Article by Jasmine Brown Empowering, insightful, and inquisitive are just a few of the words that could sum up the impact of the Community Organizing Learning Exchange, held in Atlanta on November 1-3. Keynote Speaker and cultural organizer Tufara Waller…
Author: shannon
Moral Injury Killed My Cousin
By Lynne Santiago A few weeks back, I had the privilege of being invited to view a live performance of Speed Killed My Cousin, a new play by Linda Parris-Bailey and The Carpetbag Theatre, during a rehearsal showing at University of…
Press Release: Alternate ROOTS Receives Highly Competitive EmcArts Innovation Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 11/25/13 Keyl McCord, 404-577-1079, keryl@alternateroots.org Shannon M. Turner, 404-577-1079, shannon@alternateroots.org Alternate ROOTS Receives Highly Competitive EmcArts Innovation Award • 37-year-old arts organization to learn about old dogs and new tricks • Social change leaders tackle internal change ATLANTA,…
Whisper, Howl, Sing: C/APP Projects Listen, Then Tell
This year’s Community/Artist Partnership Program (C/APP) projects share many connections. Each of the four projects merge art and activism, spring up out of local communities, and address the need for healing in the face of trauma and oppression. Last month we heard…
The Artist as Alchemist
Article by: Zoe Flowers At their best, the artist, activist and cultural worker are the alchemists of our time. Working in the space of the unseen, they are intuitive, follow their gut and keep their eye on possibilities. In the…
Magical Moments, Critical Connections and Cry You One
Article and Photo by Monique Verdin People keep asking me how I got involved with Cry You One. The journey deserves its own chapter really as it has been an unimaginable story involving a magical series of critical connections and unexpected…
A Call To Action, A Time to Make Our Presence Felt
In just two short years, Alternate ROOTS will turn 40. In the build-up to this milestone, we are launching A Call to Action – a three-year initiative that will deeply investigate our work as artists and cultural organizers. During each year of…
Clearing The Creative Path: Self & Community Love
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” — Audre Lorde In a powerful declaration of self-love, Audre Lorde reminds us that caring for ourselves is inextricably linked to our work…
Safe In Our Streets: A Precursor to SpiritHouse’s Harm Free Zone Project
Judgment they pass first, always tryin to break us, we always survive Black August Haiku of 2011 Community, safety, love, food, security, family, fun, dance, song, life, death, poverty, wealth, elders, youth. All of these things exist in our communities…
Cucalorus Film Festival: A Traveling Circus, A Social Change Agent, An Artists Retreat
Cucalorus Film Festival: A Traveling Circus, A Social Change Agent, An Artists Retreat by Shannon M. Turner [reposted from Arts in a Changing America, January 2013] I recently had the great pleasure to travel to Wilmington, NC to experience the Cucalorus Film…