Stories + News

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) is thrilled to announce the second year of the Taproot Fellowship, a project of ACTA’s Taproot Artists & Community Trust created to uplift culture bearers whose work is more vital than ever in confronting the social…

A recap of the 2025 CA Arts & Culture Summit and Advocacy Day

On a quiet day in Loleta, a small town in Northern California’s Humboldt County, ACTA Program Manager Aliah Najmabadi and I visited the home of Katie Bowie to witness the incredible artistry that connects her family to their Yurok, Hupa, Wiyot and Bear River heritage. Katie, a…

Janhavi Pillai (L) and Roshni Pillai (R) sit at their home in San Jose, CA. Photo: A. Najmabadi/ACTA. In early March, I visited the home studio of Roshni and Janhavi Pillai, a mother-daughter pair from San Jose participating in ACTA’s 2024 Apprenticeship Program. Together, they are engaged in a focused…

After years of deep listening, careful collaboration, and creative storytelling, we are thrilled to launch the Sounds of California: Bayview microsite—a new digital collection that brings together community recordings, essays, and archival performances to honor the rich cultural life of Bayview-Hunters Point.

Justice-impacted participants writing a powerful song during musician Matt Amper’s Collective Songwriting Workshop at Five Keys Charter School in Lancaster, February 2025. In February, following our longstanding work with justice-impacted individuals, ACTA launched our newest series of free cultural arts workshops specifically designed for reentry populations in the Antelope Valley.

The Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), the Administering Organization for the California Arts Council’s Folk and Traditional Arts Grant Program, is awarding 68 grants totaling $622,500. With the generous support of the California Arts Council, a state agency,…

After years of transformative work with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA), Quetzal Flores, a dynamic Chicano artivist and cultural worker, is embarking on new adventures. While we are sad to see him go, we are excited to see what the future holds for him.

As the year draws to a close, Taproot Fellow and Japanese koto musician Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto reflects on the cultural richness of her Japanese American upbringing and how it shapes her family’s holiday celebrations today. Shirley shared with ACTA her unique blend of traditions, highlighting the deep significance…

Heriberto Jaime Pérez, a truck driver from Visalia, CA, wrote and performed a pandemic-era love song. On Sunday, December 8, the Roosevelt High School Auditorium in Fresno was filled with emotion, memory, and powerful melodies as we gathered for Corridos del San Joaquín. Organized…

We are thrilled to announce that ACTA Co-Founder and Executive Director, Amy Kitchener, has been inducted as a Fellow of the American Folklore Society (AFS), the highest recognition in the field of folklore. Announced at the AFS Annual Meeting, this prestigious honor celebrates Amy’s transformative contributions to public…

Recently, ACTA staff traveled to Albuquerque and Puerto Rico for the American Folklore Society Annual Meeting and NASAA (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies), joining folklorists, artists, and arts administrators from across the country. Read on to see our highlights from an inspiring conference season!   “Taproot AF”: Radical…