Alicia Mary Retes brings Native stories to life through voice, movement, music, and song. Alicia—part Mayo and Yaqui—is a multifaceted interpretive artisan, naturalist, and story-telling musician. Her work is influenced by personal wildlife adventures on land and sea combined with an appreciation for Indigenous People globally, Native American cultural arts, and a deep respect for nature. She is an engaging performer who plays native musical instruments and weaves songs into stories that uplift the listener. As the former Education Director at the Museum of the American Indian in Novato, she shares her knowledge about the Coast Miwok people and sings original trilingual songs in English, Spanish, and Coast Miwok.

Alicia has performed her interactive story-telling all over the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. Thousands of people of all ages have enjoyed her presentations at schools, libraries, recreation centers, and just about any other location where people gather to learn, enjoy, and be entertained. Alicia’s 2021 performances of Two Bears – a Yaqui tale of love, betrayal, and redemption is receiving great reviews. Lily Janiak, theatre critic at the SF Chronicle has selected Folktales From Around the World (where Alicia is a storyteller and writer) as one of her Datebook Picks. Alicia performed at the Tejas Virtual Storytelling Conference Spotlight Concert: When Home is Two Nations. Afterwards, Tim Tingle, Oklahoma Choctaw and award-winning author and storyteller, called Alicia’s performance “Powerful AND hilarious!” The Internet is filled with hundreds of her videos that bring all of us a bit closer to the Indigenous Peoples who make up this amazing country. You can catch a glimpse of Alicia as the featured storyteller for the Auburn Storytelling Festival 2020 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C4E57L2jEk.