ACTA co-produced the Sounds of California program at the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington D.C. with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Radio Bilingüe, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, and the Smithsonian Latino Center. The Sounds of California program included a series of concerts, performances, and activities, offering an auditory journey about how musical culture mirrors the movements reshaping the state and the nation today. We featured artists who contribute to the soundscapes of California and who demonstrate the social power of music and cultural heritage.

The range of expression by 60 artists – represent a range of perspective regarding continuity and change in music and expressive sound within our state’s history as a site of migration and immigration. While rooted in the terrain of their communities, these artists work across borders—in many senses. They sustain traditions to bridge distant homelands to their present homes. They remix traditions to forge new variations and collaborations. They deploy traditions to engage and invite others to action.