To update information or submit an event, email ACTA.
DEADications
Through November 6, 2005
Arte Américas
1630 Van Ness
Fresno, CA
Arte Américas is exhibiting traditional altars in celebration of Dia de los Muertos.
Admission: $3
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Sunday 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
For more information visit the Arte Américas website.
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Pieces of the Past: Quilting Traditions
Through November 6, 2005
Grace Hudson Museum
431 South Main
Ukiah, CA
Pieces of the Past: Quilting Traditions an exhibition of over forty regional quilts, drawn from both public and private collections, will be on display at the Grace Hudson Museum through November 6, 2005. The quilts range in date from the early 1800s to 2002, highlighting examples of major quilting traditions and techniques while documenting the values, interests and experiences of their creators and the times in which they lived.
Quilts on display are made from bright silks, tobacco felts, simple cotton shirting material, cigar ribbons, expensive dress fabric and wool suits. These quilts have fascinating stories to tell. There is a double wedding ring quilt, made for the bride-to-be by her friends, and stored away, unused, when she ran away from the arranged marriage to follow her own heart. Another quilt won first prize at the California State Fair in 1954, a hand-painted piece requiring hundreds of hours to complete, created by the wife of a logger living out in the wilds of Mendocino County. One quilt was made to help the temperance cause, while another was completed in Finland and carried to America by the maker’s sixteen year old daughter.
The Sun House Guild quilt, finished in 1980, pictures a number of historic sites existing around Mendocino County during Grace Hudson’s lifetime. Designed by Virginia Fitch and containing the work of over 30 quilters, it helped to raise over $6,000 to pay for building the Grace Hudson Museum. There is a quilt made by three grandchildren for their grandmother, depicting life on their northern California farm in 1893; and another picturing the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
Museum Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.;
Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Alan Lomax in the Salento: Ethnographic Photographs from the 1950’s
November 2 – 9, 2005
Instituto Italiano de Cultura
1023 Hilgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
This event features black and white photographs taken on the pioneering Alan Lomax/Diego Carpitella ethnomusicologic field collecting campaigns of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The Salento (Puglia) is closely associated with the spider ritual of tarantismo, as well as with Mediterranean funeral laments. The curators of the exhibit are Luisa Del Giudice and Goffredo Plastino. Presented by Anna Lomax Wood and Luisa Del Giudice. The exhibition opening is at 9:00 p.m. on November 2nd.
Also on November 2, at 8:00 p.m. there will be an illustrated lecture entitled “The Watts Tower of Los Angeles and La Fiesta dei Gigli of Nola: A Shared Tradition” by Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute, CUNY, New York. The Watts Towers were the creation of Sabato (Simon) Rodia, a native of Camania, Italy, an area with a strong “dancing tower” festival tradition. This ethnographic grounding f the emblematic Los Angeles monument is rarely celebrated.
This event is part of the Italian Oral History Institute’s multimedia festival: Italian Los Angeles: Celebrating Italian Life, Local History, and the Arts in Southern California (October 19 - December 9, 2005).
For more information visit the Italian Oral History Institute’s website.
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MásCaras: Masks of Mexico
Through November 12, 2005
The Mexican Museum
Fort Mason Center - Building D
San Francisco, CA
Presenting examples from the Museum’s extensive collection of masks, the exhibition will highlight the unique confluence of Spanish religious plays, African influences brought by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the prolific mask traditions of Mexico’s indigenous population. The exhibition will include mixed media masks of wood, clay, animal skin and papier mâché from various parts of Mexico, and will focus on the eastern coast area of Veracruz, western region of Oaxaca and Guerrero, and central states of Michoacán and Puebla.
Admission: Free
Museum Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
For more information call (415) 202-9700 or visit the museum’s website.
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Bailando con la Muerte VII
Through November 12, 2005
Hartnell College Gallery
156 Homestead Ave.
Salinas, CA
Artistas Unidos, a multi-cultural community forum in Monterey County, presents a celebration and installation of art for Dia de los Muertos. On Tuesday, November 1st from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. there will be a reception with live music, dance performances, poetry readings, refreshments, and a Frida Kahlo look-alike contest.
For more information visit Artistas Unidos’ website.
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Dia de los Muertos Exhibit in San Francisco
Through November 23, 2005
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA
This year the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts will host an altar exhibit including an altar created by Herminia Albarrán Romero, National Heritage Fellow, and her students.
For more information visit the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts' website.
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Costumes of Kathak: the Classical Dance of North India
Through November 26, 2005
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
388 Ninth Street, Suite. 290
Oakland, CA
This exhibit offers an educational presentation of the traditional costumes of Kathak dance, a classical dance form from North India.
Admission: Free
For more information call (510) 637-0462 or visit the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s website.
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Calavera: Days of the Dead Altars Remixed
Through December 4, 2005
Oakland Museum
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, CA
For the museum’s 12th annual Días de los Muertos exhibition, artists, school groups, and members of the community create installations that reflect how California has developed its own cosmopolitan version of this celebration—grounded in spiritual Mesoamerican traditions, but open to new expressions.
On October 23rd from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., the museum will host the 12th Annual Community Celebration for the Days of the Dead, a free celebration where participants can help create a community altar, take part in craft activities, or enjoy food, music, and dance performances. Featured performers include Danza Xitlalli, Ensembles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco, Mariachi Colima de Javier Magallón, Teatro Familia Aztlàn, and Yolanda Aranda.
