Celebrating Over 25 Years of ACTA

An oral history of California’s traditional arts

In 1997, a group of artists, public folklorists, and cultural workers gathered to envision a statewide network that would nurture and grow California’s rich tapestry of artists, culture bearers, and organizations in the folk and traditional arts field – giving birth to the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, or ACTA.

Decades later, we embarked on an expansive oral history project delving into our archives and collecting stories from current and former grantees, staff, board members, partners, and colleagues. 

As we celebrate this milestone anniversary with you, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to promoting and supporting ways for cultural traditions to thrive now and into the future.

Timelines At-A-Glance

  • Sustaining Cultural Practice

    ACTA is a steward and advocate of cultural heritage, ensuring that the stories and practices of communities endure for generations to come, and that voices often marginalized are uplifted and celebrated.

    Explore this timeline

  • Health Equity

    ACTA is an innovator working at the intersections of traditional arts, public health, and social justice, and collaborates deeply with culture bearers on programs that promote healing, empower communities, and publish evidence of the transformative power of traditional arts.

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  • Engaging the Public

    ACTA is a critical bridge between cultural communities, connecting the public with folk and traditional artists and partners to realize a nation where the unique value of every culture is respected, sustained, and appreciated.

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  • Field Building

    ACTA is a national leader in strengthening the network of folk and traditional artists and organizations through peer learning, advocacy, resources, convenings, and published research.

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  • Growing ACTA

    ACTA was born from a synergy of activism and arts practice—a coalition of artists and culture workers that flourished into a powerhouse organization with offices across the state and impact around the world.

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  • “ACTA was the spark of our dreams, which became a wildfire that now reaches around the world.”

    —Tsering Wangmo, Tibetan American artist and Apprenticeship Program master artist

  • “ACTA shows what it means to follow the lead of local people, to work in trust and mutual respect in a long relationship, and to take seriously the grassroots community experience.”

    —Deborah Kodish, Community Leadership Project evaluation consultant

  • “ACTA is the hope of the immigrant that brings their culture to this country.”

    —Eduardo Martinez Arvilla, Colombian American artist and Arts in Corrections teaching artist

  • “When I die, my legacy will be our children, and everything I taught them.”

    —Julie Dick-Tex, Mono Native American artist and Apprenticeship Program master artist

  • “You never know what’s going to happen when you bring 25 people together. But a grain of sand at a time, it gradually builds a beach.”

    —Dan Sheehy, Board member and ethnomusicologist 

Support the Future

California is a leading cultural and economic capital in the world. With 1 in 4 Californians identifying as first-generation immigrants, we are at the forefront of the country’s shift toward racial and ethnic plurality. 

ACTA’s community-driven efforts to sustain cultural practices, champion health equity and civic engagement, and build the field of traditional arts have been essential to the livelihoods of many artists and culture bearers. But deep, sustainable, and equitable change requires investment.

Join the movement.

With your tax-deductible contribution, you can help build toward a culturally and racially equitable California, where the breadth of cultural practices in our state are valued as sources of social belonging, power, and justice.