People’s CORE
Multicultural arts and culture
The People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment, or People’s CORE, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the community in the social, cultural, political, and economic fields. A cornerstone of the organization, which operates in central Los Angeles, is the Culture and Arts Enhancement program. This program includes preserving the cultural integrity and authenticity of the Filipino traditional art of eskrima, a classical and recognized Filipino traditional martial art form using rattan sticks.
In 2004, People’s Core used support from ACTA ‘s Traditional Arts Development Program to tutor fifteen enthusiasts of eskrima to be instructors of the system of Eskrima de Campo JDC-IO from grandmaster Ireneo “Eric” Olavides. The training courses covered both theory and practice and took place over a 5-month period. Grand master Ireneo “Eric” Olavides began learning Eskrima at a very young age, and has continued to practice the art for over 55 years.