State Senator Ben Allen and Japanese American National Museum President and CEO Ann Burroughs to receive Spirit of the Humanities Awards during November 10 event in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CA (September 30, 2026) — California Humanities is bringing legendary playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez to Los Angeles this fall for Everyday Courage, a special evening focused on what courage means in our lives and communities. Valdez will headline the November 10 program, which will also honor two California leaders with the Spirit of the Humanities Awards.
Everyday Courage will take place from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the Mark Taper Auditorium at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library.
The program will feature legendary playwright, filmmaker, and founder and artistic director of El Teatro Campesino Luis Valdez, whose groundbreaking work has brought Chicano stories, history, and experiences to American stages and screens for more than six decades.
Through Valdez’s reflections, Everyday Courage will explore what courage looks like in everyday life and how the stories we tell and preserve can influence our communities and California’s future.
The evening will also include a screening of the trailer for American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, a California Humanities-supported documentary exploring Valdez’s life, work, and influence on American theater and film. The film, which will air on PBS by the time of the event, traces Valdez’s journey from California’s farmworker movement to the creation of landmark works such as Zoot Suit and La Bamba and examines his enduring influence on American culture.
You can’t have courage without fear. From our first steps as infants to our last tottering steps as senior citizens, everyday courage is essential to life itself. We grow up overcoming the fears of taking that next step in the face of obstacles. It is sometimes dramatic, like confronting our first childhood bullies at school or risking death in the killing fields of war. More often than not, courage is that quiet strength that just gets you through the day. Life is made up of these intimate struggles and victories. As a Chicano storyteller over the last sixty years, I have identified courage as self-belief. Do not be afraid to be whoever you are.
-Luis Valdez
Honoring Courage Through the Humanities
During Everyday Courage, California Humanities will present its Spirit of the Humanities Awards to two California leaders whose work reflects different dimensions of public service, cultural leadership, and engagement with the humanities.
California State Senator Ben Allen will receive the Spirit of the Humanities Award for Legislative Champion. Allen represents California’s 24th Senate District in Los Angeles County and chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Arts. His legislative work related to arts and culture has included measures concerning California’s film and television industry, theatre and dance teaching credentials, and access to arts education.
Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum and its National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, will receive the Spirit of the Humanities Award for Courageous Leadership. An internationally recognized human rights and social justice leader, Burroughs’ lifelong commitment to justice was shaped by her experience as a young activist in South Africa, where she was imprisoned for opposing apartheid. For more than 25 years, she has worked with leaders, organizations, and networks in the United States and abroad to advance racial justice and human rights. More recently, Burroughs has been at the forefront of museums that serve moral clarity, protect civic space, nurture public trust, and preserve truth and history.
Together, Valdez, Burroughs, and Allen reflect the many forms courage can take—from telling stories and advancing cultural memory to public leadership and expanding opportunities for people to participate in the cultural and civic life of their communities.
“Everyday Courage asks us to think about courage not only as a heroic act, but as something we practice every day—in the choices we make, the stories we preserve, and how we show up for our communities,” said Rick Noguchi, President and CEO of California Humanities. “Luis Valdez, Ann Burroughs, and Senator Ben Allen have each demonstrated that kind of courage in different ways. Their work shows us how the humanities can connect our histories to the choices we make about California’s future.”
Valdez founded El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) in 1965 during the United Farm Workers movement and the Great Delano Grape Strike in California’s Central Valley. His work went on to reshape American theater and expand the visibility of Chicano experiences in American culture. His landmark play Zoot Suit became the first Chicano play produced on Broadway and was later adapted into a feature film. Valdez also wrote and directed the 1987 film La Bamba and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2016.
Event Details
Everyday Courage
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
5:30–7:45 p.m.
Mark Taper Auditorium
Los Angeles Public Library – Central Library
630 W. Fifth St.
Los Angeles, CA 90071
About California Humanities
California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, connects Californians to ideas and one another to better understand our shared heritage and the many cultures that shape our state. For 50 years, our grants and programs have fostered connection, community, and learning through storytelling, dialogue, and the arts.
To learn more, visit calhum.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
