Rooted

Conrad J. Benedicto a teacher, author, and kulintang musician who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States at age thirteen. He studied with kulintang master artist Danongan Kalanduyan from 1997 until his passing in 2016, including as his apprentice through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ apprenticeship program in 2007 and again in 2013. In 2018, Conrad received an individual artist grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to compose original kulintang music for his project, “Kulintang Dialect.” He teaches social studies, environmental education, and kulintang music and is the executive director of the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative, an award-winning environmental justice program serving students at Balboa and Downtown high schools in San Francisco. Musalaya’s Gift, Conrad’s first novel, is to be published by KulArts in May 2021.