For over four decades, proud daughter of Oaxaqueños, Maria Luisa Colmenarez has played a large role in ensuring Mexican folk dance remains accessible to the community while advocating for a larger presence in the performing arts space. She currently serves as the executive director of Danzantes Unidos de California, a…
Le damos la bienvenida a César Castro, nuevo coordinador de programas de ACTA
An ACTA Intern’s First Steps into the World and Work of Folk and Traditional Arts
My Mother always told me stories. I began telling stories formally when I was in high school in Chicago (St. Ignatius) in the 60’s, stories of Africa and the struggles of African-Americans for freedom. In 1992 I met Joel ben Izzy from Berkeley, CA who was introduced to me as…
Nobuko Fukatsu is a Biwa (Japanese lute) player based in Los Angeles, California. Born in Japan, she started to study Satsuma-biwa under the prominent biwa musician Yoshiko Sakata in 2005. After moving to the Los Angeles area, she started to perform at various cultural gatherings, festivals and educational settings, as well as…
The ACTA board and staff are pleased to welcome Chike C. Nwoffiah as our new Board President. Photo: Janet Tavares Chike C. Nwoffiah is an educator, arts administrator and advocate, and a founding board member of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. After twelve successful years…
Anana Clark is a master braider and threadwrap artist originally from Los Angeles, now living in the Bay Area. She teaches an online course in African Threadwrapping and is also available for in-person classes for cosmetology schools and African centered workshops. She also has note and…
Indian-American percussionist and composer Dr. Rohan Krishnamurthy is one of the leading voices of Indian classical and cross-genre music in the South Asian diaspora. Acclaimed a “musical ambassador” and “pride of India” by The Times of India, Rohan received advanced mridangam training from maestro Sri. Guruvayur…
Charya Burt is an acclaimed master dancer, choreographer, vocalist and teacher of Classical Cambodian Dance. After the Khmer Rouge genocide, Burt trained extensively with Cambodia’s foremost surviving dance masters, eventually joining the dance faculty of Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. As a member of Cambodia’s…
For the 22nd year of the program, 21 new pairs were awarded