Admission: $8
Museum Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.;
Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Hidden Treasures from the Mexican Collections
Through December 23, 2005
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
UC Berkeley
103 Kroeber Hall - Bancroft and College Ave.
Berkeley, CA
Tesoros Escondidos presents a selection of objects from Mexico including clothing, textiles, pottery, baskets, gourds, masks, ceremonial objects, toys, and miniatures. Although these pieces have been accumulating since the Hearst Museum's founding in 1901, only a few have ever been exhibited before. A wide range of forms and media is represented, with regional strengths in the central and southern states. While some objects were created self-consciously as tourist and folk arts for sale to outsiders, much of the collection was made for use in daily life. Most of the items were collected in the 1950s and 1960s, but some pieces date as far back as the seventeenth century.
Admission: $4
Museum Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Wounan Baskets from the Panamanian Rainforest
November 3 – December 31, 2005
Craft and Folk Art Museum
5814 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
The exhibition will include baskets of varying sizes enriched with the designs of the Panamanian rainforest flora and fauna, as well as photographs documenting the Wounan way of life.
Admission: $5
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Behind the Altar: Retablos
Through December 31, 2005
Craft and Folk Art Museum
5814 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Retablos, better known as laminas in Mexico, are small oil paintings on tin, zinc, wood or copper which were used in home alters to venerate Catholic saints. This genre of folk art, deeply rooted in Spanish history, represents traditional religious beliefs in 17th, 18th, and 19th century Mexican culture. Colorful, spiritual, symbolic, allegorical, and historical are just a few of the words that best describe the unique art form.
Admission: $5
Museum Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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The Hopi: People of the Mesas
Through January 1, 2006
Riverside Metropolitan Museum
3580 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA
The Hopi: People of the Mesas examines traditional Hopi life through basketry, pottery, jewelry, and kachina dolls. Items chosen from the Museum’s permanent collection span a century, including yucca baskets from the 1890s and a quilt made in the year 2000.
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Traditions in Transition: Three Views of the Permanent Collection
Through January 8, 2006
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
520 South First Street
San Jose, CA
The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles will open the doors of its new facility with the inaugural exhibition, Traditions in Transition: Three Views of the Permanent Collection, drawn from the Museum's holdings. The exhibition will give visitors a taste of the great diversity in textile traditions found around the world by featuring a wide variety of textile forms.
Divided into three parts, each component of Traditions in Transition: Three Views of the Permanent Collection will showcase a separate and distinctive aspect of the Museum's collections. Part One will look to the past with a sampling of 19th and early 20th century quilts and woven coverlets. Part Two will celebrate the abundant artistic output of the international community, including a selection of textiles and garments from the Porcella Collection, with pieces from the Middle and Far East, various Asian and Mediterranean cultures, Samoa, Mexico, and South America. Part Three will speak to the Museum's vision for the future by turning the spotlight on a growing collection of contemporary works from such artists as Jeanne Gray, Carolyn Lee Vehslage and Priscilla Sage.
Admission: $5
Museum Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday;
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Thursdays
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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The Art of the Japanese Doll
Through January 8, 2006
Mingei International
Balboa Park
El Prado and the Plaza de Panama
San Diego, CA
The exhibition focuses on six categories of ningyo – gosho ningyo (palace dolls), hina ningyo (Girls' Day dolls), musha ningyo (Boys' Day dolls), isho ningyo (dolls of fashion and popular culture), karakuri ningyo (theater dolls, some of which are mechanical), and dolls relating to health. Carved from wood, the dolls are clothed in elegant, often elaborate, costumes with heads, hands and bodies that have the appearance of white porcelain, an effect achieved by application to the wooden base of gofun, a white pigment made from crushed clam and oyster shells and glue. Of special note is a four and one-half foot, uncostumed Bunraku puppet, a beautiful example of the mechanics of its art.
Guest Curator Alan Pate notes, “No other country in the world can boast as long-lived, vibrant and diverse a doll tradition as Japan. The doll in Japan holds layers of meaning and symbolism that anchor it more deeply in Japanese culture than its Western equivalent."
Admission: $6
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Big Drum: Taiko in the United States
Through January 8, 2006
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, California
With its thunderous rhythms and energetic movements, taiko is a powerful and popular style of group drumming. In Japanese, the word taiko translates to "big drum" or "fat drum." While drumming has always been a part of Japanese and Japanese American culture, it was not until the latter part of the twentieth century that taiko evolved into the ensemble form practiced and performed today. The pioneering American taiko groups were formed in California during the social and political tumult of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, there are hundreds of groups throughout North America and Hawai'i.
Big Drum: Taiko in the United States is the first major museum exhibition about taiko in America. Through media arts pieces, artifacts, photographs, and artwork, the exhibition explores how the development of taiko in this country reflects the resilience of cultural traditions, the historical journeys of Japanese Americans, and the cultivation of new diverse communities.
Admission: $8
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Thursday evening until 8:00 p.m.
Visit the museum’s website to learn about a series of Taiko Concerts which complement the exhibit.
