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California Traditional Artist Receives Nation’s
Highest Honor
Papel picado artist and altarista, Herminia Albarrán Romero.
Photo by Chris Simon, ©2001
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently announced the 2005 recipients of its National Heritage Fellowships, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Twelve fellowships, which include a one-time award of $20,000 each, were presented to honorees from eleven states. These awardees were chosen for their artistic excellence, cultural authenticity, and contributions to their field.
The Alliance for California Traditional Arts congratulates National Heritage Fellow Herminia Albarrán Romero, a gifted Mexican-American paper artist living in San Francisco, California, who has participated in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program, Traditional Arts Development Program, and most recently served as a mentor to the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in ACTA’s Folk and Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative. Ms. Albarrán Romero practices the art of papel picado (Mexican paper cutting), creating intricately designed paper cuttings and paper flowers that are used on special occasions. She is also known as an altarista, a creator of altars and offerings that might incorporate paper decorations, personal mementos, and uniquely designed breads. Recognized as a master artist, her work has been featured in exhibitions at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, the Oakland Museum, the Heard Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia said, "The NEA's National Heritage Fellowships honor the individuals who preserve America's folk and traditional arts. These masterful artists and the cultural legacies they embody are so often overlooked by mainstream media, that it is a special thrill to give them proper recognition."
This year’s honorees join the ranks of previous Heritage Fellows, including bluesman B.B. King, Irish stepdancer Michael Flatley, cowboy poet Wally McRae and acclaimed performers Shirley Caesar, Doc Watson, and Bill Monroe. Since 1982, the Endowment has awarded more than 304 National Heritage Fellowships. Recipients are nominated, often by members of their own communities, and then judged by a panel on the basis of their continuing artistic accomplishments and contributions as practitioners or teachers. Fellows must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or U.S territory.
The 2005 awardees will go to Washington D.C. in September for a series of events including an awards presentation on Capitol Hill and a concert at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University on Friday, September 23.
2005 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Recipients
Eldrid Skjold Arntzen, Norwegian American rosemaler (Watertown, CT)
Earl Barthé, Decorative building craftsman (New Orleans, LA)
Chuck Brown, African American musical innovator (Brandywine, MD)
Michael Doucet, Cajun fiddler, composer, and band leader (Lafayette, LA)
Jerry Grcevich, Tamburitza musician, prim player (North Huntingdon, PA)
Grace Henderson Nez, Navajo weaver (Ganado, AZ)
Wanda Jackson, Early country, rockabilly, and gospel singer (Oklahoma City, OK)
Hermina Albarrán Romero, Paper-cutting artist (San Francisco, CA)
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Yiddish singer, poet, songwriter (Bronx, NY)
Albertina Walker, Gospel singer (Chicago, IL)
James Ka’upena Wong, Hawaiian chanter (Waianae, HI)
2005 Bess Lomax Hawes Award
Janette Carter, Appalachian musician, advocate (Hiltons, VA)
Visit the National Endowment for the Arts website to see profiles of the artists.
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Un Rincón Espiritual
Altar Artist Herminia Albarrán Romero
By Mary MacGregor-Villarreal, originally published in ACTA’s Living Cultures prospectus, 2001
View a gallery of photographs of Herminia and her creations.
Light streams through the tall Victorian windows in Herminia’s living room in San Francisco’s Mission District, illuminating the space and penetrating the corners to reveal a large worktable with walls and ceiling covered with papered art. The room is a portrait of her life, reflecting her essence as a master artist of Mexican paper arts and altars. It is both studio and shrine. Here she creates, designs, and produces flowers, garlands, papel picado, and other decorations for members of the Mexican community to celebrate life and its special occasions. Components of large altar installations, some of them years old, fill the room. Images of the Virgen de Guadalupe look down on Herminia as she works.
Herminia is a renaissance woman of the traditional domestic arts. She acquired her artistic and domestic skills during her early years in Mexico in the pueblo of San Francisco de Asís, in the state of Mexico. In those days, families ensured their young girls cultivated the abilities necessary to become good wives and mothers. A critical element to this success was being good Catholics in daily practices as well as in public life. The Catholic Church predominated in the Mexican landscape, filling small-town life with rituals and ceremony throughout the year. Much of Herminia’s paper art emerges from the celebratory traditions central to daily devotions and to rites of passage and saints’ days in the pueblo.
Altars grace three of the four walls in her living room. Similar to those found in many Mexican Catholic homes, these assemblages contain the appropriate elements of devotion – a saint, a candle, a glass with water. However, Herminia’s are more extensive than most, occupying more than “a little niche,” turning her living room into an elaborate shrine. Her creativity extends far beyond an ability to arrange various objects in a pleasing manner. She combines her own creations – flowers, papel picado, and hand-drawn icons draped in tissue paper – to form the impressive altars.
