Revealing Richmond’s Justice System, Through Stories and Portraits

Hannah Ayers (Richmond, VA) | March 29, 2017 Editor’s Note: In the month leading up to ROOTS Weekend-Richmond, Richmond Justice provides valuable local context for the conversations we’ll be having around the weekend’s theme: Creating a World Without Prisons. Join us for

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What Do You Need?

Article & Photos by Kassi Dephinia  Last year, Alternate ROOTS’ ArtAbility scholarship enabled me, a disabled artist, to attend ROOTS week. Being immersed in that environment of activism and artistry changed my life. I left determined to start speaking out

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Community Artist Partnership: Building Community Power, A Conversation with Linda Parris-Bailey and Cristal Chanelle Truscott

Progress Theatre performs The Burnin’ at ROOTS Week 2014. Photo: Melisa Cardona.  By Joe Tolbert This article is an edited transcript of a conversation that was facilitated by Joe Tolbert on February 8, 2016 with Linda Parris-Bailey, Executive/Artistic Director of

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“Lord knows we’ll never be the same again, but at least we started telling the truth.”* A Report Back from Environment & Economy Day at ROOTS Week 2015

Land, Water, Food, Story altar installed by Clear Creek folks, created from copies of deeds to the land and rusty farm implements found on the land over the years. Photo: Nicole Garneau, 2015. Article by Nicole Garneau (Chicago, IL) Editor’s Note: This

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Using Art to Undo Imperialism

Dora Arreola in “Telares (o el Olvido),” with Mujeres en Ritual Danza-Teatro at ROOTS Week. Photo: Melisa Cardona, 2015.   Article by Anu Yadav (Washington D.C.) A woman silently gestures to me in the cafeteria, her face partially obscured by

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ROOTS Week 2015: A Preview

We are pleased, proud, and excited to announce the incredible artists, culture-bearers, organizers, activists, and scholars who will share their work with us at ROOTS Week under the banner, A Call to Action: Transformation. Within this theme, we’ll be focusing

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Symbols of Struggle: Black Lives Matter

Chen Lo in Soundtrack ’63 by Soul Science Lab. Originally commissioned and produced by 651 ARTS, Soundtrack ’63 will be presented by Junebug Productions and Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans in January 2016. Photo: Xy-Fy Fotography.   Article by Kiyoko

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The Land Man & A Love For

Article by Carrie Brunk, Clear Creek Creative (Clear Creek, Rockcastle County, KY) Photos by Melisa Cardona (New Orleans, LA) Clear Creek Creative is a member of Alternate ROOTS’ 2014-15 Partners in Action cohort. It’s a bold move to drive off a rural

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ExComm Loves Nawlins: Face-to-Face Report, March 2015

Article by Bob Martin (Clear Creek, KY); Photos by Bob Martin and Nicole Garneau (Chicago, IL) Hey ROOTers, Bob Martin, your Executive Committee (ExComm) Board Chair here with an update and recap from our spring Face-to-Face (F2F) meeting down in

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Something to Behold in West Baltimore

By Jamie Haft, (Syracuse, NY) This article was originally published at Roadside Theater: Art in a Democracy. It is reprinted here with permission.  This is a story about how residents, artists, community organizers, university professors, and students responded to a

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Speeding Through Texas: Reflections on the Speed Killed My Cousin 2014 Texas Tour

By Joe T. (Knoxville, TN) The Carpetbag Theatre recently took their new play, Speed Killed My Cousin, and the Creative Arts Reintegration project (C.A.R), on a three-week tour of Texas that included stops in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Speed

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The Language of Liberation, and Why We Must Speak

By Nia Wilson (Durham, NC) Dr. Maya Angelou transitioned from her physical form on May 28th, 2014. Her loss, immediately felt around the world, sent many of us to our knees, praying for her gentle transition into the arms of

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Announcing New Webinars & Workshops on Digital Storytelling

Dear Friends, StoryCenter’s 2015 Public Workshop schedule will be posted on our website in the coming weeks, but we want to share a few exciting workshops and webinars taking place this summer. Please follow links below for more information or

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Raising Our Voices: Elevar Nuestra Voces

National Civil War Project Community Conversation JOIN US! Tuesday, May 20, 2014 6-9pm Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum 800 Cherokee Ave., Atlanta, GA 30315 Space is Limited – RSVP here These conversations are graciously hosted by the Alliance Theatre

“A Need to Make Something”: Opening Up a Year-long Exploration of Aesthetics

Article by Nicole Gurgel 2014 marks the beginning of Alternate ROOTS’ three-year initiative, A Call to Action, in which we will be deeply reflecting on our work as artists and cultural organizers. Each year of this initiative is focused on a

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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

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Clear Creek Festival

“Bobby B” Martin, Clear Creek Festival, Clear Creek, KY Clear Creek is proposing a Land, Water, Food, Stories project in Bob and Carrie’s local community Big Hill/ Disputanta Kentucky. This work will be centered on the themes of loss and

Manoj Purushothaman

Audio equipment for oral history project of the architectural history of Azule

Baily Barash

The project is a documentary with the working title, “What I Know Now.” It will be between 10 and 60 minutes in length. It will a compilation of the remarks of several hospice patients, most in the last six months

Today, with the spotlight on us, it is harder than ever to deny that Baltimore has deep-seated problems that run sharply along the lines of race, class, and the distribution of power. Would-be allies to protesters have been vocal in

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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.