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Shadows, Masks, and Music:
Aspects of the Performing Arts in Asia
Through January 22, 2006
Asian Art Museum
Tateuchi Thematic Gallery
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
The worlds of the performing arts and the visual arts intersect in numerous ways. Musical instruments, set designs, costumes, and masks, while intended to accent performances, have also been valued as aesthetic objects in their own right. This exhibit explores this connection featuring a selection of more than 50 instruments, masks, and other items that were used in various Asian theatrical, dance or musical performances. It also draws from the museum’s collection of painted and sculptural works that depict such objects or performances.
Admission: $10
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with extended hours every Thursday until 9:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Rustic Splendors: Kiln Treasures From Shiwan
Through March 2006
Pacific Heritage Museum
608 Commercial Street
San Francisco, CA
The Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco and the Pacific Heritage Museum will cosponsor Rustic Splendors: Kiln Treasures from Shiwan. This exhibit of Chinese ceramics will feature one hundred forty one pieces, on loan from nineteen Bay Area collectors, ranging from the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644) to the present.
For more information call the Chinese Culture Center at (415) 986-1822 or visit the center’s website.
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On the Red Road
Through March 2006
Marin Museum of the American Indian
Miwok Park
2200 Novato Blvd.
Novato, CA
This exhibit is a photographic essay depicting the cultural expression of America's first people. Over sixty color photographs grace the wall with dancers and family portraits. Beaded moccasins, purses, and eagle headdress from the late 1880's compliment the photographic display.
Museum Hours: Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Passage to Panama: Past to Present
Through March 26, 2006
San Diego Museum of Man
Balboa Park
1350 El Prado
San Diego, CA
Curated by Grace Johnson, Passage to Panama: Past to Present is based on the research, collections, and photographs of William and Evelyn Phillips taken in the 1950s. This exhibit describes the lives and culture of the Guaymí peoples of the mountains of Chiriquí and Veraguas and the Chocó peoples of the Darién in the 1950s.
The Chocó, currently known as the Wounaan/Embera people, live along the rivers in the Darién region of Panama. This exhibit centers on their environment and their daily life, including rituals and healing. The Museum's collection of baskets highlights Chocó culture, which is further detailed through displays of wooden bowls, hunting and fishing implements, traditional dress and jewelry, and carved wooden staffs.
The lives of the Guaymí, presently known as the Ngöbe, are recounted through their daily lives by looking closely at objects they use in their households, such as gourds and woven hats, as well as musical instruments associated with the balsaría ceremony. The exhibit also looks at how these indigenous groups are affected by other cultures by considering their art and economy, and examining the wide range of contemporary baskets, jewelry, and woodcarvings made for sale.
Photographs taken by Dr. Julie Velasquez-Runk and Dr. Philip Young between 1997 and 2004 give a sense of the current life of indigenous peoples of the Darién. Contemporary photographs of Panama and historic and contemporary images of the Panama Canal illustrate life in Panama as it is today.
Admission: $6
Museum Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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¡Carnaval!
November 6, 2005 – April 23, 2006
Fowler Museum of Cultural History
UCLA Campus
Hilgard and Strathmore Avenues
Los Angeles, CA
This exhibit explores the revelry of Carnival festivals as they are enacted today in eight different geographic and cultural regions. This lavish exhibition presents approximately fifty elaborate costumes and numerous masks reflecting a range of masquerade and performance themes that represent traditions in these sites: Laza, Spain; Venice, Italy; Basel, Switzerland; Oruro, Bolivia; Tlaxcala, Mexico; Recife/Olinda, Brazil; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and New Orleans. These unique celebrations and rituals are brought to life through photographic murals and short video programs of recent Carnival festivities in these locales, allowing visitors to explore the history and evolution and experience the sights and sounds of this vital celebration.
Admission: Free
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama
Through May 14, 2006
San Diego Museum of Man
Balboa Park
1350 El Prado
San Diego, CA
The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama is a major traveling exhibition that presents a view of the Kuna culture as seen through its expressive arts: the Kuna's central concern for form and beauty in everyday life, narratives, rituals, healing, and visual arts such as Kuna women's molas (textiles). The Kuna people live on the San Blas islands and Atlantic coastline of Panama. The exhibit showcases Kuna culture through a wide range of objects including baskets, wooden objects, molas, and gold jewelry. Large-scale photo panels with supportive descriptive panels and visual documentation, depicted in an environment suggestive of a Kuna village and video stations add depth to the presentation.
Admission: $6
Museum Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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November
Dia de los Muertos Procession in Fresno
November 2, 2005 – 7:00 p.m.
Arte Américas
1630 Van Ness Avenue
Fresno, CA
The procession will meet in front of St. John's Cathedral (2814 Mariposa at R Street) and proceed to Arte Américas. The event features live music and traditional pan de muertos at Arte Américas.
For more information visit Arte Américas’ website.
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Day of the Dead Procession San Francisco
November 2, 2005 – 7:00 p.m.
Mission District
San Francisco, CA
Day of the Dead San Francisco is a community event that has been happening for the last 26 years. The procession will begin at 24th & Bryant and end in Garfield Park at the Festival of Altars at 8:30 p.m. at 25th & Harrison. Participants can bring flowers, candles, and memoirs of loved ones for the community altar.
Admission: Free
For more information visit the Procession’s website.
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32nd Annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration in Los Angeles
November 2, 2005 – 5:00 p.m.
