In 2013, Comunidad Tlacolulence en Los Angeles (COTLA) received funding from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program for two observances of this Oaxacan indigenous community.  The Mayordormia Tlacolulence, celebrated elaborately with pageantry and symbolism on particular saints’ days, will take place in October in West Los Angeles.
Founded in 1987, Asian Improv aRts’ mission is to produce, present, and document artistic works that represent the Asian American experience.  In pursuing this mission, Asian Improv aRts seeks: 1) to make it possible for artists to create innovative works that are rooted in the diasporic experiences of Asian and…
Jennifer Malone (Wukchumni, Tachi, Yowlumni) comes from a long line of basketweavers, including her grandmother, Beatrice Arancis, and her mother, Marie Wilcox.  Jennifer is an active basketry teacher, has partnered with and displayed at many community events, and is a board member of the California Indian Basketweavers Association.  Jennifer is…
Master artist Juana Alicia Araiza founded the True Colors Mural Project in 2008.  She directs this public mural program based in the East San Francisco Bay Area.  TCMP preserves and revives the legacy of Mexican and Chican@ Mural Movements through the teaching of its philosophy and…
Deshilado (des-ē-lah’-do), or Mexican openwork embroidery, is traditionally used on household items such as tablecloths, napkins, and linens.  Openwork embroidery is the art of removing threads from a fabric to create a design over which embroidery is made. Patricia Zavala de Arias learned deshilado from her mother in her hometown…
The Chicano mural movement began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture.  Chicano muralism has been linked to pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas, who recorded their rituals and history on the…
Asociacion Mayab’s mission is to create the conditions that will allow for the optimal development of the Maya community living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Asociacion Mayab was founded in 2004 by a group of Maya immigrants concerned about the gradual loss of the language and values of their…
Cambodian Association of America (CAA) is committed to improving the quality of life in the Long Beach community by providing linguistically and culturally appropriate social, health, outreach education and employment services to low-income children and families.   CAA, incorporated as a nonprofit in 1975, is the…
The Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California is a nonprofit organization serving the Muslim-American and greater Bay Area communities.  ICCNC provides a dynamic space that cultivates an exchange of ideas about Islam through art, culture, and education.  In existence since 1996, ICCNC provides religious services to Bay…
Laga, Indigenous weaving traditions from Kalinga