Madera, California, boasts a large Oaxacan community who are largely agricultural workers. The community has recognized that back strap weaving is one of the many traditions of the indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, that is almost non-existent with the move to California. A natural context of learning to weave from…
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Iu-Mien Community Services
Iu-Mien Community Services, located in Sacramento, is dedicated to the support and development of healthy Iu-Mien families and communities through culturally responsive programs and services since 1994. With approximately 15,000 Iu-Mien people in the greater Sacramento area, the impetus to start the organization grew from the…
International dance and music
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Many Lightnings Legacy Center
Many Lightnings Legacy Center, Inc. contributes to the development and maintenance of the Native Garden located at the San Joaquin River basin in Fresno. It is a volunteer run organization. Funding from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2016 will provide monthly workshops to immerse future weavers and gatherers…
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Imperial Valley Desert Museum
Since 1974, the Imperial Valley Desert Museum has been a repository for indigenous Kumeyaay archeological collections in Imperial County and is the only cultural institution in Imperial County supporting the awareness of Kumeyaay culture and artists. The museum is in the geographic center of Kumeyaay traditional…
For over 40 years, the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center/Lucha, Inc. has provided youth and adults with a free, afterschool cultural education program. Centered in the heart of Oxnard, California, many of Inlakech’s students come from low-income agricultural families, who are greatly underserved. Children from the age of two to the…
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Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation
The Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation’s traditional homeland lies in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Trinity River, in Trinity County, California. Approximately half of the tribe’s 1,000 members still live near their ancestral lands in Trinity and Shasta Counties. Nor Rel Muk Wintu members from across the…
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Salinan Trowtraahl
The Salinans are a Native people that lived in what is now the Central Coast of California, in the Salinas Valley. The Salinan language is one of the oldest in California. Said to have gone extinct by the Census of 1930, the Salinan peoples survived and currently exist in several…
Tulare County League of Mexican-American Women (TCLMAW) was founded in 1979 by five Tulare County Mexican-American women who were dedicated to educating and increasing the knowledge of women in Tulare County through activities such as conferences, workshops, and community projects. This dedication continues today. The TCLMAW…
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Warrior Institute
Basket weaving was once an everyday skill used by the Native peoples of Northern California. Today, basketry has become a highly specialized art form with a limited number of tribal people who possess the skill and knowledge the gather materials, process those materials, and create a living basket. Baskets are…
