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…
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
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…
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 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,…
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…
Tagged with: ROOTS Week
Teatro Sin Fronteras: Shifting Narratives to Include Latina/os in the Rebirth of Post-Katrina New Orleans
A packed house at Teatro Sin Fronteras #3 at Old Marquer Theatre. Photo: Craig Morse, June 2015. Article by José Torres-Tama (New Orleans, LA) “The workers and families who helped rebuild New Orleans live in terror today … If they leave their…
Artability Artist Spotlight: Samuel Valdez
This is the second of our four-part Artability Artist Spotlight series that highlights differently-abled artists and runs throughout Alternate ROOTS’ Artability campaign. Artability provides scholarships for artists with disabilities to attend ROOTS Week. To read the first spotlight, featuring Camille…
In Solidarity with Charleston
Alternate ROOTS stands in solidarity with the community of Charleston, SC in the wake of this act of terrorism committed against the African American community. “It’s a tough one but it’s not unexpected in a culture like Charleston. This city…
LOVEbaltiMORE
Article by Ashley Minner, ExComm Member (Baltimore, MD) Photos by Sean Scheidt (Baltimore, MD) Baltimore is always the center of my world, but over the past few days it seems like it’s become the center of the world. We have seen…
In Solidarity with Baltimore
By Carlton Turner, Alternate ROOTS Executive Director (Utica, MS) “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” –Frederick Douglass This quote has been on my mind today as I think about the uprising that is…
Selma: A Bittersweet Celebration
Article & Photos by Katina Parker (Durham, NC) Saturday, March 7th. Selma, Alabama. Tens of thousands from around the world packed the streets leading to and from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the…
Power & Subversion
Article by Joseph Thomas (Philadelphia, PA) I began to explore the subject of power in 2012 during the rehearsal process for a play written by Jean Genet called Splendid’s. The play takes place in a hotel suite where seven gangsters…
Progress and Healing
Article by Rebekah Stevens Progress Theatre is currently on tour, performing in New Orleans March 12-14 and in Dallas April 10-11. In late February, Progress Theatre (PT) kicked off 2015 with our first residency of The Burnin’ at the University…
#SpotlightonFerguson
Article & Photos by Katina Parker (Durham, NC) Since August, Katina Parker has been traveling to Ferguson, documenting and organizing against police brutality. Here, she shares a series of photo essays and her written, first-person account of the #Blacklivesmatter movement in Ferguson. …
The Sweetness and the Spoil: Durham Stories of Resistance
Article by Nia Wilson (Durham, NC) and Rodrigo Dorfman (Durham, NC); Photographs by Rodrigo Dorfman Reflections: Building towards “Mother to Mother” Nia: August 10th 2014: I heard about the premature deaths of two young Black men — John Crawford in Ohio…
Spotlight on Ferguson (Part 1): An Activist Framework
Article & Video by Katina Parker (Durham, NC) Don’t miss Part 2 of this series: Spotlight on Ferguson: A First-hand Account. To donate to support continued documentation by #SpotlightOnFerguson, please visit: igg.me/at/dontshoot. Mike Brown’s Memorial – Canfield from Katina Parker on Vimeo.…
Spotlight on Ferguson (Part 2): A First-hand Account
Article and Photos by Katina Parker Don’t miss Part 1 of this series: Spotlight on Ferguson: An Activist Framework. To donate to support continued documentation by #SpotlightOnFerguson, please visit: igg.me/at/dontshoot. August 30, 2014 Ferguson Today, I stood where 17-year old Mike Brown…
The Power of One
Article by Don Harrell (Winter Park, FL) Aleta Alston Touré, the no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners organizer of the Free Marissa Now Movement is a clear demonstration of the power of one. She stands firmly at the center of the movement, reminding all…
Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary
Acts and Movements: Arts and Culture in Times of Struggle Friday, June 27th 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm Tougaloo College This panel will bring together multiple generations of artists/activists and scholars to uplift the role of cultural institutions in the Civil…