche – My Culture: Livin’ the Lowrider Lifestyle

Kumeyaay: Indigenous People of Southern California

Lunar New Year Celebration 2008: Year of the Rat

Tardeada – An Afternoon of Folklore in February

San Francisco Tam Fest

Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade

An Evening of Kathak Dance

Chinese New Year Community Street Fair

Spring Festival Celebration

One Night in Brazil

The San Francisco Guzheng Music Society Youth Ensemble

Collage des Cultures Africaines

23rd Annual Jewish Music Festival

International Roma Day Celebration

8th Biennial Language is Life Conference

Ballet Folklorico Quetzalli

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To subscribe to the weekly CAC Update, please visit their website.