Author: Joseph Thomas

Aimee McCoy

Aimee McCoy she/her/hers Oracle of Synthesis [Director of Membership Services] aimee@alternateroots.org Aimee McCoy is Co-founder of The Artizen Company (TAC), a theater and film company based in Georgia. Since 2013, she has served as managing director and co-artistic director, regularly

Clarissa Crawford

Clarissa Crawford she/her/hers Partnerships & Process Road Opener [Director of Strategic Partnerships]  clarissa@alternateroots.org Clarissa is a producer who facilitates creative processes by curating content, opportunities, and access to resources for artists. She is also a seasoned project manager who has

Dignity for Incarcerated Parents: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture and Policy

As many of us celebrate our mothers and parents this weekend, we’re highlighting the efforts of ROOTS members who are working for better care for incarcerated mothers/parents and their children. Our members are leading a movement for dignity for incarcerated

Curating ROOTS Week

Bob Martin, Ezelle: Ballad of a Land Man. Photo: Melisa Cardona As a member-led arts and social justice organization, Alternate ROOTS is in a constant state of evolution – we are always working to deepen, expand, and improve our practices to better

Remembering John O’Neal

Like so many who knew and loved John O’Neal, our Alternate ROOTS family is grieving his passing. A ROOTS founder and elder, John’s legacy as a national treasure will be forever felt through his plays, stories, and the arts/activist organizations

A Year of Growth, Grit, and Gratitude

Executive Committee and staff after the “We Got Your Back” ceremony in March 2018, at Michelle Ramos’ first ExComm meeting.  Michelle Ramos, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” – Maya Angelou ROOTers we

Midterm Elections and Beyond: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture, Impacting Policy, and Building Power at the Grassroots

Alternate ROOTS’ members have been tirelessly working to shift culture, affect local policy, advocate for legislative change, and build people power leading up to tomorrow’s highly anticipated midterm election, and beyond. As we gear up to vote, we want to

Midterm Elections: Resources for Alternate ROOTS Network

From ROOTS’ (Regional Organization of Theater South) founding at Highlander Research and Education Center in 1976, artists who were committed to justice, equity, and southern tradition remained to create what has evolved into Alternate ROOTS. As a coalition of cultural

A Select Reading List from the UpROOTing Team: ROOTS Week 2018

The UpROOTing Facilitator Team has compiled a list of selected resources to help ground you in some of the principles and learnings that have informed the content shared over the week as well as places for you to dig deeper

UpROOTING Trainings: Eliminating All Forms of Oppression

Keryl McCord and MK Wegmann | July 31, 2018 Racism doubles or triples every other oppression. Racial classifications were invented by early naturalists and anthropologists in the 1700s and refined in the 1800s in the years leading up to the

ExComm Face-to-Face Report Out

By Monique Davis | July 30, 2018

#ROOTSRoadTrip Travelogue: Part Three

Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 19, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers

Artist Statement: Liana Ambrose Murray

This year’s ROOTS artwork is a tribute to the Southern sculptor, artist, and educator Augusta Savage born in 1892 in Green Cove Springs near Jacksonville, Florida. Although I’ve grown up in Asheville, NC, I was born in Jacksonville, FL too.

#ROOTSRoadTrip Travelogue: Part Two

Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 12, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers

#ROOTSRoadTrip Travelogue: Part One

Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 10, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers

Cultural Policy & ROOTS

A Southern based regional arts and social justice service organization with national reach, Alternate ROOTS’ role in cultural policy is to develop an understanding and awareness of regional and national social justice and arts policies that have implications for Alternate

In Solidarity with Migrants and Asylum Seekers

ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS written and performed by José Torres-Tama at ROOTS Weekend-Dallas. Photo: Melisa Cardona.  What is unfolding on the border is a human rights crisis. We at ROOTS stand with migrants and asylum seekers. We oppose the separation of

Gentrifying the Conversation on Gentrification: Resisting the Performative Culture of Whiteness in Dallas Organizing

Disrupting Displacement, organized by Edyka Chilomé and Vicki Meek, was part of the Creating Place Learning Exchange series. Photo: Betty Yu. Edyka Chilomé (Dallas, TX) | May 21, 2018 When I was approached by Alternate ROOTS to participate in the

Fun-filled Weekend at the ROOTS ExComm Face-to-Face Meeting, Spring 2018

Samuel Valdez (San Diego, CA & Tijuana B.C.) | May 1, 2018 A weekend of friends, family, and artistic planning went on March 17-18, 2018 in Atlanta, GA. We, the Alternate ROOTS Executive Committee, came together for our spring face-to-face

Whose Cotton You Choppin?

Genevia R. Turner in a Mississippi cotton field. Photo: Melisa Cardona. This article is part of the Creating Place project. View the full multimedia collection here. By: Carlton Turner (Utica, MS) | April 25, 2018 I grew up in Utica, Mississippi in

Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in communities of place, tradition or spirit. We are a group of artists and cultural organizers based in the South creating a better world together. As Alternate ROOTS, we call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression—everywhere.