Traditional Arts Development Program
Round 4 Participants
Kwashi Amevuvor (Los Angeles), a master drummer from
Ghana, West Africa, will work with consultant Janet Planet, who will
assist him with marketing and web design to develop professional promotional
materials to publicize the work of the artist and the traditional cultural
arts of Ghana. In addition, Ms. Planet’s consultancy will support
Mr. Amevuvor’s efforts in organizing a cultural study tour of Ghana.
Door Dog Music Productions (San Francisco) will work with independent arts consultant Eleanor San San Wong to develop a three-year organizational strategic plan focusing on infrastructure, programming, fundraising, and visibility. Door Dog Music Productions is a non-profit organization, which supports the diversity of cultures of the world through music. Door Dog is the producer of the annual San Francisco World Music Festival.
Ektaa Center (Irvine), an organization dedicated to creating
an understanding of the traditional arts of India, will work with videographer
Serg Swiderski, owner of Perfect Video Production Services, to document
the proceedings of Dance Conversations, a symposium and festival of Indian
dance to be held in May 2005. The festival will bring international and
local dancers, performers, choreographers and academics together to discuss
the status of Indian dance in California.
The Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble (Foster City) will travel to Southern California to perform for an audience of over two thousand at the annual Magyar Sajtónap (Hungarian Press Day) hosted by the newspaper California Hungarians. At this event Eszterlanc dancers will have the opportunity to perform with members of the Karpatok Folk Ensemble of Southern California, which is led by Istvan Szabo.
Gen Taiko (San Francisco), an organization dedicated
to promoting, preserving and presenting Japanese traditional arts including
taiko (traditional Japanese drumming), traditional folk dance, and folk
song forms. Its artistic director, Melody Takata, will be trained by
National Heritage Fellow Madame Fujima Kansuma to learn the Nihon Buyo (Japanese
classical) dance called Kojo No Tsuki (Moonlit Castle Ruins). Ms. Takata
will teach the dance to four of her students and they will perform it
at Gen Taiko’s 10th Anniversary Concert in November 2005.
Khaely Nguewel (Los Angeles), a Sengalese dance and
music company, will work with consultant Joyce Guy to assist artistic
director Aziz Faye in producing a two-day traditional Senegalese dance
and drum conference at the Dance Arts Academy in Los Angeles in April 2005.
Two master dancers, Marie Basse Wiles from Brooklyn, New York and Tenefi
Dambakate from Newark, New Jersey will serve as artistic mentors to the
Los Angeles African dance community in the dance techniques of the diverse
peoples and regions of Senegal. Both Wiles and Dambakate were born in
Dakar, Senegal.
The Mexican Cultural Institute (Los Angeles) will work with Miriam Lopez Ambrosio, a master Oaxacan folkloric dancer, to create an educational component to their annual La Guelaguetza celebration on Olvera Street in Los Angeles. La Guelaguetza is an annual Oaxacan festival celebrated through traditional dance, dress, music and food. At this year’s festival Ms. Ambrosio will discuss the background of the dances and regional costumes, and invite the public to learn traditional dance steps in an effort to foster a deeper understanding of Oaxacan cultural traditions.
The Riverside Municipal Museum (Riverside) will host
a program entitled “Preserving Traditions,” a series of workshops,
to promote cultural awareness of Southern California’s Native American
arts. Lorene Sisquoc (Mountain Cahuilla/Fort Sill Apache),
the artistic mentor, will offer an introduction to Southern California
basketry, a lecture on Native American toys and games, a discussion of
Native American plant uses, and a workshop for educators on interpreting
Native American culture in the classroom.
Wang Wei (San Francisco), a master of traditional Chinese percussion, will work with Michael Santoro, director of Door Dog Music Productions, to complete the production of an educational CD. The CD will introduce percussion instruments from different regions of China, educating listeners on the instruments’ origin and rhythm patterns with sample pieces recorded by Wang Wei. This educational CD presenting Chinese percussion instruments is the first of its kind, and will advance awareness and appreciation of Chinese percussion.
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