Kristian Kubuay of Oakland, is an artist/entrepreneur/futurist specializing in endangered writing systems and tattoos from the Philippines. As a leading authority for the propagation and instruction of prePhilippine scripts, he launched his own edutainment business specializing in custom art, books, events, technology, and apparel. Kristian has spoken around the world at museums, schools, and companies. His work is wide-reaching that spans across multimedia, traditional practices, and technology. He is currently working on his 8th book, 2nd documentary, education startup, and honing his traditional tattooing practice.

Apprenticeship Program

2024

Pre-colonial Philippine Tattoo with apprentice Iggy Mora

Kristian Kubay will mentor his apprentice, Iggy Mora in traditional pre-colonial Philippine tattoo practices covering a range of skills, including tool making, hand poke marking techniques, storytelling through traditional patterns, and skin stretching. By assisting as a skin stretcher at the mentor’s hand-tapping ceremonies, the apprentice will learn about the traditional symbolic patterns of the diverse ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines.

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Julia Caridad Cepeda Martinez was born into the esteemed Familia Cepeda, a family that has carried the Bomba tradition for more than 8 generations. She is the granddaughter of Don Rafael Cepeda Atiles and Doña Caridad Cepeda Brenes (Patriarch & matriarch of Bomba Cangrejera de Santurce Puerto Rico) and the daughter of El Tambor Mayor, Jesus Cepeda Brenes. Julia has been dancing for 40 years and has been part of her family tradition as both a student and a teacher. Julia has been teaching in Oakland for 10 years. Currently, she is carrying her family’s legacy in the San Francisco Bay Area as Julia Dansé, dance instructor, alongside Denise Solís with their class community Taller Bombalele.

Apprenticeship Program

2024

Bomba Dance with apprentice Ansarys Andino

In this apprenticeship, Julia Cepeda will focus more intensively on the foundation of grace and power that Bomba requires as she guides her apprentice, Ansary’s Adino in this cultural dance expression. Julia’s vast knowledge of the tradition passed down to her by way of her family will enrich Ansarys’ foundation in paseo ( travel of dance space), Figuras (figures), Piquetes (dance solos and movement) within each rhythm in Bomba culminating in the development of choreography.

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Sonam Phunstok of El Cerrito is a celebrated Tibetan opera artist and cultural custodian who began his journey in traditional Tibetan performance arts at the age of 11. Trained at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamshala, India, he honed his craft under the guidance of several masters, particularly the late opera master Norbu Tsering. Over decades, Master Sonam has excelled in Tibetan music, dance, theater, and opera, eventually serving as opera master at TIPA, the very institute where his training began.

Now residing in the U.S., he continues to lead and curate Tibetan opera performances, often in collaboration with organizations like Chaksam-pa. For Master Sonam, sharing his knowledge with the younger generation is both a responsibility and a reward. Through mentorship and apprenticeship programs, he aims to ensure the survival and vitality of Tibetan culture in the face of challenges such as displacement, modern influences, and the loss of elder cultural leaders.

Deeply committed to preserving the “heart and soul” of Tibetan identity, Master Sonam sees his work as essential to keeping the spirit of his people alive. He hopes to inspire younger generations, especially those growing up in the West, to connect with and carry forward the rich traditions of Tibetan opera and performance art.

Apprenticeship Program

2024

Tibetan Opera Singing with apprentice Tenzin Thinley

In this apprenticeship, Sonam Phunstok will focus on voice training and the vocalization techniques central to traditional Tibetan opera, specifically the namthar style of singing with his, apprentice Tenzin Thinley. Namthar is an essential element of Tibetan opera, requiring intensive training and deep knowledge of its art form. The mentor artist will guide the apprentice through foundational vocal exercises to build the strength and stamina necessary to perform namthar. While the apprentice already has foundational training in opera dance and movement, this program will prepare them for more significant roles in productions and the ability to perform solo namthar pieces for special occasions.

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Madiou Diouf of Oakland, is a Sound Engineer and Musical Director for the Diamano Coura West African Dance Company. His journey in the world of music and sound engineering is a testament to the rich tapestry of cultural influences that shape an artist’s craft. Born into a family where artistic excellence is the norm, his multicultural background provided him with a unique perspective on music and performance playing many instruments from djembe, kutiro, dundun, log drum, bells, ngoma,sasa, which he has honed over the years through dedication and passion. His work demonstrates his commitment to preserving and promoting African culture through music and dance. 

Apprenticeship Program

2024

Senegalese/Liberian musical traditions

with apprentice Ababacar Kouyate

Madiou will be teaching Ababacar through the origin, construction and history of the drums, the rhythms they produce and their importance to African dance in general, and the specific dances. Ababacar will learn the independent and complimentary roles of the drums and their complex patterns in rhythmic compositions.  Following the introduction of the drums, Ababacar learns basic movements and how the rhythms produced by the drums carry the dancer. As Ababacar learns each new dance, he must also learn to sing drum patterns in unison and understand the emphasis rhythm places on various movements.

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Living Cultures Grant

2023

Poro Project

The PORO PROJECT is an introduction and immersion into the folkloric culture and traditions of West and Central Africa for boys and men. Funding will support a three-day event including dance workshops for boys and men, a community panel discussion on the significance of male representation in African dance, and a community demonstration.

