Early Free Southern Theater promotional image, circa 1970. Jason Foster & Kiyoko McCrae (New Orleans, LA) | February 2, 2016 “Through theater, we think to open a new area of protest. One that permits the development of playwrights and actors,…
ROOTS 40th Year: A Call to Action – Emergent Organizing
Members of Carpetbag Theatre perform Red Summer at the 1992 Annual Meeting, at Table Rock, NC. From L-R: Vida Werner, Bert Tanner, Adora Dupree, and Linda Parris-Bailey. Article by ROOTS Staff | January 6, 2016 In 1976, at the Highlander…
The Places We Call Home: ROOTS Weekend at Zora Fest
(L-R) Ausettua AmorAmenkum and Jarrell Hamilton perform in Junebug Productions’ Gomela/to return: Movement of Our Mother Tongue. Photo credit: Melisa Cardona, 2014. Article by Tamiko Ambrose Murray (Asheville, NC) | January 4, 2016 Interested in attending ROOTS Weekend-Eatonville? Click here…
Investing In Culture: 50 Years of the NEA
ROOTS’ Executive Director, Carlton Turner was invited to the NEA’s 50th anniversary concert at the White House, in which New Orleans’ Trombone Shorty performed. Article by Carlton Turner, Alternate ROOTS Executive Director (Utica, MS) | January 5, 2016 On October…
My 1968 in South Carolina 2015
Article and Photos by Omari Fox (Orangeburg, SC) | December 7, 2015 With official and ‘on the fly,’ #BlackLivesMatter chapters sprouting up everywhere in the country after non-indictments of law enforcement officers in late 2014, South Carolina’s two key cities,…
The Future of “The Future is on the Table #4” is on the Web: Documentation for Activation
Article by Nicole Gurgel (Albuquerque, NM) | November 3, 2015 From fall 2012 through spring 2013, multi-media artists Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet, facilitated an art-with-community project in Jackson, MS, sponsored by the Mississippi Museum of Art. The artists, who…
Resistance as Legacy
David Montana, Big Chief of the Ouachita Nation Mardi Gras Indians. Photo: Rebecca Mwase, 2015. Article by Rebecca Mwase (New Orleans, LA) | October 2, 2015 New Orleans is ten years post-Katrina. The landscape of the city has been ravaged…
Tassels and Transgressions on the Third Rail: Shaking It Up for Social Justice through Burlesque
Article by S.T. Shimi | October 7, 2015 Editor’s Note: We’re thrilled to publish this article by one of our Barbeque, Burlesque, and Bourbon headliners and longtime members, S.T. Shimi aka Black Orchid. Come on out to see Black Orchid,…
“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…
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…
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
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…
Artability Artist Spotlight: Amanda Levesque
This is the fourth and final installment of our Artability Artist Spotlight series, which highlights artists who are differently-abled, and runs throughout Alternate ROOTS’ Artability campaign. Artability provides scholarships for artists with disabilities to attend ROOTS Week. You can read…
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…
Indigenous Artists Gathering 2015 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Lumhe “Micco” Sampson presenting his workshop, “Hoop Dance Teaching: Indigenous Circles of Leadership” at the Indigenous Artists Gathering. Photo: Ashley Minner, 2015. Article by: Ashley Minner, Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina Alternate ROOTS Executive Committee Member (Baltimore, MD) Way back…
Mujeres en Ritual Danza-Teatro
Mujeres en Ritual Danza-Teatro will be performing at this years ROOTS Week, August 4-9 2015! Telares (o el olvido) / Looms (or, the forgetting) By Fabiola Ruiz A work-in-progress performance in Spanish Directed by: Dora Arreola Performed by: Gisela…
Artability Artist Spotlight: Nikki Brown
This is the third of our four-part Artability Artist Spotlight series that highlights artists who are differently-abled, and runs throughout Alternate ROOTS’ Artability campaign. Artability provides scholarships for artists with disabilities to attend ROOTS Week. You can read the first…
The Risk of Hopelessness
On June 2, 2015, Alternate ROOTS Executive Director, Carlton Turner, presented the following as a keynote address at the Grantmakers in the Arts Racial Equity Forum in Atlanta, Georgia. Introduction: Georgia Men “Black people did not come back from Georgia.” “A man…
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…