Amy Kitchener

Amy Kitchener (Chair) co-founded the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) in 1997 and is its current executive director. Understanding California's unique position as the nation's epicenter for diverse cultural and multi-national communities, ACTA's work has focused on social change through grantmaking, capacity and leadership development, technical assistance, and bilingual program development. Trained as a public folklorist with an MA from UCLA, Amy has piloted participatory cultural asset mapping in neglected and rural areas of the state and consults with other organizations and across sectors on this method of discovery and inclusion of community voices. She continues to serve as a consultant for many national organizations and has taken part in two U.S.-China Intangible Cultural Heritage exchanges. She has published on a variety of subjects involving California folklife, including immigrant arts training and transmission, and Asian American folk arts. Amy and husband Hugo Morales are the proud parents of twin boys who dance and sing with regularity.