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What are traditional arts?

Round 1 (2005-2006) LCGP Grantees

Round 2 (2006-2007) LCGP Grantees

Living Cultures Grant Program Grantees
Round 3 (2008)

ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco • San Francisco • $6,500
The Spirit of Brazil Festival in April 2008 will commemorate ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco founder Marcia Treidler’s 25th anniversary in the art of capoeira and the organization’s 15th anniversary.  Funds will support intergenerational workshops in capoeira movement and music with master artists from Brazil and a four-part lecture/symposium series presented on the rituals instrumental to capoeira.

Arab Cultural and Community Center • San Francisco • $5,000
The 14th Annual Arab Cultural Festival is the largest celebration of Arab heritage in Northern California.  Funds will enhance the scope and quality of traditional artists participating in the festival in August 2008.  The festival draws attendance from twenty-two different nationalities that comprise the Arab world as well as the general public.

Armenian Museum • Fresno • $5,000
In coordination with the year-long William Saroyan Centennial, the Armenian Museum will present an evening of traditional Armenian music with oud virtuoso Richard Hagopian and his ensemble, including his twelve-year-old grandson, Phillip Hagopian, also on oud.  The Hagopians will also participate in a Family Day program at the Fresno Art Museum, “Meet the Instrument,” which will feature the oud.  These events will occur in April and May 2008.

Bay Area Boricuas • Oakland • $6,500
The “La Bomba es Nuestra” project highlights the regional folkloric dance, percussion, and song traditions from Puerto Rico known as bomba.  The programming will focus on women in an effort to support their growth and development as musicians, singers, and dancers.  The project will support the preservation of traditional cultural art forms as guest masters work with students to pass on important oral traditions.  The project is designed to build bridges with Puerto Rican communities in San Diego and Los Angeles.

The Bay Area Flamenco Partnership • Oakland • $6,500
The Festival of Flamenco Arts and Traditions, to be held in September 2008, will encompass several events including a performance featuring elders of the Andalusian Gypsy flamenco community together with Bay Area practitioners and several visiting youth artists from Spain.  Workshops are scheduled with the visiting Spanish artists to provide opportunities for further cultural exchange.

Bayside Community Center • San Diego • $6,500
The Mixtec Intergenerational Initiative focuses on the cultural traditions of this indigenous community from Oaxaca, Mexico, who now play a major role in farm and restaurant labor throughout California.  The project provides an opportunity for Mixteco children to bond and build communication with their parents and grandparents.  Mixteco children will learn to appreciate their heritage through a number of activities including language, cuisine, palm and textile weaving, dance, and medicinal customs in order to strengthen the relationship between the generations.

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention • Berkeley • $6,500
Appalachian musicians Sheila Kay Adams, the Whitetop Mountain Band, and Riley Baugus will headline this annual Berkeley festival.  These tradition-bearers exemplify the highest standards of Appalachian music outside of the South.  These artists will perform in concert, conduct master classes, and participate in panel discussions.  The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention takes place in September 2008.

Blue Creek/Ah-Pah Traditional Yurok Village • Orick • $7,000
This project involves constructing and sharing a complete traditional Yurok village, in an effort to restore and rebuild tribal traditions and strengthen art, culture, family, and community.  The village, being built near Ah-Pah and Blue Creeks on the Klamath River, will include redwood plank houses, sweat lodges, and a ceremonial dance pit, as well as traditional redwood canoes for use on the river.  When the village is built, and during its construction, people from surrounding communities, both Native and non-Native, with a particular emphasis on youth, will be invited to partake in traditional plank house construction, canoe carving, and basket weaving.

California Indian Storytelling Association • Fremont • $6,500
The 9th Annual Southern California Indian Storytelling Festival, featuring indigenous storytelling from tribes throughout California, contributes to the revitalization of oral traditions.  By providing these forums storytellers have the opportunity to share stories, learn from one another, discuss issues, and pass stories on to new generations as they educate the public.  The festival will be held in Palm Springs in May 2008.

Camp Fareta • Alameda • $6,500
The third annual week-long residential West African dance and drum workshop will be held at Camp Hye Sierra near Fresno on July 6-13, 2008.  The lead traditional artist is Youssef Koumbassa of Guinea.  The camp provides an opportunity for master artists from Guinea, Senegal, Mali, and other parts of West Africa, who primarily live and work in the United States, to convene and work together, while teaching their arts to a diverse community of music and dance practitioners.

Chan Kahal-Asociación Yucateca de Marin • San Rafael • $5,000
Chan Kahal-Asociación Yucateca de Marin, which promotes cultural outreach and engagement by and for the Mayan community of Marin County, will purchase ten traditional costumes for their dance group.  The troupe participates in fifteen or more community events yearly, providing the community with a view into the often unseen Mayan culture.  Costume purchases will allow the troupe to respond to more requests to perform at events throughout the area.

Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California •
Cloverdale • $5,000
The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians are focusing on revitalizing traditional music and dance through instruction on the protocols of practice of these traditions in this multigenerational project.  Workshops will be held throughout the year in Cloverdale, Windsor, Ukiah, and Forestville.

Croatian American Cultural Center • San Francisco • $5,000
CroatiaFest seeks to preserve and perpetuate Croatian traditional arts as well as provide a meeting place for the Bay Area’s Croatian community.  A full-day event includes a photography exhibit and lecture tracing the community’s presence in the Bay Area, as well as tamburitza master classes, jam sessions, concerts featuring four music and dance ensembles, traditional foods, handicrafts, and group dancing.  The festival will take place in October 2008.

Diamano Coura West African Dance Company • Oakland • $6,500
Collage Des Cultures Africaines is a dance conference and festival that will take place March 13-16, 2008.  Planned activities include a series of workshops, a free high school performance and workshop, a plenary session on the role of traditional African arts as a catalyst for change, and culminating performances by renowned local performing arts companies and international master artists.

Door Dog Music Productions • San Francisco • $6,500
Master garmon (or accordion) musician from Azerbaijan, Rahman Asadollahi, will be featured, along with participation from the Azeri community in the Bay Area, in a project consisting of a pre-concert lecture, a full-length traditional Azerbaijani classical music concert known as modal, or muğam, and workshops on Azeri music and Mr. Asadollahi’s musical heritage.  His appearance will take place in the Fall 2008 in conjunction with the San Francisco World Music Festival.

Esperanza del Valle • Capitola • $5,000
This project supports efforts to preserve and disseminate the organization’s research of the danzas (or dances) of the Huesteca region of Mexico in specific indigenous communities.  Interviews, images, and text which explain the purpose of the danzas will be compiled and reproduced in book format.  Equipment purchases to develop a DVD will aid in this documentation.

First Night Monterey • Monterey • $7,000
First Night Dances will present free workshops in Mexican folkloric dance at Cesar Chavez Elementary in Salinas, taught by members of the community-based folklorico group Tonatiuh.  These after-school workshops will teach approximately 70 children in K-6th grades the traditional dances of Mexico, as well as the related history and cultural context.  Students will perform the dances at events such as First Night Monterey and other community events in the area.

Fresh Meat Productions • San Francisco • $5,000
Dancing Tradition: Queer Perspectives will present three companies, whose artistic directors are queer, in performing traditional Brazilian capoeira, Hawaiian hula, and Appalachian clogging before an almost exclusively LGBT audience.  Funds will support the troupes’ performances during Gay Pride month in June 2008, as well as evaluation by folk arts specialist Kay Turner.  The goals of the project are to explore the role of traditional art forms in the LGBT community, to heighten the visibility and develop audiences for the community’s outstanding traditional artists, and to provide LGBT audiences access to live performances of traditional art forms that reflect the diversity and complexity of contemporary LGBT art and culture.

Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park • Oakland • $6,500
The Mien Traditional Arts Video Project will create autobiographical video documentaries of this unique community of traditional artists.  The project strives to preserve and archive Mien traditional arts through film, including traditions of gardening, cooking, dance, music, chant, fables, and embroidery.  The documentaries on traditional arts rooted in personal stories will be broadcast on KTOP-Oakland and other television stations and will form part of the permanent exhibit in the Park’s museum.

Gadung Kasturi Balinese Dance & Music • Richmond • $5,000
Kompiang Metri-Davies, who immigrated to the United States fifteen years ago from a village in East Bali and who was a principle dancer with Gamelan Sekar Jaya for many years, will be offering free Balinese dance classes to youth ages five to eighteen at the Consulate General of Indonesia in San Francisco from January through December 2008.

Gen Taiko • San Francisco • $6,500
Artistic director and performer Melody Takata will create an interdisciplinary piece utilizing traditional forms to address the current transition facing San Francisco’s Japantown and Japanese American culture/community as a whole.  The work-in-progress, entitled Shochikubai, refers to a Japanese cultural icon that combines pine, bamboo, and plum in a floral arrangement symbolizing good luck and harmony.  The piece involves five traditional odori dancers, three kumi daiko (drumming) ensembles, two shamisen (three-stringed lute) players, and a singer.  The work-in-progress performances will take place in Los Angeles at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center and in San Francisco at the Asian Art Museum.

