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

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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

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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

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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

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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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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

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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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A Terrifying Liberation: The Opportunity in Appalachia’s Uncertain Future

Article by Ben Spangler, Appalshop (Whitesburg, KY) Appalshop is a member of Alternate ROOTS’ 2014-15 Partners in Action cohort. Central Appalachia is presently in a strange place as the collapse of the coal industry leaves the region in an historical moment

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JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: ROOTS WEEK VISUAL ARTS COORDINATOR

Alternate ROOTS seeks a dynamic and visionary Visual Arts Coordinator for ROOTS Week. Thanks to continued support from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, ROOTS is able to dedicate time and energy to the cultivation of service to its visual arts members

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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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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

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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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Music Changes Everything at the Global Village Project

By Elise Witt (Atlanta, GA) The first bone to develop in a baby is the Earbone. The last sense we lose before passing from this life is the sense of sound. Babies are born with all sounds, and to learn

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Cucalorus Film Festival: A Work That’s Constantly in Progress

by Shannon M. Turner Alternate ROOTS Manager of Programs & Services For the past seven years, Alternate ROOTS has been sending artists to the Cucalorus Film Festival as facilitators for their Works in Progress program and emcees for other films

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Call for Proposals ~ Community Arts Gathering; March 14-18, 2015

Proposals Invited for presentations, performances, exhibitions, and interactive workshops celebrating the practice of community based arts Selections to be shared at Community Arts Gathering, Ajo, AZ March 14-18, 2015 Deadline for Proposals: December 5, 2014 @ 5:00pm MST Artists of

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Executive Committee Face to Face Meeting, Baltimore, MD

  Executive Committee Face to Face Meeting Baltimore, MD October 24-26, 2014 Your newly elected 2014-15 Executive Committee (ExComm) recently spent two-and-a-half jam packed days in Baltimore, MD engaging with community, eating tons of delicious food, getting some professional development

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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

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ROOTS Lounge Live: An evening of Dialogue. Community. Performance

Alternate ROOTS will be participating in South Arts’ Performing Arts Exchange taking place in Atlanta, GA, September 29-October 2, 2014. The organization will be represented in a number of ways during the conference, including hosting an exhibition booth, as well as

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“True American Struggle Has Many Faces”: Carpetbag Theatre & Art2Action’s USF Residency Wrap Up

Article by Carmin Williams; Photo by James Geiger The open dress rehearsal of Linda Parris-Bailey’s Speed Killed My Cousin was performed last Saturday night in the theater department at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. I must say I was

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Opening New Doors: Reflections on Art and Recovery

Article By Cheldyn Donovan; Photos by James Geiger I have two diagnoses. The first is dysthymic depression, and the second is severe social phobia. Those two things have controlled my life in a huge way. I’ve been on a four-year journey, a learning

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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.