Alliance for California Traditional Arts

09/07/2026

Join us for ROOTED PRACTICES, ACTA’s Reentry Through the Arts culmination event celebrating traditional arts as tools for rediscovery, connection, and transformation.⁠
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Throughout the year, our Reentry participants explored Afro-Colombian and Afro-Brazilian drumming and dance, collective songwriting, visual arts, emotional expression through color and shapes, and the power of creative community.⁠
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Now, we gather to celebrate their voices, creativity, growth, and the work they’ve created.⁠
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What to expect:⁠
Food⁠
Music⁠
Dance⁠
Visual Art⁠
Raffles⁠
Participant Panel Discussion⁠
Live Music Performances featuring Reentry Participants⁠
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Scan the QR code or visit bit.ly/915rootedpractices to RSVP!⁠
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Presented as part of the Los Angeles County Justice Care and Opportunities Department Developing Opportunities and Offering Reentry Solutions (D.O.O.R.S) program. This work is funded by theLos Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
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📅 September 15, 2026⁠
3 - 6PM⁠
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📍JCOD D.O.O.R.S AV⁠
1753 W Avenue J⁠
Lancaster, CA 93552

09/01/2026

Evo Bluestein has brought traditional American forms of community dance to California schools and communities for many years.

By the numbers, Evo plays 14 instruments, teaches 12 instruments, and has spent 5 decades in professional performance. He sings, clogs, and calls English country, contra, and square dances, and he co-founded both the Fresno Folklore Society and the California Autoharp Gathering. At the festival, Evo will be calling a contra and square dance, with Terry Barrett and Karana Drayton accompanying him to make up a fiddle, banjo, and mandolin trio.

🌄 Dance with us at the Great Valley Gathering this October!


actaonline.org/greatvalleygathering

📸 Courtesy of the artist

08/31/2026

🎉 Welcome to the 26th cohort of our Apprenticeship Program, celebrating cultural heritage across California! Our longest-standing initiative has supported over 493 mentor-apprentice pairs, nurturing the living traditions of our communities.

For this cohort, we’re proud to support 21 artist pairs with $105,000 in funding, continuing our commitment to keeping these vibrant practices alive. Mentor artists will guide apprentices in hands-on, intensive cultural training, ensuring the next generation is ready to carry these traditions forward.

🌍 The 2026 Apprenticeship Program cohort brings forward a wide range of cultural traditions practiced across California, including Native American folklife traditions within the North Fork Mono, Tongva, and Pit River communities. It also features apprenticeships rooted in cultural practices with origins in the Philippines, Cuba, India, Guinea, Cambodia, China, Mexico, Afghanistan, and Guatemala, along with practices transmitted within the Hmong, Kongolese, Tamil, Yiddish, and African American communities. Spanning from Shasta to San Diego counties, we can’t wait for you to experience their work. Visit our website to learn about these incredible artists, and stay tuned for upcoming events and opportunities to connect!

actaonline.org/2026apprenticeships/

📸 (1) Lázaro Arvizu Jr. (left) and Summer Wilson hold up their California flutes. Photo: Morning Star Duran (2) Farah Yasmeen Shaikh (right) and Aziza Noor Shaikh perform at Ballet Beyond Borders in Havana, Cuba in January 2025. Photo: Argel Ernesto Gonzalez (3) Andres Aguilar (left) and Enrique Gonzalez in Danza Chichimeca-Azteca regalía. Photo: Pedro Anaya

The Apprenticeship Program of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, with additional support from the Kresge Foundation.

08/26/2026

Los Originarios del Plan are, as the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label writes, “one of the West Coast’s best kept musical secrets.”

They are a San Joaquin Valley-based arpa grande (big harp) group whose musical style originates in the hot lands and coastal regions of Michoacán, Jalisco, and Colima. The style has thrived in diasporic communities of agricultural workers and music fans in California and Washington. From backyard family gatherings to the stage at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the group provides an essential sonic link to the homeland of these groups of immigrants.

Their latest album, ¡Puritito Michoacán!, was released under the Smithsonian Folkways Recording label and produced by ACTA Board of Directors member Daniel Sheehy.

🌅 Catch their arpa grande performance at the Great Valley Gathering this October!


actaonline.org/greatvalleygathering

📸 by Michael G. Stewart

08/21/2026

🎨 When hardship hits our neighborhood, how do we lean on our traditions—and each other—to heal and advocate for change?⁠
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Join the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Eastside LEADS, and Boyle Heights neighbors as we gather to process the aftermath of the Lineage Fire through collective creation. Together, we’ll craft traditional retablos (devotional paintings featuring symbols, scenes, and written testimony) and colchas (quilt squares that stitch individual stories into a unified movement for healing).⁠
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By transforming our shared experiences and protective symbols into visual art, we continue to build collective momentum to confront environmental injustices, demand accountability, and strengthen our advocacy for social housing. Whether you're reconnecting with an ongoing project or creating a quilt square for the first time, all are welcome.⁠
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📅 Wednesday, September 9th⁠
📍 Boyle Heights City Hall | Los Angeles, CA 90033⁠
✨ Free & open to all!⁠

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🎨 Cuando las dificultades llegan a nuestro vecindario, ¿cómo nos apoyamos en nuestras tradiciones—y en los demás—para sanar y luchar por el cambio?