Herminia works continuously in her medium of choice: crepe paper, tissue paper, and a variety of other colored papers. She chats and works at the same time. Step by step, she forms the petals of a rose; with a steady rhythm she picks them up, one by one, and fastens them to the stem. Watching her create a paper rose is like watching time-lapse photography of a rosebud slowly coming into perfect full bloom. She points out the nuances of two different pink papers she’s using to create flowers of distinctive shades: better than a prize rosebush.
Papel picado, or “cut paper,” which forms the squares of bright colored tissue paper that hang as banners on many of her altars and across her ceiling, requires folding and cutting. Like nature’s snowflakes, no two are alike. For an exhibit, Herminia once folded and cut 684 different papers individually without repeating a design, surprising even herself.
Herminia provides a special resource for her own San Francisco community and beyond. Cultural centers and museums throughout the Bay Area, and even as far away as Chicago, invite her to build offrendas for Day of the Dead and altars to the Virgen de Guadalupe. At the local community center she frequently teaches dressmaking and paper arts. However, the impact of her work is greatest in her own neighborhood, where she shares it daily. Herminia welcomes acquaintances to her home, where they can relax in a space that reminds them of their homeland. “My neighbors come and ask, ‘Can I put this on the altar?’ ‘Yes, of course. Be my guest,’ I tell them.”
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ACTA Holds Statewide Informational Meetings about its New Living Cultures Grants Program
ACTA is making its way throughout the state in July to provide information about its new Living Cultures Grants Program, a funding program for California non-profit organizations to support exemplary projects in the traditional arts with grants of up to $7,500. The Living Cultures Grants Program is a pilot project of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in partnership with The Fund for Folk Culture, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation. Come meet program coordinator Lily Kharrazi who will introduce the program and answer your questions. Lily held the first informational meeting in Eureka on June 23 at the Ink People Center for the Arts. On June 27, Amy Kitchener led a similar meeting in Fresno. Our conversations ranged from topics such as how to address the project narrative and budget, to discussing the artists’ and organizations’ current work.
Please join us at these meetings throughout July to discuss your work and learn about the Living Cultures Grants Program. Attendance at meetings is not required to apply and program staff is happy to also assist you over the phone.
South Bay Area
Thursday, July 7, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Avenue
San José, CA 95116
(408) 928-5500
Hosted by the Mexican Heritage Corporation and the Arts Council Silicon Valley
Map and Directions
Los Angeles Area
Tuesday, July 19, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
244 South San Pedro Street (between 2nd and 3rd Streets), Suite 505
Los Angeles (Little Tokyo), CA 90012
(213) 628-2725
Map and Directions
Riverside/San Bernadino Area
Wednesday, July 20, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
Riverside Municipal Museum
3580 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 826-5273
Hosted by the Riverside Arts Council and the Riverside Municipal Museum
RSVP to Riverside Arts Council at (951) 680-1345 or info@riversideartscouncil.org
Map and Directions
San Diego Area
Thursday, July 21, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Santa Fe Room, Balboa Park Club
2150 Pan American Road West
San Diego, CA 92101
Hosted by the Arts and Culture Commission of San Diego
Map, directions, and parking instructions
East Bay Area
Thursday, July 28, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, California 94607
(510) 238-2200
Hosted by the Community Programs Department of the Oakland Museum
Map and directions
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Young Capoeira Students Receive Recognition
for
their Achievements
A young student shakes hands with a mestre before beginning to play capoeira
Last month students from Hawthorne Elementary School in Oakland had the opportunity to participate in Capoeira Mandinga’s 23rd Annual Batizado (an event where capoiera students earn belts signifying their level of mastery). The students had studied capoeira four days a week after school with Mestre, or Master, Marcelo Pereira through a program supported in part by ACTA’s Folk and Traditional Arts Mentorship Initiative with funding from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. At the Batizado they demonstrated all of the skills they had learned during the year in order to earn their first capoeira belt.
The Batizado brought together Mestres and teachers from California, New York, and Brazil to celebrate capoeira, the graceful Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance and acrobatic movements. The event opened with demonstrations of traditional Brazilian music and dance, including a performance by Mestre Pereira’s students of Puxada de Rede, a traditional theatrical song and dance which tells the story of an unfortunate fisherman. In order to earn their first belt, the elementary students had to “play” capoeira (in capoeira terminology participants “play a game”) with a teacher or mestre. Facing adult opponents twice their size the students showed that they could keep their eyes focused on the other player, execute basic movements, and play the game without injury or confusion. The students received a green belt signifying their basic level of mastery and their hope to achieve a higher understanding of the art form.
For information about capoeira classes and events visit Capoeira Mandinga’s website.
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ACTA Welcomes New Staff Member Suzanne Toler and Bids Farewell to Staff Member Missy Jessen
Missy Jessen, left, and Suzanne Toler.