Hula On! Productions • San Rafael • $7,000
Thirteen students, who have danced with Halau Na Pua O Ka La’akea under the leadership of teacher Shawna Alapa’I, will complete their ‘uniki studies, or traditional training.  In the ancient Hawaiian tradition, ‘uniki studies passed on the most ancient and scared meles (songs), ‘olis (chants), and kahiko (dance) rituals, as well as the history/philosophy behind each discipline.  After the student has mastered the requirements and is approved by the elders, they will ‘uniki (graduate) as a ‘olapa (dancer) and then as ho’op’a (memorizer/chanter/drummer).

Japanese Cultural Fair • Santa Cruz • $6,500
The 22nd Annual Japanese Cultural Fair celebrates of Japanese heritage and includes performances featuring taiko drumming from some of the finest northern California groups, folk and traditional dance forms including those from the island of Okinawa, and music of the shamisen and koto (lutes), among others.  Demonstrations of akido, karate, and kendo (martial arts); archery; origami (paper folding); ikebana (flower arranging); tea ceremony; kimono attire; and bonsai (miniature trees) are other highlights.  The fair will take place June 21, 2008.

Jewish Music Festival • Berkeley • $6,500
Arkady Gendler, the principal remaining Yiddish songwriter and performer from the pre-Holocaust era still active in the Ukraine, will teach and perform rare and original Yiddish songs in workshops and concerts around the San Francisco Bay Area in March 2008.  As part of the 23rd annual festival, Mr. Gendler’s participation will be documented through a printed songbook and professional recording.  Mr. Gendler is 86 years old.

Kalingas-North American Network • Los Angeles • $4,325
Funding will be used for the purchase of indigenous musical instruments and traditional dance regalia in an effort to enhance the cultural and educational projects of this Southern California-based community organization.  These purchases will be made from indigenous Kalinga master artisans and craftsmen in the tribal villages of the northern Philippines, where fabrics are still made by hand in the old method of back-strap weaving.

Kárpátok Hungarian Folk Ensemble • Del Mar • $5,000
István Szabó, a master dance artist from Hungary, will lead a series of instructional workshops to encourage local San Diego dancers to reach a new level of skill and commitment.  He will also provide teaching sessions for the Buzavirag Hungarian Children’s Group in Central Los Angeles and develop choreographies which will result in a performance with live music.

Kawaiisu Language & Cultural Center • Bakersfield • $6,500
Three immersion-style language learning sessions will share the traditional knowledge of Kawaiisu elder Luther Girado.  As one of the few remaining native Kawaiisu speakers, Mr. Girado will be documented talking about plants used for food and medicine, the Kawaiisu creation story, and the construction of a traditional summerhouse.  The results will be shared in a workshop at the “Language is Life” conference this summer, which brings together over 200 Native Californians for a long weekend to share language acquisition techniques and methodology.

Khmer Arts Academy • Long Beach • $5,000
The Khmer Arts Academy will establish an ongoing artist residency with dancer, choreographer, and teacher Charya Burt in an effort to offer apprentice dancers from its year-round classical dance training and performance program sustained contact with highly accomplished artists.  The free after-school and weekend workshops will be held one week per month throughout the year.

Kodo Arts Sphere America (KASA) • Los Angeles • $6,500
KASA will present Hanayui, the three female members of Kodo, the world-renowned taiko (drum) group from Japan.  The workshops and performances in traditional folk dance, song, and taiko will take place in Alameda and Los Angeles.  KASA’s mission is to encourage, enable, and support programs for North Americans to study and understand the traditional Japanese music of the taiko and its related performing arts.  This is Hanayui’s first visit to the United States since 1999.

Konkow Wailaki Maidu Indian Cultural Preservation Association Oroville • $5,000
This project will utilize recordings of the of Koyongk’awi language acquired from UC Berkeley’s archives.  Working with Native languages linguist Sheri Tatsch, Ph.D., the community will develop a standardized writing system, outline teaching materials, and produce two DVDs, one disc of vocabulary and grammar and a second disc of stories.  Once the writing system is finalized, they will hold a training session to introduce the system and some of the specifics of Koyongk’awi and basic linguistic principles to the members of the community in late Spring 2008.  Finally, the language will be used in storytelling and prayer at the Maidu salmon ceremony in September 2008, thereby incorporating language into traditional practices.

Lahydi Dance Theater • Oakland • $6,500
The 4th Annual Guinea Dance and Drum Conference will take place May 7-11, 2008, in Oakland.  The conference showcases artists from Guinea, Senegal, and Mali, representing some of the best known and respected traditional dance instructors and musicians in the country.  Most are former members of the most prestigious dance and drum companies in their native countries.  There will be evening classes during the week and one full weekend of classes.  A Saturday night celebration party will take place at Café Axe, an African-owned restaurant and gathering place in downtown Oakland.  Vendors will also be selling their goods at an African marketplace.