Acompaña a la Alianza para las Artes Tradicionales en California, Eastside Leads, y a tus vecinos de Boyle Heights este viernes 9 de septen un taller comunitario para procesar los resultadosdel incendio Lineage a través de la creación colectiva. Juntos elaboraremos retablos tradicionales (pinturas devocionales con símbolos, escenas y testimonios escritos) y colchas (cuadros de colcha que unen historias personales en un movimiento unificado para la sanación).

Al transformar nuestras experiencias compartidas y símbolos de protección en arte visual, seguimos construyendo energíacolectiva para hacer frente a las injusticias ambientales, exigir rendición de cuentas y fortalecer nuestra lucha por una vivienda social. Ya sea que retomes un proyecto anterior o crees tu cuadro de colcha por primera vez, ¡todos son bienvenidos!

📅 Miércoles 9 de septiembre
📍 Boyle Heights City Hall | Los Angeles, CA 90033
✨ ¡Gratis y abierto a toda la comunidad!

08/14/2026

🪭 Mid-August is traditionally Obon season in Japan, a Buddhist-based tradition where folks return home to honor and thank one's ancestors. These gatherings feature Bon Odori, a Japanese community folk dance rooted in joy and gratitude.

Adrienne Reiko Iwanaga is a Bon Odori dancer, teacher, and choreographer based in Saratoga, CA — she's also a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow, the nation's highest honor in folk and traditional arts.

Her leadership keeps this tradition in motion, ensuring that each generation not only learns the dance, but understands the meaning behind it.

Watch this wonderful tribute video by the National Endowment for the Arts to learn about Adrienne and the rich culture of Obon!

Adrienne Reiko Iwanaga (Saratoga, California) carries forward the t...

08/11/2026

⭐ For nearly 60 years, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has lived on the National Mall. In 2026, it's coming to hometowns across the country — and we're proud to be one of the gatherings taking part, joining with 27 states and 2 territories to explore how festivals can be spaces for civic engagement and cultural exchange.

With our deep roots in Fresno and long-standing relationships with Central Valley culture bearers, we are honored to amplify the stories of this land and its people.

Sign-up for updates at actaonline.org/greatvalleygathering!

This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.

08/06/2026

Calling all California traditional artists & culture bearers — here's your next batch of funding opportunities 🌼

Scroll through to see opportunities from Southern Exposure, Fresno Arts Council, James Renwick Alliance for Craft, Center for Cultural Innovation, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture, Akonadi Foundation , East Bay Community Foundation, and OaklandArts!

📸: Ballet Folklórico Yolotl dancers performing at our Traditional Arts Roundtable in Healdsburg on February 15, 2026. Photo: Bryan and Vita Hewitt.

08/01/2026

What resources are available to artists who are trying to build wellness in their community?

After years of facilitating traditional arts programming in California correctional institutions, we developed two programs and accompanying workbooks in 2021: "Traditional Arts as Restorative Justice" and "Traditional Arts as Healing from Trauma."

They document dozens of lessons with a focus on how the traditional arts can create pathways towards healing from trauma. They were created as a way to deliver curriculum remotely during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and include prompts that invite students to reflect, planting seeds of personal and community restoration.

Flip through a few pages here of "Traditional Arts as Restorative Justice" here, and then check out the two full workbooks on our website: bit.ly/tradartsworkbooks

🎨 Our new Art Breaks In program page is live! Learn about the program at bit.ly/art-breaks-in.

07/30/2026

"Art Breaks In" is the name of our collection of programs that support justice-impacted individuals, inside and outside correctional institutions. To complement our work inside these institutions which began in 2013, we started our "Reentry Through the Arts" program in 2019, facilitating traditional art workshops in Son Jarocho, Afro-Colombian Drumming, Ofrenda Making, Collective Songwriting, and more.

In this powerful clip from 2022, listen to our Executive Director Amy Kitchener talk about the impact of traditional arts in participants' reentry journeys, along with teaching artists Alberto Lopez and Eduardo Martinez.

Watch the full video on our YouTube channel or at bit.ly/ACTAreentry.

🎨 Our new Art Breaks In program page is live! Learn all about the program at bit.ly/art-breaks-in.