Photo by Amy Kitchener
On June 6, ACTA welcomed its newest staff member Suzanne Toler, who will be serving as the organization’s Administrative Assistant in the Fresno office. Toler is a recent graduate from California State University, Fresno where she studied English Literature. While at Fresno State, Suzanne served with the Department of Agricultural Economics where she supported students and faculty as well as edited the department’s website. Most recently Suzanne was an SAT/ACT instructor teaching test preparation curriculum to students throughout the Central Valley.
Suzanne had this to say about her new position with ACTA:
I am absolutely delighted to be a part of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. To me, the most exciting thing about coming to ACTA is the immediate connection this organization has to the community and to individuals. So many administrative professionals never see the end result of their labors; I’m truly lucky to be in the position to observe and experience first-hand the impact ACTA is having within California. ACTA’s goals and programs genuinely excite me and I look forward to contributing my skills and enthusiasm to ACTA and its mission, as well as taking part in the many enriching opportunities being a part of ACTA affords.
ACTA is proud to welcome Suzanne to our team in the Fresno office. Suzanne will be working with many of ACTA’s programs and will be glad to assist you in any way she can. She can be reached at (559) 237-9812 or by email to stoler@actaonline.org.
As ACTA welcomes its newest staff member, we say goodbye to Program Assistant Missy Jessen. Missy, who has served with ACTA since April of 2003, will be moving to Colorado where she will begin working on a graduate degree in International Human Rights at the University of Denver. Missy was ACTA’s first full-time Administrative Assistant and helped to develop The New Moon e-newsletter with Executive Director, Amy Kitchener as one of her many contributions. Mari Pongkhamsing, Archivist and Special Projects Coordinator for ACTA will now be taking over as editor of The New Moon.
Missy had this to share with the many people that ACTA serves:
I want to thank you for sharing the pieces of your lives that are sacred and precious to you with the communities of California. It is in witnessing these celebrations of life, through the perspectives of the many vibrant and diverse cultures of California that has developed within me a new respect for all human life and is something I will carry with me in my future studies. I am also so grateful for the experience of working with Amy Kitchener; she has been a wonderful mentor to me and the affect of her presence in my life is immeasurable. I will miss California tremendously and the many unique people that make this state so beautiful. I will continue to be an advocate for the importance of traditional art forms in our communities and my hope is that ACTA will continue to grow and be of service to California’s folk and traditional arts field.
Missy Jessen’s last day with ACTA is July 29, 2005 and she can be reached at (559) 237-9812 or mjessen@actaonline.org.
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The Creative Work Fund Announces $667,000 in Grants to Performing and Traditional Artists for Collaborative Projects
The Creative Work Fund has announced 20 grants awards totaling $667,000 for artists creating new works through collaborations with nonprofit organizations. Since its beginning in December 1994, the Fund has contributed more than $4.85 million to advance art making by San Francisco and Alameda County-based artists and organizations. Grants are highly competitive and recommended to the Fund by prestigious committees of panelists.
Each year different artistic disciplines are considered and 2005 Creative Work Fund awards feature performing and traditional artists. Award-winning traditional arts projects feature artists working in music, dance, and sculpture traditions from Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, and the Jewish faith.
Creative Work Fund artists may choose to work with any kind of nonprofit organization and the new grants feature partnerships with a county jail, a science museum, a community development organization, a youth center, and an East Bay temple as well as an array of arts organizations. Two projects explore hip hop in Cuba—one comparing it to its origins in the United States and the other exposing its similarities to rumba. Other projects range from a cross-cultural exploration of the music of central Asia to a cross-cultural exploration of the African-influenced and indigenous music of the Andes.
The Creative Work Fund was created in 1994 by four family foundations in San Francisco as a means of honoring artistic excellence, contributing to the creation of new art works by local artists, and recognizing artists’ skills at problem solving and collaboration. According to its director, Frances Phillips, “The Fund responded to the ‘culture wars’ of the early 1990s by asserting that artists’ work had value in many contexts and that artists’ contributions to society were deserving of philanthropic support.”
The Fund added a category for grants to traditional artists in 2001, in an effort to support excellent artists who are often overlooked by philanthropy. It defines traditional artists as those who create in forms that are learned as part of the cultural life of a group of people who share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or home region. These expressions are deeply rooted in and reflect a community’s shared standards of beauty, values, or life experiences. Often they are learned orally or by emulation. Based at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the Creative Work Fund’s 2005 grants are supported generously by grants from the Columbia Foundation, the Miriam and Peter Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation.
Grants review panelists in the traditional arts were Ysamur Flores-Peña, Theodore C. Levin, and Nancy Nusz; Jesus Alonso, Theresa Harlan, and Jo Farb Hernandez served as advisors for review of the letters of inquiry.
