Staff
Carlton Turner
Executive Director
carlton@alternateroots.org
Carlton Turner is currently the Director for Alternate ROOTS. Carlton has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 2001 and served as the Louisiana/Mississippi representative for one year. Carlton worked as the project director for UPROOTED: The Katrina Project. This project seeks to raise the voices of Katrina's survivors and connect them with all of America's marginalized citizenry. It is designed to be a catalyst for self determined change in the Gulf Coast region and throughout the country.
Carlton Turner is also artistic director and co-founder of the performing group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction) a group composed of two brothers performing a blend of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music on a totally conscience tip. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. has released two albums, "Earth Tones" (2002) and "World Domination" (2006). They are currently touring a new play "Batteries in the Killing Machine" across the country. Carlton studied English and history at the University of Mississippi from 1992-1996.
Keryl McCord
Resource Development Director
keryl@alternateroots.org
It has been a lively and quick three years since Keryl relocated to the Atlanta area after nine years in New Jersey. A native New Yorker with deep roots in both the North and South this is her first time living in the South. It is different and she is still trying to figure it all out, but at least she is not getting lost as much as in the early days!
A veteran arts management professional, stage manager, and director, her career now spans decades, and thousands of miles as she has lived and worked on both coasts, spending ten years in the Bay Area, working as Managing Director of Oakland Ensemble Theater, and serving as a board member for Theater Bay Area, the theater service organization for non-profit theater companies.
A brief stint as Executive Director of the League of Chicago Theaters, led her to Washington, DC as Director of Theater Programs for the National Endowment for the Arts. Finally the call came to serve as Managing Director of Crossroads Theater Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was in NJ that she spent six years working with the African Grove Institute for the Arts, (AGIA) founded by the late August Wilson, Dr. Victor Walker, and Professor William Cook.
A think tank and service organization, AGIA was born out of the historic National Black Theater Summit on Golden Pond, convened by Mr. Wilson. Keryl was Director of Institutional Development for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra when her life again took an unexpected turn as her husband came to GA to head up a health care firm.
It feels like home now to be working at Alternate ROOTS, an organization that has always been near and dear to her heart. Hooray and thank you Kathie D.
Shannon M. Turner
Manager of Programs & Services
shannon@alternateroots.org
Shannon's responsibilities for ROOTS include the Annual Meeting, Artistic Assistance, Finance, managing the office, its wonderful interns and volunteers, and most importantly, helping our members stay connected to their benefits.
Having lived in Blacksburg, VA for ten years, Shannon was wrapping up her MFA at Virginia Tech when the tragic shootings occurred there in 2007. She worked in the Blacksburg community for nearly a year following the tragedy to spearhead an organization called HERE: Honoring Experiences, Reflections, and Expressions. HERE's goals were to facilitate ongoing artistic response and dialogue toward the community's healing. She recently published an article on the Community Arts Network, about the year-long journey with HERE, which culminated with a multidisciplinary arts program on the anniversary of the shootings.
During the MFA program, Shannon was also involved in a campus/community arts & dialogue project called [classified]. [classified] was an original play devised from student and community member stories, produced for the campus and community, which explored themes of safety, diversity, harassment, and community. A full article about this performance/dialogue project can also be found on the CAN website. Shannon worked for over a year as Development Director for Synchronicity Performance Group in Atlanta, GA. Prior to her graduate work, she worked for five years for the YMCA at Virginia Tech in multiple roles including Director of Student Programs and Interim Executive Director.
She enjoys her residence in the Little 5 Points community, and along with her active membership in Alternate ROOTS since 2005, she serves on the Advisory Board for the Community Arts Network. (Shannon and Carlton are only related in spirit and in name, not by family of origin.)