Mindanao Lilang Lilang/Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble • South San Francisco • $7,000
Youth and adult community members will have the opportunity to take free kulintang (indigenous tuned gongs) music and dance classes with Master Donangan Kalanduyan and members of the Palabuniyan Kulintang Ensemble.  The classes will be held once a week for an entire year.  The Filipino Cultural Center is located in the Excelsior neighborhood which is home to many in the Filipino community.  The culmination of this project will be a presentation featuring students who have participated in the classes.

Ne’ayuh • Topanga • $5,000
Ne’ayuh (meaning “Friends”) was born from a vision by local Southern California indigenous people at a 1996 meeting with the Angeles National Forest where members of several Native Californian tribes expressed a desire to reclaim their cultural and historic connection to the land.  Creating a center to honor the natural environment and First People led to the creation of Haramokngna (meaning “Place Where People Gather”).  This will be the site for a three-day Native basket weavers’ gathering in August 2008, featuring workshops in basket weaving, material gathering techniques, and native plant maintenance.  The workshops bring together members of the rural and urban Native communities.

North American Guqin Association • Union City • $5,000
The Guqin: A Living Chinese Scholarly Tradition, to be held November 1-7, 2008, will highlight the traditional Chinese musical art known as quqin or qin, a plucked seven stringed instrument related to the zither.  A concert, pre-concert lecture/demonstration, a workshop, and an exhibition of quqin-related paintings, calligraphy, poetry, and other items will be on display.  Culture bearers of the quqin tradition in the United States and China will collaborate on the project, demonstrating the different schools of instruction and centuries of quqin compositions.

Northern California Korean Dance Association • Millbrae • $7,000
Hearan Chung, professional artist and choreographer, will embark on a metaphysical exploration of the life cycle which is a hallmark of traditional Korean dance.  In a project entitled “Dance and the Spirit of Death,” Ms. Chung continues a dance lineage that reflects the strong influence of shamanism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.  The piece will premiere in February 2008.

Oakland Asian Cultural Center • Oakland • $6,500
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival in May 2008, a new program, “National Dishes,” will celebrate and preserve the culinary, social, and cultural traditions of national dishes representing Asian Pacific American communities.  Workshops will feature Korean kim chi, vegetable carving from Thailand and Laos, and South Indian samosas, among others.

Odissi Villas: Sacred Dance of India • Mill Valley • $7,000
Odissi is one of India’s classical dance forms.  On June 1, 2008, master artist and teacher Vishnu Tattva Das will present a full concert in Marin County which will feature the appearance of guest artists the Rudrakshya Troupe, from Orissa, India.  This concert will celebrate Odissi repertoire from two styles and highlight the male role in Odissi dance.

Pacific Islander Health Partnership • Huntington Beach • $5,000
The first Pacific Islander Festival of Orange County is a community-based, multigenerational program with elder cultural practitioners passing on traditions, cultural beliefs, values, and protocol to island youth through dance, chants, songs, music, drumming, and island material arts.  Participating will be communities from Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, Aoteroa/New Zealand, Micronesians from Guam, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands, and Melanesians from Fiji.  The festival will take place in May 2008.

Rara Tou Limen Afro-Haitian Dance Company • Oakland • $6,500
A three-day Haitian arts festival will showcase Haitian music, dance, food, crafts, and other traditions.  Five master Haitian artists, including Dr. Guerdes Fleurant, scholar of Vodou studies, will engage with community leaders, scholars, students, artists, and supporters.  Master dance classes will focus on performance aspects of Haitian dance and music.  The festival will be held in June 2008.

Riverside Public Library • Riverside • $5,000
The Native American Storytelling and Literary Tradition of the Inland Empire will present four free events from January through July 2008.  The series will create a dialogue with contemporary Native American scholars, authors, and cultural educators to look at the place of the Native literary tradition in historical context of “Inlandia.”  By recognizing the work of established Native authors and poets, the project hopes to make the genre more accessible and nurture creative writing to sustain the Native literary tradition that is based solidly on oral traditions.

Voice of Roma • Sebastopol • $7,000
The 12th Annual California Herdeljezi Festival, a traditional Romani (Gypsy) cultural arts festival, takes place May 1-3, 2008.  The festival includes numerous workshops and events that showcase Romani music, songs, dances, stories, foods, crafts, traditions, and customs in a unique and culturally authentic context.

World Beat Center • San Diego • $6,500
Kwanzaa in the Park will celebrated two of the seven principles of Kwanzaa that are critical to community growth – Kuumba (creativity) and Kujichagulia (self-determination).  These two events were held on December 26 and December 31, 2007, and were meant to create positive self-identity and reaffirm the shared cultural values of African Americans towards creating a strong and positive community.  Celebrations included music, dance, rituals, and food in recognition of ancestors and as expressions of unity.

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