Living Lineage: VSCK Teaching, Community, and Cultural Transmission

This is a video application for an upcoming ACTA Living Cultures Grant in Oakland, CA. Title Living Lineage: VSCK Teaching, Community, and Cultural Transmission What This video documents over 15 years of teaching and cultural transmission through Visayan Style Corto Kadena (VSCK), a Filipino martial art lineage passed down by the late Maestro Sonny Umpad. The footage includes workshops, seminars, youth training, meditation, restorative practices, demonstrations, and community-based instruction. Why This sample demonstrates how VSCK is practiced, taught, and preserved across multiple settings and communities. It reflects the project’s focus on lineage transmission, cultural education, media documentation, and community-centered learning. Who The primary artist, Guro Jay Jasper Pugao, is the featured applicant, a Filipino American cultural practitioner, educator, and direct student of Maestro Sonny Umpad. Participants include youth, adult martial arts students, community members, and practitioners from local, national, and international training spaces. The sample also includes an interview segment with Felicia Day discussing the importance of Filipino martial arts as a cultural practice. Where Footage was captured in Oakland and throughout the Bay Area, as well as at workshops, seminars, and demonstrations across the United States and international martial arts communities. When The footage spans approximately 15 years of teaching and community practice, documenting ongoing cultural transmission and instruction from approximately 2010–present. Relationship to Proposed Project This sample directly reflects the proposed project by demonstrating the applicant’s ongoing work preserving and transmitting VSCK through structured teaching, cultural education, and media documentation. The footage shows how martial arts instruction, reflection, and community engagement are already integrated into the applicant’s pedagogy. It also demonstrates the applicant’s experience working with youth, diverse communities, and public-facing cultural spaces, all of which inform the proposed project’s training model, digital archive, and leadership pathways.