Self Help Graphics & Art
3802 Cesar E. Chavez Ave
Los Angeles, CA
Self Help Graphics & Art, located in the heart of East Los Angeles, will conduct a procession beginning at Cinco Puntos at Cesar Chavez & Lorena and proceeding to the Self Help Graphics & Art building located at 3802 Cesar E. Chavez Ave & Gage. Participants can bring offers and memories to display at the large community altar that will be constructed at Self Help’s Gallery Otra Vez. The altar will be created by altar maker and community resident, Ofelia Esparza, a former master in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program. The event will also feature craft sales, food, and entertainment including a traditional Aztec dance blessing ceremony.
For more information visit Self Help Graphics & Art’s website.
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Dia de los Muertos Celebration in Riverside
November 2, 2005
Riverside Metropolitan Museum
3580 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA
The Riverside Metropolitan Museum and Division 9 Gallery examine the complex and rich histories of honoring the dead in ancient and contemporary Mesoamerica through live performances and traditional cultural cuisine.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Mexican Day of the Dead Family Festival in Santa Ana
November 5-6, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The Bowers Museum
2002 N. Main Street
Santa Ana, CA
Participants will have the opportunity to decorate sugar skulls, create papel picado (cut paper) designs, and make calavera puppets and masks. Xipe Totec will perform Aztec dances, and Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead), and Mexican hot chocolate will be served.
Admission: $5
For more information call (714) 480 – 1522 or visit the museum’s website.
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Italian Music and Dance Workshops
November 3 – 5, 2005
St. Alban’s Episcopal Church
580 Hilgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, November 3, 3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Dance & Music Workshop: Traditional Music of Mediterranean Italy with Enzo Fina & Roberto Catalano of Musicàntica, including Apulian frame drum, Sardinian benas, and more.
Friday, November 4, 5:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Music & Dance Workshop: Rhythm is the Cure: ritual music and dance from Southern Italy with renowned percussionist, Alessandra Belloni of I Giullari di Piazza.
Saturday, November 5, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Dance Workshop: Northern and Central Italy with Marie Di Cocco & Celest Di Pietropaolo, traditional village dance instructors from an Emilian monferrina to the Abruzzese saltarello and Sardinian round dance.
This event is part of the Italian Oral History Institute’s multimedia festival: Italian Los Angeles: Celebrating Italian Life, Local History, and the Arts in Southern California (October 19 - December 9, 2005).
For more information visit the Italian Oral History Institute’s website.
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Soiree Musicale
November 4, 2005 – 8:00 p.m.
Croatian American Cultural Center
60 Onondaga Ave.
San Francisco, CA
The Soiree Musicale features The Baguette Quartette, led by button accordionist and singer, Odile Lavault. The Baguette Quartette plays "valse musette", a danceable blend of gypsy influenced, swing-flavored music from Auvergne, Paris, and Italy. Their repertoire includes valses musettes, tangos, pasos dobles, fox trots, and marches. Also playing are The Hot Frittatas of the Italian "Ballo Liscio" style, which literally means “smooth dancing.” They play a mix of polkas, mazurkas, waltzes, tarantellas, and cafe tunes. Gary Breitbard will provide instruction in the French and Italian dance styles before each band set.
For more information visit the Center’s website.
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Music from Mediterranean Italy: Musicantica in Concert
November 4, 2005 – 8:00 p.m.
UCLA Armand Hammer Museum of Art
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
Performing in Los Angeles since 1994, Musicàntica presents music from Southern Italy's oral traditions, while blending more contemporary musical styles in Mediterranean World Music in traditional and original compositions.
Admission: Free
This event is part of the Italian Oral History Institute’s multimedia festival: Italian Los Angeles: Celebrating Italian Life, Local History, and the Arts in Southern California (October 19 - December 9, 2005).
For more information visit the Italian Oral History Institute’s website.
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La Peña at Arte Américas
November 4, 2005
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
1630 Van Ness
Fresno, CA
In South America, peñas have a long history as community gatherings for the performance of folk music, poetry, storytelling, and social commentary. La Peña takes its inspiration from this tradition and works to integrate the arts with the daily life of the community. November’s Peña features Carmencristina Moreno, a former master in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, with guest artist Patrick Contreras, in a tribute to legendary Lalo Guerrero, the father of chicano music.
Admission: $10
To reserve tickets call 559-266-2623 or for more information visit Arte Américas’s website.
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Nex'wetem Southern California Indian Basketweavers Fall Gathering
November 4 – 6, 2005
Mountain Meadow Ranch
Garner Valley
San Jacinto Mountains
This gathering includes weaving circles and workshops as well as Bird singing and dancing.
Call (951) 27-6719 or e-mail lsisquoc@charter.net to confirm participation. For more information visit Kumeyaay.com.
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Celebrating Seiichi Tanaka
November 5, 2005 – 2:00 p.m.
Japanese American National Museum
369 East First Street
Los Angeles, California
Two projects explore the contributions of master drummer Seiichi Tanaka, founder and the director of the renowned San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Heidi Varian will sign copies of her book The Way of Taiko, and Gayle Yamada will screen her documentary, The Spirit of Taiko. These projects illustrate the power of taiko as experienced by one of its leading practitioners.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Dia de los Muertos at the California Academy of Sciences
November 5, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
California Academy of Sciences
875 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA
The Academy will celebrate Dia de los muertos with pre-Columbian dance performances by Grupo Xaguia, construction of a traditional altar, pan de muerto (bread of the dead), and Mexican hot chocolate. Ruben Guzman, a former master artist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, will demonstrate the art of papel picado (Mexican cut paper).
