About the Organization Raices Cultura’s mission is to create a space for artistic and cultural expression, to promote healthy communities, and to strengthen the voice of the Eastern Coachella Valley. Since 2005, in an effort to build community through the traditional arts, Raices has held an annual…
Fresno-based United Cultures exists to educate, promote, and disseminate the arts, culture, and gastronomy of all the Latino world. Their mission is to create and encourage economic opportunities and new avenues of expression for all Latino art forms. In 2012, ACTA’s Development Program supported United Cultures’ consultancy with CPA Emmett…
Claudia Lyra has brought Brazilian culture to others since she moved to US in 2003. Claudia trained in Brazil in capoeira (a Brazilian art form that can be practiced as a martial art or a dance, and its accompanying music). Claudia is also an accomplished percussionist, studying traditional Brazilian percussion…
Ginga Arts is a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles that emowers underserved and at-risk youth by offering ongoing classes featuring the traditional Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira. Ginga Arts uses capoeria — part martial arts, part dance, part percussion, and part game — as an…
L.A. Samba Kids, a culturally rich, after-school arts education program founded on the Brazilian Carnival traditions of music, dance, and visual arts, serves urban, under-resourced middle and high school students in South Los Angeles. Offering a curriculum in traditional music, dance, and visual and media arts from the Latin Americas,…
In 2013, the Asociation de la Pelota Mixteca de California Central received funding from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program for the Festival de la Pelota Mixteca, taking place each weekend between May and June. The Oaxcan game of pelota is played by men utilizing an ornate…
In 2013, Comunidad Tlacolulence en Los Angeles (COTLA) received funding from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program for two observances of this Oaxacan indigenous community. The Mayordormia Tlacolulence, celebrated elaborately with pageantry and symbolism on particular saints’ days, will take place in October in West Los Angeles.
Grupo Cultura Yoso Nuu Viko was formed in 2008 by parents and youth interested in preserving and transmitting indigenous Mixtec traditions and culture, specifically traditional sones and chilenas of the San Juan Mixtepec region of Oaxaca. Played on violins and guitars, this music plays a crucial role during social events such…
Master artist Juana Alicia Araiza founded the True Colors Mural Project in 2008. She directs this public mural program based in the East San Francisco Bay Area. TCMP preserves and revives the legacy of Mexican and Chican@ Mural Movements through the teaching of its philosophy and…
Deshilado (des-ē-lah’-do), or Mexican openwork embroidery, is traditionally used on household items such as tablecloths, napkins, and linens. Openwork embroidery is the art of removing threads from a fabric to create a design over which embroidery is made. Patricia Zavala de Arias learned deshilado from her mother in her hometown…
