What Are Traditional Arts?

Folk and traditional arts are those art forms that are learned as part of the cultural life of a group of people whose members share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or region. These expressions are deeply rooted in and reflective of a community’s shared standards of beauty, values, or life experiences. Folk and traditional arts are, ultimately, passed on from one generation to the next and express a collective wisdom, rather than a unique personal aesthetic.

Some folk and traditional arts have been brought to California from other countries or regions and have taken root here to become interwoven with the state’s cultural landscape and identity, while others have prospered on the more than 130 tribal reservations and rancherias in this state. Cowboy poetry; Hmong reverse appliqué embroidery; Mexican corridos (ballads) and mariachi music; African American quilts; Japanese bonsai; Native American basketry, ceremonial regalia construction and ritual music/dance; South Indian bharata natyam dance; Western saddlemaking; Chinese qin instrumental music; Portuguese fado singing; Native Hawaiian kahikohula chant and dance; and Pilipino rondalla music ensembles are but a few of the many hundreds of distinctive types found in this tremendously diverse and culturally rich state.

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