For more information visit the Academy’s website.
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LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble Fundraiser
November 5, 2005
7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
PUSOD Center
1808 Fifth Street
Berkeley, CA
LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble and PUSOD: Center for Culture, Ecology, and Bayan present an evening of dance, music, food, and drinks to support Philippine arts and culture.
Admission: $25
For more information visit LIKHA’s website.
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From the Source: Gen Taiko’s 10th Anniversary Concert
November 5, 2005 – 7:00 p.m.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission St at 3rd St.
San Francisco, CA
This event celebrates Gen Taiko’s 10 years of work in the Japanese American community in extending the living tradition of Japanese and Japanese American cultural arts. Featuring Shin-Issei master artists Masakazu Yoshizawaon on shakuhachi, fue, and various Japanese percussion; Hideko Nakajima, a former master in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, on shamisen and vocals; Tatsu Aoki on shamisen, upright bass, and various percussion; Suz Takeda, actress; Lenora Lee, prinicipal dancer; Melody Takata, dancer and taiko; the Gen Taiko Core Ensemble; and Taiko School.
Admission: $17 – 25
For more information visit the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ website.
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Diwali – Festival of Lights
November 5th, 2005
1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Lakeview Senior Center
20 Lake Road
Irvine, CA
Diwali is a Hindu celebration of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. Ektaa Center presents a program of Kathak, Bhangra, folk and Bollywood dancing. At 6:00 p.m. there will be a concert featuring Geetha Bennett on veena and Frank Bennett on mridangam.
For more information visit Ektaa Center’s website.
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Cambodian Classical Dance Recital
November 5, 2005 – 5:00 p.m.
Khmer Arts Academy Studio
1364 Obispo Avenue
Long Beach, CA
The Khmer Arts Academy presents a special recital in Cambodian classical dance featuring Sam Sathya, prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, artistic director of Khmer Arts Adademy, Sophy Julie Nuth, Khmer Arts Academy and guest artists Rachana Khieu and Sorannorin Pheng.
Admission: Free
Please RSVP by calling (562) 256-6676.
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Mexican Day of the Dead Family Festival in Santa Ana
November 5 - 6, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
The Bowers Museum
2002 N. Main Street
Santa Ana, CA
Participants will have the opportunity to decorate sugar skulls, create papel picado (cut paper) designs, and make calavera puppets and masks. Xipe Totec will perform Aztec dances, and Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead), and Mexican hot chocolate will be served.
Admission: $5
For more information call (714) 480 – 1522 or visit the museum’s website.
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Intertribal Marketplace
November 5-6, 2005
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Southwest Museum of the American Indian
234 Museum Drive
Los Angeles, CA
The celebrated Intertribal Marketplace returns to the community of Mt. Washington for its 15th year with more than 100 artists selling pottery, jewelry, sculpture, painting, mixed-media, weaving, beadwork, woodcarving, and cultural items. This event celebrates the continuing traditions and new innovations of Native artists. Featured are performances by Native dancers, singers, and musicians; family activities; and Native food, such as Indian frybread, Hopi piki, and roasted parched corn.
Event admissions: $10
For more information call (323) 221-2164 or visit the museum’s website.
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Tarantelle e canti d'amore (Tarantelle and love songs) I Giullari di Piazza in Concert
November 6, 2005 – 4:00 p.m.
Remo Music Center
7308 Coldwater Canyon Ave.
N. Hollywood, CA
This concert features Remo artist, tambourine virtuosa, Alessandra Belloni and composer, Renaissance guitar (chitarra battente) virtuoso, John La Barbera, co-founders of the New York-based, Italian Music and Theatre Company, I Giullari di Piazza. Performance includes Belloni and women dancers performing Southern Italian ritual dances such as the tammorriata (a Campanian dance in honor of the Black Madonna), and the pizzica tarantata, the Apulian tarantella as ritual trance dance, once used to heal the mythic spider's bite. I Giullari will be honored with this year with the first Italian Oral History Institute Award “for the translation and transmission of Italian oral traditions in America” during the international conference Speaking Memory: Oral History, Oral Culture and Italians in America (Nov. 3-6).
Admission: $12
This event is part of the Italian Oral History Institute’s multimedia festival: Italian Los Angeles: Celebrating Italian Life, Local History, and the Arts in Southern California (October 19 - December 9, 2005).
For more information visit the Italian Oral History Institute’s website.
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Chi Siamo: Italians of Los Angeles Cultural & Historic Tour
November 6, 2005
8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Doubletree Hotel
10740 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
The four-hour tour, "Chi Siamo: Italians of Los Angeles," will survey the history of southern California Italians, while also noting city highlights. Participants will retrace the story of local Italians from their arrival in 1823 to their latest boutiques on Rodeo Drive. Passengers will travel from UCLA in Westwood, to Beverly Hills and along Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard to El Pueblo, the site of the city's founding. A walking tour along Olvera Street will lead to dwellings, businesses and wineries once owned by Italians, concluding at the historic Italian Hall.
The bus will then travel to Casa Italiana and St. Peter's church, the current social center of the widely dispersed Italian American community, before proceeding to the Music Center and the current financial district, noting Italian art and artists represented in the area. The tour will then highlight labor and enterprise as it passes through the earlier financial district housing the former Bank of Italy headquarters, the flower and produce districts and the garment and manufacturing districts where Italians have long been active.