Traditional Arts – 2005 Awards
Jose Barosso of Oakland collaborating with DREAM Dance Company, also based in Oakland
Stuart A. Brotman of Berkeley collaborating with Temple Israel of Alameda
Rubén Guzmán of Oakland collaborating with the Unity Council of Oakland
Lalo Izquierdo of Oakland collaborating with Oscar Reynolds and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco
Geoffrey Nwogu of San Francisco collaborating with Wajumbe Cultural Institution, Inc. of San Francisco
Chingiz Sadykhov of San Francisco collaborating with Door Dog Music Productions of San Francisco
For more detailed descriptions of these projects please see the Creative Work Fund’s website.
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The Online Archive of California Holds Valuable Resources on the History of California’s Diverse Communities
The Online Archive of California is a resource that makes original materials such as photographs, manuscripts, and works of art available for online access through the California Digital Library. Over one hundred different California institutions contributed their primary source materials to this vast collection which includes roughly 120,000 images, 50,000 pages of text, and 8,000 collection guides. The Online Archive of California is a valuable resource for those interested in the history of California’s diverse ethnic communities. When browsing the collection of images one can find photos of Chinese Opera performances, California Indian basketweavers, and Mexican American Folklórico dancers from the 1920s and 1930s. The Online Archive of California is also in the process of developing a special digital collection entitled “California Cultures,” a virtual collection of manuscripts, photographs, and oral histories which will document the social life and culture of California’s Native, Latino, Asian, and African Americans.
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Advocacy
Update on SB 691 – Bill Stopped in Assembly Committee for Natural Resources
On July 5, 2005 SB 691 was denied passage in the Assembly Committee for Natural Resources. The roll call was as follows: aye vote was Doug LaMalfa (R- Richvale); no votes were Lori Saldana (D-San Diego), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), and Rick Keene (R-Chico); not voting but in attendance were Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach), Paul Koretz (D-W. Hollywood), Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View), and Lois Wolk (D-Davis); and absent from the room was Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara).
The bill, which was approved by the full Senate on June 1 and introduced by Senator Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), was to exempt the personalized Arts License Plate from a portion of the fees being diverted to the Environmental License Plate Fund.
Thank you to the arts supporters who contacted their elected officials to support this effort. We encourage you to e-mail Senator Speier at Senator.Speier@sen.ca.gov and thank her for authoring SB 691. Additional information on SB 691 and other legislative efforts affecting state arts funding will be featured in ACTA's future Legislative Alerts. If you are not yet a subscriber to The New Moon, email info@actaonline.org to subscribe and receive urgent action alerts through emails and in The New Moon.
Background on SB 691
The Arts Council License Plate marked its 10th anniversary last year, and has been one of the most popular specialty plates offered by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The Arts Council License Plate has generated more than $7 million for arts program funding, while at the same time generating over $8 million for the Environmental License Plate Fund (ELPF).
SB 691 would have provided that all funds (minus DMV administrative fees) generated by the California Arts License Plate would go to the Arts Council to support arts programs. The Arts Council’s General Fund budget was cut by 94% in the 2003/04-budget year from $18 million to $1 million, and that was down from $32 million in 2001/02. Funding for the 2004/05 budget and next year’s proposed budget have stayed at $1.1 million General Fund. The Arts License Plate program now totals almost 30% of the Arts Council’s budget. The $1.5 million now going to the ELPF from the Arts Council License Plate would have a dramatic impact on the ability of the Arts Council to carry out its mission. That same money is but a fraction of the ELPF’s $31 million annual total.
In 2004, DMV collected from the sale of the Arts Council License Plate approximately $1.5 million in fees for the ELPF in conjunction with $1.1 million collected for the Arts Council. SB 691 would have resulted in the full $2.6 million collected being dedicated to the California Arts Council.
Governor, Legislative Leaders Find Agreement on State Budget
On July 5, 2005 the Governor’s office announced a state budget agreement with legislative leaders. The “Big 5,” which includes Governor Schwarzenegger; Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-L.A.; Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; Senate Majority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine; and Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, reached an agreement just five days into the new fiscal year. The budget will now go to the entire legislature for a vote, which is expected to occur by the end of this week. The budget will need approval from two-thirds majority in both houses. If passed, it will then go to the Governor for signing.
Earlier in the budget season, Governor Schwarzenegger recommended $1.153 million in General Fund monies for the California Arts Council (CAC). The recommendation was passed in both the Senate and Assembly budget subcommittees. However, line items for the state budget that was agreed upon on July 5, have not yet been released and there is no indication whether or not the recommended CAC budget has changed. Please visit ACTA’s website, www.actaonline.org, in the future for updates on CAC budget information once the state’s budget is released. You can also visit the Governor’s home page and the Department of Finance website to view the state budget line items as soon as it is released.
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