Stories + News

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…

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.

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…

This Diwali, we celebrate the rich cultural and storytelling heritage of South India through Anuradha Suresh and her apprentice, Amritavarshini Gunasekaran. Fremont’s Anuradha Suresh, a classical musician and skilled harikatha performer, is a mentor in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program,…

A couple dozen people, mostly women spanning multiple generations, filled the hall during a very rainy day in April at the Hmong Organizing for Progress and Empowerment (H.O.P.E.) Center in North Sacramento. https://actaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/P1022095.mp4 Lu Lee’s daughter Chue describes the traditional piece made by Lu’s sister so that…