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WHAT'S NEWSubscribe to The New Moon, ACTA's Monthly E-Newsletter. See the latest edition of The New Moon. Attention San Francisco Bay Area Folk, Traditional, and Tradition-Based Artists, Organizations, and Advocates!The Alliance for California Traditional Arts has launched its Traditional Arts Roundtable Series, a free, participatory monthly series of gatherings at various locations in San Francisco for folk, traditional, and tradition-based artists and arts advocates. Sessions focus on specific themes and offer opportunities to engage in discussion, networking, and technical assistance in order to develop local, critical community amongst folk and traditional artists and their allies. To receive announcements regarding the rest of this series, please contact us, call (415) 346-3800, or check this page often for updates. This pilot series is made possible with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Cultural Equity Grants Program. Join us for these upcoming sessions! Only three more roundtables in 2008!To Be Traditional Is To Be Political: Folk and Traditional Arts as a Vehicle for Social ChangeDate: Thursday, June 5, 2008 Featured Participants: In a time of innovation and globalization, how can one articulate one’s power in practicing traditional arts? How can one develop into a cultural organizer? This session looks at the strategic ways in which one can consider their traditional arts practice as a means to mobilize communities and make one’s voice heard. Includes discussing the role of culture bearers as community leaders, best practices, politics and cultural identity, and sharing of social justice resources and organizations. How To Grow Your Project, How to Know When to Stop: A Discussion on Organizational Sustainability by People in the TrenchesDate: Monday, June 23, 2008 Featured Participants: Facilitated by culturally competent arts consultant Denise Pate, who works closely with a diverse range of culturally specific groups and organizations throughout the Bay Area, this session will highlight successful and hopeful models of long term sustainability of traditional arts programs, practices, festivals and teaching, and the pitfalls and challenges which often arise with such grassroots efforts, including burn out, volunteer engagement, where’s the money?, and tempering growth in the face of popular response. The Role of New Technology in Traditional ArtsDate: Tuesday, July 29, 2009 Featured Participants: Join us to discuss examples of online and media tools for traditional arts promotion, learning and cultural transmission, strategies to bridge the digital divide, new network developments online and online-only trends respective to opportunities and application/proposal processes. California Artists Featured on New Release from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano On May 20, 2008, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings released Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, a collection of música ranchera songs performed and arranged by the California-based ensemble Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas (Love, Hurt and Tears) reflects the rich rural tradition at the core of música ranchera (ranch music), one of Mexico’s most beloved musical traditions. Música ranchera (ranch music) describes a variety of song styles that form the heart of the traditional Mexican music, and reflect the social and political movements that influenced its sound. During the post-Revolution era from 1910 to 1917, the social and cultural climate in Mexico had a distinctly nationalistic focus. Enticed to city life by employment opportunities and urban attractions, many Mexicans moved to Mexico City and other regional capitals, creating a significant social transformation. The canción mexicana, spirited música ranchera songs that portrayed everyday and rural themes and had a strong nationalistic message, appealed to the uprooted people flocking to the cities in search of work. Urban theaters also sponsored canción mexicana song contests and variety shows that featured Mexican singers and songs. By the end of the 1920s, música ranchera was poised to fill the growing cultural and social need for a national body of music. The mariachi ensemble was also part of the urban migration and transformed both Mexico and música ranchera, but it gained widespread popularity later, in the 1930s, primarily due to the influence of radio programs and film. The 1932 film Santa, the first Mexican movie with sound, featured a mariachi. In 1936, the wildly successful film Allá en el Rancho Grande served as the model for hundreds of subsequent movies portraying country scenes, rural stereotypes, grassroots humor, and lots of professionally crafted songs in a pseudo-rural vein. These films, labeled comedias rancheros (country comedies), were the single most important social force in the creation of modern mariachi and the música ranchera genre. By the early 1950s, the mariachi symbolized Mexican national heritage, and música ranchera was the most popular music of Mexican origin. The GRAMMY-winning Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, under the direction of Jesús “Chuy” Guzman, brings an authentic voice to the tradition and history of the música ranchera and mariachi music. Mariachi Los Camperos was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Nati Cano. Nati Cano was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990 and is an emeritus member of the Alliance’s founding board of directors. To purchase Amor, Dolor y Lágrimas, please visit Smithsonian Folkways Recordings’ website. New Website Captures the History and Experience of Women in Mariachi
Photo courtesy of Mujeres en el Mariachi A new website, Mujeres en el Mariachi, seeks to capture the history and experience of women participating in this traditionally male genre of music. The website features historical and biographical information on the women pioneers of mariachi music in Mexico and the U.S.; introduces the Mariachi Pioneras de Mexico, a touring group recently formed in Mexico City featuring surviving pioneers from the 1950s; and collects information about female mariachi musicians throughout the world. All female mariachi musicians – both individuals and all-female ensembles – are invited to help document the growing female mariachi movement by visiting the website to register themselves and participate in a survey. Radio Bilingüe Launches Digital Archive ProjectRadio Bilingüe, an international Latino public radio network, recently launched a new web-based archival project that will preserve thousands of hours of cultural programming. Radio Bilingüe, producer of the annual ¡Viva el Mariachi! Festival in Fresno, has long emphasized the traditional arts in its programming, and this emphasis is reflected in its new digital archives. Programs of special interest to the traditional arts – like interviews with historic figures such as the legendary Tejano music folksinger Lydia Mendoza and singer/composer Lalo Guerrero, “the father of Chicano music” – are among those archived in the new digital collection. The archives, which are available in streaming audio, are easy to browse and feature bilingual text program summaries and interactive web tools. The archives are accessible through Radio Bilingüe’s website. Website Launched to Connect California’s Dance CommunityThe California Dance Network has recently completed a redesign of its website that creates a dynamic, user driven network that is California’s first and only comprehensive aggregator of dance news and information. The site accomplishes this through an interactive mix of resources, including personal profiles, event listings, feeds of media coverage on dance, featured articles, and a map that offers a visual tool for understanding dance in California. Dancers and dance groups in California are invited to log on to the website and create a personal and/or organizational profile with pictures and video, and post events to the online calendar. Center for Cultural Innovation Releases New Book Business of Art: An Artist’s Guide to Profitable Self-Employment
Center for Cultural Innovation’s Business of Art The Center for Cultural Innovation announces the publication of Business of Art: An Artist’s Guide to Profitable Self-Employment, a comprehensive resource guide providing basic information on the ways that artists can independently organize, sustain, and advance their artistic careers in the United States. Written by an experienced team of trainers from the business and nonprofit sectors, this book covers basic business principles that artists working in all disciplines may use to successfully manage their creative careers. Contents include information on career and business planning, marketing and promotion, money management, legal issues for artists, and how to get funding for artists’ work. To purchase Business of Art: An Artist’s Guide to Profitable Self-Employment, please visit the Center for Cultural Innovation’s website.
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