Happy Holidays from ACTA!
We at ACTA wish you a holiday season full of peace, warmth, and good health!

This season we'd love to share the story of Youngmin Lee of Pleasanton, a master artist of bojagi, or traditional Korean wrapping cloth. Youngmin was a 2019 ACTA mentor artist paired with apprentice and paper-maker Stephanie Rue from Sacramento.

Since the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, Youngmin has been making face masks by adapting the traditional design for Korean Gwi Jumeoni, or angular satchels. We were pleased to feature her masks in an early episode of our online program Shelter Together in April.
A rainbow of masks made by Korean textiles master Youngmin Lee. All photos by Youngmin Lee.
Youngmin’s elegant adaptation of the Gwi Jumeoni method reminds us all of how traditional knowledge lives and breathes in our contemporary lives!
Youngmin making masks at her home in Pleasanton.
Finished masks ready to be shared.
Support artists like Youngmin by making a gift to ACTA today!

Only a few days left!
Help us make our fundraising goal before Dec 31!
With the end of the year upon us, we are just $2,000 away from our fundraising goal! Help put us over the edge with your gift today—any amount helps, and all donations are tax-deductible. Your support helps us continue our work serving the cultural communities of California through grants, programs, technical assistance, and more.

Thank you for your support of our shared cultural heritage!
Contact: Amy Kitchener, Executive Director
akitch@actaonline.org
Now more than ever, culture heals.
ACTA’s Building Healthy Communities (BHC) artist fellows have been working within the community of Boyle Heights to bring deeply rooted traditional arts processes and values to local social justice efforts. The practice of community-centered art helps build sustainable opportunities for co-creation, engagement, and change.

This collective altar stands as a testament to the fact that la cultura cura—culture heals. During COVID-19, ACTA's BHC artists focused on mental health interventions and support systems for the Latinx community through a series of online workshops, including altar-making. Learn more about the La Cultura Cura program here.
From left to right: Artist Fellow Omar Ramirez, Program Manager Betty Marín, mentee Luz Marlene Cordero (seated), Artist Fellow Ofelia Esparza (seated), Artist Fellow Rosanna Esparza Ahrens, Program Manager Quetzal Flores, and Artist Fellow Dalila Mendez. Photo: M. Perez/ACTA.
Happy 10th Anniversary to ACTA's Kenya Curry!

We are so excited to congratulate ACTA Program Coordinator Kenya Curry on ten years of service at ACTA!

In 2010, Kenya joined ACTA as an administrative assistant, working full time while she also attended California State University Fresno. Over the years we have witnessed Kenya's growth as a person, a mother, a college graduate, and now as a program coordinator in ACTA's Arts in Corrections program, working from our Fresno office. Her dedication, determination, and expertise have helped strengthen the foundations of this key program. For ten years, Kenya has put her sense of responsibility, creativity, problem-solving, and her people skills in service of some of our state's most vulnerable populations.

Kenya is someone who makes everyone she meets feel valued and respected. She exemplifies the powerful message from Maya Angelou, a message that Kenya includes in her email signature:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."


Thank you Kenya for your service to ACTA and to the living heritage of California!
Six grant opportunities with the California Arts Council are now open for applications! These grants prioritize relief & recovery for California’s creative artists and businesses impacted by COVID-19, and are available for both organizations and individual artists.
Deadline: various, beginning 02/02/2021
The California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program is now live! Applications open Dec 30. California recently announced a $500 million Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant program for eligible small business owners, nonprofits, and cultural institutions who have been impacted by COVID-19 and the health and safety restrictions. Grants up to $25,000 will be given to eligible small businesses and nonprofits to help cover expenses during the pandemic. Click here to review your eligibility, prepare your business documents and get ready to apply. Applications for Round 1 will open on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, and will close end of day on Friday, January 8th. Round 2 will be announced in the near future.
Deadline: 01/08/2020

Grants for Arts Projects is the National Endowment for the Arts’ principal grants program for organizations based in the United States. Through project-based funding, the program supports public engagement with, and access to, various forms of art across the nation, the creation of excellent art, learning in the arts at all stages of life, and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life. The Arts Endowment encourages applications from a variety of eligible organizations, e.g., with small, medium, or large budgets, and from rural to urban communities. Similarly, projects may be large or small, existing or new, and may take place in any part of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.
First deadline: 02/11/2021

California Humanities offers grants to eligible nonprofit organizations and public agencies in three categories: documentary media, with the California Documentary Project; public humanities events, with Humanities for All; and public library engagement, with the Library Innovation Lab. Several grants programs are now open or are opening soon— learn more about each category and how to apply here.
First deadline: 02/01/2021

The Creative Work Fund’s mission is to foster collaboration between artists and nonprofit organizations in order to produce art that can serve as a powerful vehicle of problem solving and community renewal. Grants of up to $45,000 are available for collaborative projects in which the creation of an artwork is central, Applicants must be based in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, or Sonoma County.
Deadline: 01/22/2021

CCI’s CALI Accelerator program invests in the vision and voice of emerging arts professionals. Grants are awarded monthly to fund professional development activities that help arts workers shape their organization, discipline, or the broader arts and culture field. Grants of up to $1,000 are available for individual arts professionals who are California residents and currently affiliated with California nonprofit arts or cultural organizations as administrators, artists, key volunteers, or board members.
First deadline: 01/15/2021
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.