New Funding Opportunities for 2018: ACTA's Living Cultures Grants Program and Apprenticeship Program
 
LIVING CULTURES GRANTS PROGRAM
Deadline to apply: JULY 17, 2017
 
The Living Cultures Grants Program seeks to sustain and strengthen the folk and traditional arts in the state of California with grants of $5,000 to California-based nonprofits, as well as other organizations who work with fiscal sponsors.
 
To learn more about ACTA's Living Cultures Grants Program, click here.
 
 
APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
Deadline to apply: JULY 17, 2017
 
The Apprenticeship Program encourages the continuity of California's traditional arts and cultures by contracting master artists to offer intensive, one-on-one training to qualified apprentices. Each $3,000 contract will support a period of concentrated learning for apprentices demonstrate a committed engagement with and talent for a specific folk and traditional art form or practice.
 
To learn more about ACTA's Apprenticeship Program, click here.
 
Join a webinar with ACTA staff to learn more about these programs. See more on our website.
José Chuy Hernández, Mariachero and music instructor with ACTA program manager Russell Rodríguez
 before recording in the pop-up studio. Photo: Lily Kharrazi/ACTA

Sounds of California: Mayferia!
by Lily Kharrazi

How do you create a portrait of a neighborhood and its people? What captures your sense of place? What is embedded in a soundscape, a memory, a story, or a song that make you feel that you belong?

ACTA visited the Mayfair district of East San Jose on March 19, working with our partner,  The School of Arts & Culture, housed at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The occasion is a year-long initiative known as  Celebrate Mayfair, an effort by organizations and residents to create a new narrative for their under-resourced neighborhood. At the center of this effort is the central tenant that by connecting people to one another, changes towards better health, safety and urban blight can be addressed by the people who live there. It is also an important way to recognize the assets of a neighborhood instead characterizing it only through real and perceived deficits. The School of Arts and Culture plays a central role in this initiative, inviting residents through their shared local histories (where activist Cesar Chavez got his start), and their cultural expressions to engage in this effort and to enjoy their neighborhood.  

View Russell's short film on the Mayferia pop-up recording studio and event.

Today we're presenting a new video produced by my colleague, ACTA program manager, Russell Rodríguez--a San Jose native son. Together, we captured a few generous and talented residents whose contributions provide a taste of the richness of what is possible.

Promise Zone Arts is Launched
By Beto González

On March 28th ACTA and our partners  LA Commons , the  City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs City of Los Angeles Promise Zone Office  and  Youth Policy Institute , kicked off the  Promise Zone Arts  project with an evening of food, performance, and community engagement. 

The project is a two-year cultural asset mapping program that will celebrate the cultural treasures of the Los Angeles Promise Zone. Read on to learn about how you can get involved!

Arts in Corrections in the News!

The California Arts Council's   Arts in Corrections initiative, for which ACTA is a partner, has been in the news!

With the support of the California Arts Council and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, ACTA is currently offering 27 residencies (at 13 weeks each) at 8 different prisons throughout the state. Among the workshops offered for inmates by ACTA artists are music-based classes like son jarocho, Afro-Colombian percussion, blues harmonica, storytelling classes, and visual arts-based offerings like Native American beadwork and Chicano murals and illustration. 

From the ACTA Archive: Arts in Corrections - A film by Sara Aguilar

We're starting a new series showcasing material from ACTA's rich collection of films and photography documenting the many experiences and creative expressions of California's folk and traditional arts.
 
First up is a 2015 film by Sara Aguilar for ACTA, highlighting the pilot round of traditional arts residencies at Corcoran State Prison, offered as part of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts' Arts in Corrections program, supported by the California Arts Council.
 
Sara Aguilar and Eric Coleman captured the creativity and progress among participating maximum security inmates and teaching artists. Featuring Mexican son jarocho music, dance, verse, drawing, and storytelling, the film offers a peek into the intentional process of building trust and a collective, supportive environment that inspires creativity and confidence.

For over 30 years, CERF+ (the Craft Emergency Relief Fund) has provided emergency relief to artists working in craft disciplines who have experienced a career-threatening emergency. In an effort to assist more artists working in craft disciplines whose work is rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of their community, CERF+ has developed guidelines that specifically address the needs of folk and traditional artists.
 
To learn more about this important resource available to traditional artists, visit the new guidelines on the CERF+ website. MORE INFO



Keeping Space - Oakland is a pilot real estate technical and financial assistance program for Oakland arts groups who are seeking long-term, affordable, safe spaces. 
 
A Real Estate Readiness Workshops Series will be free and open to all Oakland arts groups, collectives, and organizations as part of the Keeping Space - Oakland program. The workshop series begins next Friday, May 5th. Register and find more information about upcoming workshops on the CAST website. MORE INFO
The Alliance for California Traditional Arts is the California Arts Council's official partner in serving the state's folk & traditional arts field.
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