Announcing the 2025 Power Building for Culture Bearers Award & Cohort!

The Center for Cultural Power

August 11, 2025

Earlier this year, the Center for Cultural Power, in collaboration with California Arts Council, proudly announced the addition of eighteen individuals to our network as part of the 2025 Power Building for Culture Bearers cohort. Each member was selected by a panel of Culture Bearers within the CultureStrike Network and was chosen from a pool of over 120 applicants! This cohort was created to uplift a community of Culture Bearers from across the Golden State, inviting them to focus on their folk and traditional art practices while meeting virtually to engage in peer learning, cultural collaborations, and skill-sharing.

Throughout these monthly moments of connection, they receive support for their efforts in deepening the impact they’re currently making in shifting dominant narratives surrounding their regions and communities throughout California. These incredible altaristas, movement and melody makers, traditional knowledge keepers, and community caretakers look forward to gathering this fall to connect in person. This gathering will provide an opportunity for them to share their crafts and traditional ways of knowing in real time, and we can’t wait to see what powerful pathways and artwork blossom from this meeting!

Black and white photo of collaged lettering that reads, "Meet the Awardees." Beside the words are two butterflies, and beneath are black and white images of each awardee staring proudly out from the image.