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DJ Leydis
Born and raised in Cuba, DJ Leydis is a trailblazing DJ known for her unique blend of contemporary hits, Latin flavors, R&B classics, and roots reggae. A key figure in the Cuban hip-hop movement, she co-founded Omegas Kilay, a hip-hop theater collective in Havana. DJ Leydis organized some of Cuba’s most respected events and community programs and co-created the first all-female DJ mixtape in Cuba. Since migrating to the United States in 2006, she has collaborated with iconic artists like Erykah Badu and Questlove of The Roots.

Living Cultures Grant

2023

Festival Cubahia

Funding will support the development of the Cubahía Festival [Cuba + bahía – “bay” in Spanish], building a space for Cuban, immigrant, LGBT communities, mixing traditional Afro-Cuban music, dance and orality with Hip Hop and of bringing these [forms] from their native island, Cuba, to this, their second home, the Bay Area.

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He was born in 1980 in Iran. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Music from Su‌reh University of Tehran in 2005, a second bachelor’s degree in World Music from San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 2016, and a Master’s degree at SFSU in Music History in2019.
With the support of his renowned artist father Mostafa, Pezhham began studying the tombak at the age of five with the guidance of Ostad Naser Farhanghfar. From 1989-1991, he continued studying tombak with Mr. Saeid Roudbary. Pezhham developed a very unique ability to grasp the technicalities of the tombak and bring a new approach to rhythm. His unique approach has resulted in Pezhham being termed one of the most distinguished musicians of his generation.

He has performed, recorded and toured with many master musicians, such as: Shahram Nazeri, Hossein Alizadeh, Ali Akbar Moradi, Zakir Hussain, and YoYoMa. Today, Pezhham resides in San Francisco, California where he teaches private lessons in music. He is working on different productions and projects and gives lectures and demonstrations in Persian music and performances.

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Acacia WoodsChan is a mixed ethnicity African-Chinese-American cultural artist whose traditions include African religion, song, dance, and performance, as well as Daoism. In 2018, she was an apprentice in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program. Her travel platform, Ethnic Ties, offers cultural tours of Oakland, including Black Oakland, Chinatown, and Fruitvale. Ethnic Ties values people, culture and connectedness, and acts as a liaison to all by leveraging tourism and community connectedness. They believe in inclusive and regenerative tourism that strengthens community bonds by investing in local and global communities by supporting cultural economies, intergenerational knowledge sharing, and cultural preservation efforts.

Ethnic Ties “Tour of the Town,” 2023.

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Living Cultures Grant

2023

Intergenerational Testimonies within Cultural Histories

Ethnic Ties will create location-based, cultural and historical landmarks that will trigger audiovisual testimonies from Oakland elders on each of their tours. They will also offer free youth tours to newly-arrived, asylum-seeking students from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Yemen, and Nigeria, inviting community elders to accompany them and share historical insights.

Apprenticeship Program

2018

Lucumí sacred songs
with mentor Tobaji Stewart

During her apprenticeship, Woods-Chan studied the expressions and form of the sung liturgy of call-and-response Lucumí sacred songs.

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Einar “Tito” Leliebre Nuñez is from Santiago de Cuba, the most important city in Cuba for the cradle of son, where there are influences from Haiti, France, Africa and Spain. When he was eight, he began learning from Luis Quintana Palacio, a member of the Ballet Folklórico del Oriente and a commission to evaluate musicians. When Nuñez was ten, he was chosen to begin formal studies in music at Jose Maria Heredia Vocational Art School in Santiago de Cuba. His main teacher was his father, Hector Leliebre Borja: a top-level musician who worked with the Ballet Folklorico Cutumba and the Ballet Folklorico del Oriente. Nuñez also learned from Pachi Israel Rodriguez, the director of Obba Tuke, a group dedicated to preserving the Cuban rumba genre. Since 2003, Nuñez has been a musical director with the national company Teatro del Danza de Caribe.

Nuñez and his band, Obbatuké, at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh, 2016.

Living Cultures Grant

2023

La Rumba Me Llama: Rumba Afro-Cubana

Nuñez will produce, curate, serve as music director and perform at a public event of Afro-Cuban music for all ages, in the tradition of a Cuban rumba, along with two free open-level music classes (one for adults and another for children). He will host the event at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, an important community space dedicated to supporting Latino-­Caribbean culture.

The rumba is a place where community is created; joy is celebrated in the midst of difficulties.” – Einar “Tito” Leliebre Nuñez

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Kai Delgado Pfeifer is a lifelong student and practitioner of Filipino cooking, indigenous agriculture traditions, and Hilot (Philippine traditional healing). Filipinx Food as Medicine is their grassroots education project centering Filipinx food and medicine traditions, and the stories embedded within them, as media for community health and climate justice. Filipinx Food as Medicine offers in-person workshops (one per month), virtual knowledge shares (two to three hours each), and five- to eight-week-long virtual courses (three cohorts per year) teaching Filipinx traditions of food, herbalism, agriculture, ritual, and cosmology. Participants gather in the ancestral format of ritual and talk-circle, which allows them to center the lived experiences of their ancestors and communities within the historical, political, and ecological contexts of the Filipinx diaspora. Since 2022, Filipinx Food as Medicine has educated close to 150 individuals from Filipinx and other BIPOC communities in the Bay Area and beyond.

Living Cultures Grant

2023

Filipinx Food as Medicine

Kai will provide scholarship spaces in each of Filipinx Food as Medicine’s Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, and Summer/Autumn 2024 cohorts to seven youth, LGBTQ, and migrant participants. Funding will also support in-person foodways workshops and garden days.

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