Bail Reform: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture and Policy Returning from ROOTS Week, where we built our understanding of class and power, we wanted to share the work of members who are doing work around bail reform. For those who can…
800-1000 Words Toward Decolonization
YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND. Poster series by Jessica Clark and Ashley Minner, 2018-19. By Ashley Minner Picture it: East Baltimore, 2005. It was a beautiful, late spring afternoon in Patterson Park. The sun was shining. It seemed like everyone…
2019 UpROOTing Trainings
2018 ROOTS Week UpROOTing Oppressions. Photo by Melisa Cardona Welcome to the 2019 model of Alternate ROOTS’ very own organically grown, custom-made anti-racism/anti-oppression workshop series. A team of ROOTS members has spent the last year designing this experience, building on…
ROOTS Week 2019 Artist Statement: Angela Davis Johnson
ROOTS Week 2019 artwork created by Angela Davis Johnson. As I began this work, the questions that came up for me during the creation process were: In what ways do external projections of class change how we interact with one…
Dignity for Incarcerated Parents: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture and Policy
As many of us celebrate our mothers and parents this weekend, we’re highlighting the efforts of ROOTS members who are working for better care for incarcerated mothers/parents and their children. Our members are leading a movement for dignity for incarcerated…
Curating ROOTS Week
Bob Martin, Ezelle: Ballad of a Land Man. Photo: Melisa Cardona As a member-led arts and social justice organization, Alternate ROOTS is in a constant state of evolution – we are always working to deepen, expand, and improve our practices to better…
Remembering John O’Neal
Like so many who knew and loved John O’Neal, our Alternate ROOTS family is grieving his passing. A ROOTS founder and elder, John’s legacy as a national treasure will be forever felt through his plays, stories, and the arts/activist organizations…
A Year of Growth, Grit, and Gratitude
Executive Committee and staff after the “We Got Your Back” ceremony in March 2018, at Michelle Ramos’ first ExComm meeting. Michelle Ramos, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” – Maya Angelou ROOTers we…
Midterm Elections and Beyond: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture, Impacting Policy, and Building Power at the Grassroots
Alternate ROOTS’ members have been tirelessly working to shift culture, affect local policy, advocate for legislative change, and build people power leading up to tomorrow’s highly anticipated midterm election, and beyond. As we gear up to vote, we want to…
Midterm Elections: Resources for Alternate ROOTS Network
From ROOTS’ (Regional Organization of Theater South) founding at Highlander Research and Education Center in 1976, artists who were committed to justice, equity, and southern tradition remained to create what has evolved into Alternate ROOTS. As a coalition of cultural…