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…
Revealing Richmond’s Justice System, Through Stories and Portraits
Tagged with: Justice, Mass Incarceration, Prison, Richmond, Richmond Justice, ROOTS Weekend-Richmond, Virginia
A Charge to White Women – Post Women’s March
Photo: Katina Parker By Katina Parker (Durham, NC) | March 20, 2017 8:40am, Saturday, January 21. The day after the Inauguration. I was hustling through the streets of DC trying to make the beginning of the Women’s March Rally. Pink…
Returning to the Love: Building Self and Community At and After ROOTS Weekend-Dallas
Photo: Melisa Cardona Leticia Contreras | December 14, 2016 The seeds that we have planted have come to harvest. As the brisk air of North Texas reminded us that a new season has come, we celebrated and harvested our creative…
A CALL TO ACTION: Now that Trump is President, What Will You Do?
#CharlitUprising. Photo: Katina Parker Katina Parker (Durham, NC) | November 16, 2016 Election night. I’m stationed in Charlotte, producing coverage for Al Jazeera. I’ve been dispatched with a gas mask, helmet, bullet proof vest, and personal body guard. Without an…
Tagged with: CharlitUprising, Charlotte, Keith Lamont Scott, Police Brutality, Protest, Trump, White supremacy
In Solidarity with the Water Protectors at Standing Rock
November 16, 2016 This letter is in response to the Standing Rock Sioux’s call for statements of support. We encourage our members and partner organizations to write your own letters, sign a petition addressed to President Obama to permanently halt…
It Is Still a GOOD Morning
Carlton Turner | November 9, 2016 Carlton Turner shared this message with Alternate ROOTS’ staff and Executive Committee the morning after the election. Good Morning, I know that you are all disappointed with the outcome of last night’s election. Take…
Hollerin’ into the Space: Reflections on ROOTS Week 2016
The Hollerin’ Space Installation by Muthi Reed and Angela Davis Johnson. Photo by: Melisa Cardona By Ron Ragin | September 27, 2016 I’ve always leaned into the retreat element of ROOTS Week. Gathering with this extended family is (perhaps ironically)…
The Voices Pour Down: Our Theater ROOTS during the 40th Reunion
Founding members of Alternate ROOTS. Photo by: Melisa Cardona By Ashley Sparks | September 19, 2016 The late seventies and early 80s were seminal for U.S. theater history – especially southern theater history. In June 1976, a dynamic mix of…
In Pursuit of an Art with Consequences: Panel Discussion with Five ROOTS’ Founders
Transcribed & Edited by Jan Cohen-Cruz | July 29, 2016 This past July, when two more young black men were killed wantonly by white police, and then a black man killed five police, long time ROOTer Dudley Cocke wrote, “While…
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…
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Arts: It Is Possible
By Keryl McCord, Operations Director, Alternate ROOTS | June 17, 2016 A few weeks ago Alternate ROOTS published my article, and its follow-up piece, Why We Must Have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Arts: A Response to the National…
Tagged with: ArtSpot Productions, Azule, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Junebug Productions, Mondo Bizarro, ROOTS Culture, Transformation
“We Cannot Allow Bigotry to Be the Answer to Bigotry”: In Solidarity with Orlando
Andrea Assaf | June 20, 2016 Alternate ROOTS joins the many, many communities and individuals who are grieving and grappling with the horrifying violence that unfolded at Pulse night club in Orlando, FL just over a week ago. As a…
GRASP This!: Girls Rock Charleston’s After School Program Re-routes the School-To-Prison Pipeline
GRASP Showcase Karla Barrios & Marie Attelier | June 7, 2016 Girls Rock Charleston is a member of Alternate ROOTS’ 2015-16 Partners in Action cohort and will be attending and sharing their work at ROOTS Weekend-New Market/Knoxville this weekend! Girls…
Archival Revival | A Call for Cultural Development
By Dudley Cocke and Ruby Lerner Originally published: 1989 | Republished: April 11, 2016 The Archival Revival Series looks back at articles by ROOTers, about ROOTS, in celebration of our 40th anniversary. This series, and the field of arts activism, owes…
Tagged with: Archive, community and culture, cultural organizing, Dudley Cocke, Roadside Theatre, The South
Philanthropy Is a Transformational Act: Standing at the Intersection of Funding, Arts and Activism
L-R: Margo Miller and Sheila Gaskins at ROOTS Week. Photo: Melisa Cardona. Article by Margo Miller, Executive Director Appalachian Community Fund I find myself sitting at my desk thinking about my work in social justice and reflecting on the different…
Who Counts?
Audience attending Roadside’s Appalachian Tent Tour By Dudley Cocke This article was originally on Roadside Theater’s blog and is used here with permission. Andy Horwitz’s Jan. 31, 2016 Atlantic article about the National Endowment for the Arts is telling: “The current state of…
Archival Revival | Cheerleader for the Revolution: Thoughts on Carpetbag Theater Company
By Ann Kilkelly Originally published: November 2002 | Republished: March 7, 2016 The Archival Revival Series looks back at articles by ROOTers, about ROOTS, in celebration of our 40th anniversary. This series and the field of arts activism, owes an…
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…
“We Don’t Do Drive-Bys”: A Conversation with Don Harrell, ROOTS Meets Zora
Artists and Cultural Organizers gather at ROOTS Weekend-Eatonville. L-R: Don Harrell, King Shakur, Jan Cohen-Cruz, Sonia Baez-Hernandez, Monique Davis. Photo: Ariston Jacks. By Jan Cohen-Cruz I sat down with Don Harrell, liaison for the second ROOTS Weekend, in Eatonville, FL,…
How Can We Create A World Where No Youth Are Locked Up? Bringing Incarcerated Youth to the Forefront of the Movement for Youth Justice
Trey Hartt, (Richmond, VA) | February 3, 2016 Performing Statistics is part of Alternate ROOTS’ 2015-16 Partners in Action cohort. “If you were me you would know that I love my family; that I’m a respectful person; that I have the…