We at ACTA wish you a happy New Year filled with the joy of art, the strength of community, and the warmth of tradition.

This holiday season, we wanted to share with you the heartwarming story of 2019 ACTA Apprenticeship awardee Sonia Franzi  (Yurok/Karuk; pictured above). For the past year, Sonia has been learning how to make infant cradle baskets from the Yurok, Karuk, and Hupa tradition under mentor artist and master weaver Dorothy Sylvia  (Hupa/Yurok/Karuk) in Weitchpec, a Humboldt County community situated along the Klamath River on the Yurok Reservation .

Sonia's twin daughters Hazel and Maizy in their baskets.
Do rothy had been encouraging Sonia to expand her weaving practice into baby basketry for months--she just had a feeling that it was the right time for Sonia to learn this skill. As fate would have it, within the first few months of the apprenticeship Sonia learned she was pregnant with twins! With Do rothy 's guidance, Sonia complete d the two beautiful baby baskets pictured in record time. Her  twin daughters Hazel and Maizy  (5 months old) now each have a basket of their own, made by their mother's own hand  out of hazel sticks and spruce wrap.

The continuity of traditions like cradle basketry that are vital to a sense of family, community, and belonging ha ve always been and will continue to be at the heart of ACTA's work.

With less than 24 hours remaining in 2019, we are so close to our fundraising goal!  To help us get there, members of our Board of Directors have stepped forward with a unique offer. They will match every dollar you donate before midnight on December 31, 2019, up to a grand total of $1,200.

Give now and the impact of your generosity is doubled! Contribute through our website or our Facebook page, and help ACTA serve California's thriving cultural communities.
Sonia Franzi (L) with mentor artist and master weaver Dorothy Sylvia (R).
All photos by J. Jameson/ACTA.


 
In the last few weeks, we shared gifts to help brighten the holidays. In case you missed them, we are pleased to include them here.
 
From 2019 ACTA Apprentice Julianne Burk
 
From 2019 Living Cultures Grantee Berkeley Old Time Music Convention
ACTA Annual Report: 2018 - 2019

Have you seen ACTA's Annual Report yet?
 
For the past 22 years, ACTA has been supporting the work of artists and organizations who engage with the transformative and restorative impact of collective traditions in their communities.

Learn more in our  Annual Report, which celebrates our accomplishments in fiscal year 2018 - 19. Through stories, photos, and graphics, you will explore the extraordinary work that tells us what it means to be human.
 
Kumu (teacher) Kau'i Peralto wearing her Mauna Kea and other gifted regalia at a blessing ceremony. Photo: Isabel Ollinger
Cur'Arte:
Traditional Arts + Health
A Traditional Arts Roundtable Series in San Francisco

Join us for our inaugural session:
Embodying Tradition as Health Practice

Saturday, January 18, 2020
1 - 3 PM | FREE

Theatre of Yugen
2840 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

What can traditional arts practices tell us about different ways of approaching health and wellbeing? This inaugural session of ACTA's 2020  Cur'Arte roundtable season in San Francisco includes art sharing and collective conversation about how traditional Japanese theater, Hawaiian Aloha `ina , and Mongolian Bii Bielgee contribute to individual and community health in the Bay Area. Click below to RSVP to this free public event!
Cur'Arte is a take on the Spanish word  curarte or "to heal (you)." Our term highlights  arte, or art, to emphasize the health benefits that the arts offer to creators, participants, and audiences.

The Traditional Arts Roundtable Series (TARS) is a project of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. The Cur'Arte TARS season in San Francisco is generously supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission. Additional support provided by the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.


REMAP : LA
Artist-Led Equity Workshops and Events

January 21 - 30, 2020

Various Locations in Los Angeles

Where can you immerse yourself in creative methods that envision a shared future?

Where can you learn pragmatic equity strategies to evolve institutions and ourselves?

For this third and final activation of  REMAP: LA by  ArtChangeUS, we will locate ourselves within the city's rich cultural landscape exploring cultural vibrancy, community and imagination in this multi-day event.

ACTA is co-presenting the  Imagining a New Map forum as part of this event on January 22, 2020, featuring  singer-songwriter  Aloe Blacc , Chicana altaristas  Ofelia Esparza and Rosanna Esparza Ahrens , violinist and social justice advocate  Vijay Gupta , visual artist  Jazmín Urrea,  excerpt of Try/Step/Trip  by Dahlak Brathwaite,  and more. The forum  will feature participatory conversations and artist projects that fundamentally shift how we perceive place, people, and culture. I magining a New Map  asks: how do we co-create a future located in our understanding of the past and actions now? And how does cultural equity show up in your work? Together we can build connections and resources in community with others to change our landscape. 

Click below to learn about the forum and related events that will take place across Los Angeles in January. Registration for these events is 30% off until December 31, 2020.
The LA County Arts Ed Collective is excited to offer "The Art of Leadership: From Individual Voice to Collective Impact," a  Theory U-based leadership development intensive for arts education leaders of all levels who are interested in and/or are already working to advance systems change in arts education. This multi-session program will focus on individual leadership development as the foundation for collective impact on arts education in LA County. The series offers participants the opportunity to grow their personal leadership capacities and skills; develop and deepen a network of colleagues based on trust and collaboration; work with a diverse cadre of arts education leaders from across the County and align their efforts with broader regional and/or statewide initiatives. Click to learn more.
DEADLINE: 01/08/2020

The CALI Accelerator Program from the Center for Cultural Innovation will award grants of up to $1,000 to emerging arts professionals affiliated with a nonprofit arts organization, with a priority for those whose perspectives are not well represented by the conventional arts and culture field, to practice their leadership vision and voice. Grants are awarded on a monthly basis throughout the year. Click to learn more.
DEADLINE: 01/15/2020

New NEA grant program guidelines are now available online in the Challenge America and Grants for Arts Projects (GAP, formerly Art Works) categories, with the  first GAP deadline on February 13, 2020.  Included in the new guidelines are   expanded project types for Local Arts Agencies , developed to reflect field feedback and the evolution of work by local arts agencies.  A new video overview of Arts Endowment funding opportunities is available   online . Note that guidelines for the Research award opportunities will be available in January 2020 and the Our Town guidelines will be available in May 2020. Click to learn more.
DEADLINE: Beginning 02/13/2020
Reminder:

ACTA's offices are currently closed for the holidays, and will reopen on January 2, 2020.
Want to learn how you can support the work of ACTA?
The Alliance for California Traditional Arts is the California Arts Council's official partner in serving the state's folk and traditional arts field.
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