Joti Singh studied Guinean dance with master artist Alseny Soumah as part of ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program in 2007. Soumah’s family taught him to dance when he was a small child in Conakry, Guinea, and he performed with a neighborhood group before dancing professionally with Ballets Merveilles and Les…
African and African diaspora Arts and Culture
The William Grant Still Arts Center in Los Angeles has presented since 1980 an original exhibit of Black Dolls created by artists, collectors and the local community. The exhibit had auspicious beginnings and was a joint effort begun by Friends of the WGS Arts Center, under…
The West African Dunun and Djembe drumming tradition is an old performance art form of the Susu and Mandinka peoples of the region. Versions of these forms can be found throughout West African nations such as Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast. Dunun, Sangbani, and the Kinkini are…
The California East Bay has become a host for many incredible West African artists and cultural expressions. Drumming and dance Senegal and Guinea, for example, have captured the heart of many communities in this region. There are a variety of musical expressions, forms, and instruments that have been transplanted from…
Bay Area Youth Arts is a nonprofit program with a mission to help at-risk, inner-city youth develop discipline and self-confidence necessary to lead positive and productive lives. Offering African and jazz percussion, as well as classical and jazz violin, students learn listening and learning skills that…
The descendants of the Yoruba people of Nigeria continue to preserve their connection to their ancestral traditions and art forms through ritual song, dance, and drumming. The nuances of these traditional elements are available only to those initiated, allowing for a robust spiritual knowledge and deeper understanding of the religious…
As a grantee of ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2015, DelinaDreamProductions will receive support for the documentary Bare Soles Bare Soul. Bare Soles Bare Soul will explore the sociocultural experience of eight African American women who have studied and practiced various traditional African dance styles…
Gospel music was birthed in America as a natural derivative of African American history. African Americans sign what they live. As slaves, they sang a slave song. As freedom fighters, they sang a song of deliverance. As freedom marchers, they sang a song of victory. Today, African Americans sing Gospel…
Based in San Diego, United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST) was founded to be a pipeline of culturally competent health services, education, and advocacy for the improvement of East African women and their families’ health and well being. Several years ago, a group of East…