The tour will proceed southward to visit Simon (Sabato) Rodia's folk art masterpiece, the Watts Towers, and the beach community which developer Abbott Kenney fashioned as the "Venice of America."
This event is part of the Italian Oral History Institute’s multimedia festival: Italian Los Angeles: Celebrating Italian Life, Local History, and the Arts in Southern California (October 19 - December 9, 2005).
For more information visit the Institute’s website.
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The 23rd Annual International Folk Art Market
November 6, 2005
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Culver City Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium
4117 Overland Avenue
Culver City, CA
Each year the Folk Art Council holds an International Market, bringing together over 50 vendors selling folk art, textiles, jewelry, rugs, books, ethnic clothing and handcrafted objects gathered from around the world. Net proceeds are donated to the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum to fund folk art programs and exhibitions.
Admission: $5
For more information visit the Craft and Folk Art Museum’s website.
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Jagan Ramamoorthy in Concert
November 6, 2005 – 11:00 a.m.
Herrick Chapel
Occidental College
Los Angeles, CA
Jagan Ramamoorthy, a recent recipient of the LA Treasures Award for Excellence in Traditional Music, performs both North and South Indian violin traditions. He began training in South Indian style at the age of seven with his father S. Ramamoorthy Iyer and later became a dedicated disciple of N. Rajam in the gaayaki style, or north Indian classical music. In 2004 Ramamoorthy received his Master of Fine Arts degree from California Institute for the Arts where he trained under Rajeev Taranath.
Admission: $25
For more information visit the Music Circle’s website.
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Indigenous Oaxacan Medicine Conferences
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
November 7, 2005
Catholic Church
San Antony of Claret
2494 S. Chestnut Ave.
Fresno, CA
November 9, 2005
Holiday Inn
Hotel & Conference Center
801 Truxton Ave.
Bakersfield, CA
November 10, 2005
Salinas Sprots Complex
Rodeo Room
1034 North Main Street
Salinas, CA
The Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueño (Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities) is hosting three conferences in traditional medicine with three indigenous traditional healers from Oaxaca, Mexico. The conferences will be in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation to English.
Admission: $35 including continental breakfast
For more information call (559) 499-1178.
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Rajeev Taranath in Concert
November 10, 2005 – 7:00 p.m.
Asian Art Museum
Samsung Hall
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
Rajeev Taranath performs on the sarod, a north Indian lute-like instrument. His musicianship reveals the tremendous scope of the North Indian classical tradition. Taranath will be joined onstage by the traditional accompaniment of the tabla drums, performed by Abhiman Kaushal.
Admission: Free with museum admission of $10
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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India Jazz Suites
November 10 – 12, 2005
Cowell Theatre
Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA
The world premiere of a collaboration exploring movement, rhythms and music with Kathak (North Indian dance) maestro Pandit Chitresh Das, a former master artist in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, and Tap dance star Jason Samuels Smith with North Indian classical and Jazz musicians.
For more information call (415) 333-9000 or visit Chitresh Das’ website.
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Habing Sayawit: Culture, Creation, Connection
November 12, 2005
2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Japan America Theater
244 So. San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA
Kayamanan Ng Lahi Philippine Folk Arts presents Habing Sayawit (woven dance and song) which will showcase traditional Philippine as well as Filipino American cultural folk dance, song and music by weaving them into a seamless tapestry of cultural reflection. This 15-year anniversary concert will also celebrate the achievements of key works of luminaries who helped create the renaissance of Philippine folk dance in recent history: Betty Sison Friese choreographer, author and teacher; Ramon Obusan of the Ramon Obusan Folk Group; Francisca Reyes Aquino, national Artist, pioneering researcher and mother of modern folk dance and Lucrecia Reyes Urtula, national artist dance director and choreographer for the Bayanihan National Philippine Dance Company.
Admission: $20
For more information visit Kayamanan Ng Lahi’s website.
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4th Annual Los Angeles Storytelling Festival
November 12, 2005
9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Davidson Conference Center
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
The 4th Annual Los Angeles Storytelling Festival features twelve artists sharing personal stories, folk & fairy tales, and sacred myths from around the world. The event includes workshops, concerts, informal storyswaps, private coaching, and a family program.
Admission: $40 for adults; and $10 for kids
For more information visit the Festival’s website.
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San Francisco’s 3rd Annual Parol Lantern Festival
November 16, 2005 through January 8, 2006
Various San Francisco locations
Filipino parols are traditional Christmas lanterns in the shape of a five-pointed star, symbolizing the star of Bethlehem. During the holiday season they will be displayed at several different locations throughout San Francisco. Many of the parol lanterns were created by the community in workshops facilitated by the Filipino American Development Foundation’s Bayanihan Community Center.
Lights from the Philippines: The Evolution of the Holiday Parol Lantern
November 16, 2005 through January 8, 2006
Display at Zeum’s Cone Walkway
Yerba Buena Gardens’ Roof Top
Third and Mission St.
San Francisco, CA
Parol Display and Show
November 26, 2005 – January 2, 2006
Yerba Buena Gardens’ Esplanade
Third and Mission St.
San Francisco, CA
Philippine Consulate Lighting Ceremony
November 30, 2005
The Philippine Center Building
477 Sutter St.
San Francisco, CA
Christmas in the Philipines – A Multi-media Educational Presentation
December 4, 2005
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
San Francisco’s Main Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
Parol Lantern Parade
December 10, 2005
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
The parade starts at 6th and Mission Streets and follows Mission St. to the Yerba Buena Gardens. The parade will be followed by a holiday program at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Waterfall in Yerba Buena Gardens.
St. Patrick’s Parol Show and Concert
December 15, 2005
5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Church
756 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA
There will also be parol making workshops at numerous San Francisco sites throughout November and December. For more information visit the Bayanihan Community Center’s website.
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Voices of the Flute: Ethnomusicology Lecture
November 16, 2005
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Spa Hotel – Cahuilla Room
100 N. Indian Canyon
Palm Springs, CA
Ernest Siva (Cahuilla/Serrano) grew up on the Morongo Indian Reservation in Banning, California. In his lecture, Ernest will share the history of flutes in Native American culture, with a strong concentration on Southern California instruments.
Admission: free
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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International Taiko Festival
November 18 – 20, 2005
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
700 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA
The Festival features Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo with the San Francisco Taiko Dojo Raising Stars, Sacramento Taiko Dan and Butoh master Koichi Tamano. The special guests from Japan are Tsuzumi Master Tosha Kiyonari and Wako Daiko.
Admission: $32 – 42
For more information visit Taiko Dojo’s website.
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Ensemble Kaboul
November 18, 2005 – 8:00 p.m.
Zellerbach Hall
UC Berkeley Campus
Bancroft Way (at Telegraph)
Berkeley, CA
Ensemble Kaboul will perform a concert of traditional Afghan music, weaving together Indian, Persian, and Arabic influences reflecting that country's history at the crossroads of the ancient Silk Road trade route. Ensemble Kaboul was founded in 1995 by a group of defiant expatriates who fled Taliban rule, and its concerts are intoxicating, blending airy melodies of Tajik minstrels, ecstatic festival songs, classical ragas, and brilliant instrumental pieces. The group will be joined by Ustad Farida Mahwash, a master female singer from Afghanistan.
Admission: $22 - 40
To purchase tickets visit the Cal Performances website.
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The 11th California Indian Storytelling Festival: A Decade of Heritage
November 19, 2005
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
San Leandro Public Library Theater Center
300 Estudillo Avenue
San Leandro, CA
The Festival will bring together Native storytellers from throughout California, with special guests from Hawaii. The Festival program includes storytelling performances, panel discussions, and other presentations on indigenous oral traditions, folklore and storytelling.
Festival workshops are recommended for adults and teens, ages 15 and up. Storytelling and music performances are recommended for adults and children ages 8 and up.
Saturday night features a special evening program, Evening Inside the Roundhouse, with California Indian and Hawaiian storytelling and music. The program will be held in the Theater Center from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. following the Festival.
Admission: $12 for festival; $10 for evening program
For more information visit the Festival’s website.
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Abhinaya Dance Company
November 19, 2005 – 6:00 p.m.
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave.
San José, CA
The Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose is dedicated to promoting the classical dance forms of South India through instructional classes and professional performances. Abhinaya’s artistic programs maintain Indian Americans’ connection to their cultural heritage, and strive to expand the tradition’s expressive range, fostering its stylistic evolution in the United States. This very collaborative concert features Viji Prakash and the Shakthi Dance Company.
For more information visit the Mexican Heritage Plaza’s website.
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24 Hours of the Blues – A Hurricane Katrina Benefit
November 19 – 20, 2005
6:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Vallejo Performing Arts Center
707 Marin Street
Vallejo, CA
The Bay Area Blues Society is assisting the MusiCares Foundation by hosting this 24 Hours of Blues Benefit. Many styles of music will be presented including Blues, Cajun, Zydeco, R&B and Gospel to raise funds for the many displaced musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina in the areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
For more information visit the Bay Area Blues Society’s website.
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Native American Heritage Month Programs
November 19, 2005
California Academy of Sciences
875 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA
Plains Indian Flutes (1:00 p.m., Academy Classroom)
Jim Eagle Heart performs traditional flute music including love songs, once an important part of courting rituals. According to legend, the flute has the power of attraction and can enhance a young man's chances of success.
(10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Main Floor)
Eagle Heart will also demonstrate the making of flutes. He designs and hand-carves several types of flute from cedar wood, such as the double eagle flute with two barrels that are played simultaneously, one acting as a drone. Each instrument is a work of art, adorned with turquoise inlay and symbolic animal fetishes.
Quecha Indian Music (2:30 p.m., Academy Classroom)
The Karumanta Ensemble performs music from the Bolivian altiplano. Their repertoire features Afro-Andean music – the legacy of African slaves brought to the Lake Titicaca region in the seventeenth century to work in the gold and silver mines. African and Quechua rhythms merged, producing new hybrid forms.
California Indian Basketry (10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Main floor)
For 40 years, Julia Parker (Kashaya Pomo), has worked as a cultural interpreter of California Indian traditions in Yosemite National Park. Julia and her daughter, Lucy Parker, will demonstrate California Indian basketry techniques and other art forms created from natural materials.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
December
28th Annual December Nights
December 2 - 3, 2005 - 5:00 p.m.
Balboa Park
San Diego, CA
The Museum of Man Plaza will be transformed into the holiday traditions of Sweden, with the support of the Swedish Women's Educational Association. Swedish foods, including genuine Swedish meatballs, open-faced sandwiches, rosettes served with fresh whipped cream and preserves, and hot, spiced Swedish Christmas wine called glögg will be served. The annual Santa Lucia Procession is one of the most popular events. More than 80 museums and cultural organizations will open their doors for the event.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Greek and Armenian Music
December 3, 2005 – 1:00 p.m.
California Academy of Sciences
Academy Classroom
875 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA
In a program entitled From Mt. Olympus to Mt. Ararat, the Koroyar Ensemble performs music from the eastern Mediterranean region, including lyrical love songs and ancient dance melodies, to the rhythm of the dumbeg (goblet-shaped hand-drum) and the daouli (double-headed drum).
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Las Posadas Mexican Christmas Program
December 4, 2005
5:00 – 7:30 p.m.
The Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA
The Bowers Museum hosts Las Posadas, a re-enactment procession of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge in Bethlehem with singers, dancers, musicians, a piñata, traditional tamales and hot chocolate, and Santa Claus.
Admission: Free
For information call (714) 241-7527 or visit the museum’s website.
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Migration – The Uncertain Journey - 24th Annual Encuentro del Canto Popular 2005
December 9 – 10, 2005
Brava Theater
2781 24th St.
San Francisco, CA
Latin musicians from Puerto Rico, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela will come to San Francisco's Mission to celebrate and commemorate their journey of migration, and also their struggles, achievements, and spirit through music at the 24th Annual Encuentro del Canto Popular. Performers include Maria Loreto, Silvia Parra, El Son del Pueblo music from Veracruz, Mexico, Meli, Rennea, and Jan Carlos y Jeanna Ureña from Costa Rica.
For more information visit Encuentro’s website.
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7th Annual Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival
December 9 – 11, 2005
Monterey Conference Center
1 Portola Plaza
Monterey, CA
The festival will feature performers and western artisans displaying their crafts, 9 shows scheduled over 3 days, a western dance, Cowboy Church, silent auction, and poetry workshops with Paul Zarzyski and Charley Hendren.
Admission: $15 - $35
For more information visit the festival’s website.
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Winter Festival of Music & Dance and Holiday Bazaar
December 10, 2005
The Russian Center of San Francisco
2450 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA
This event features Russian music, authentic Russian food, and arts and crafts.
For more information visit the Russian Center’s website.
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Klezmer Music Salon
December 15, 2005 – 6:30 p.m.
Judah L. Magnes Museum
2911 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA
Bay Area Klezmer pioneers Stu Brotman and Josh Horowitz perform and discuss Jewish Klezmer music from central Europe.
Admission: $8
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Singing the Birds (Wikitmallem Tahmuwhae)
December 17, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
The Pavilion Auditorium
Sunrise Park
401 South Pavilion Way
Palm Springs, CA
Traditionally, music and dance played a significant role in Cahuilla culture and daily life. Today, bird songs and dance are one of the last and most important components of the living Cahuilla culture. The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum will celebrate this honored tradition with its first ever, Singing the Birds (Wikitmallem Tahmuwhae) Annual Bird Song and Dance Festival. This event is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the art of bird singing and dancing and will include scheduled performances, inter-tribal bird dancing, tap-out contest with prizes, food and beverages, and Native American vendors.
For more information, call the museum at 760-778-1079 or visit their website.
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Las Posadas Celebration
December 17, 2005
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Casa de Adobe
Highland Park
4605 N. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA
Las posadas is Spanish for “the inns.” This traditional Mexican holiday festival commemorates Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem. Participants can join the procession and sing traditional verses. There will also be piñatas and champurrado, a special hot chocolate thickened with corn meal, and pan dulce, Mexican sweet bread. Space is limited to the first 75 guests and reservations are not available.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Kwanzaa Celebration
December 17, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA
This holiday event features storytelling, dancing, drums, door prizes, a silent auction, and refreshments.
Admission: $8
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Hanukkah Family Program
December 18, 2005 – 2:00 p.m.
Judah L. Magnes Museum
2911 Russell Street
Berkeley, CA
The Magnes museum celebrates Hanukkah with stories of light and miracles, told by local authors.
For more information visit the museum’s website.
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Hanukkah Family Festival
December 18, 2005
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Skirball Cultural Center
Skirball Center Drive
Los Angeles, CA
This event features performances by musician and storyteller Shira Kline, singer Phranc, and the Angahara Dance Ensemble, who will perform Jwala, a piece that celebrates light as a symbol of hope, faith, and liberty in both the Hindu and Jewish traditions, choreographed by Ramaa Bharadvaj, a former master in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program. Families can also make paper lanterns, clay oil lamps, edible dreidels, and view the newly acquired Koder family Hanukkah lamp from Cochin, India.
Admission: $8
For more information visit the Skirball Cultural Center’s website.
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Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir
December 24, 2005
Slim’s Annual Christmas Concert
333 11th St.
San Francisco, CA
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir is a multiracial interfaith choir that performs traditional black church music.
For more information visit the Choir’s website.
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County & Regional Calendars
A calendar of Festivals and Celebrations in San Diego is available from the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
Let us know if you have special information that should be posted here.
To update information or submit an event for the calendar,
please email ACTA.
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