ROOTS Weekend–Eatonville was the second of six regional gatherings that Alternate ROOTS convened throughout the South from 2015-2017. For this ROOTS Weekend, Alternate ROOTS partnered with the annual ZORA! Festival, and programming resonated with the art, anthropology, and legacy of Zora Neale Hurston.
ROOTS Weekends are a condensed version of ROOTS Week, our signature gathering. This series of three-day convenings bring artists, activists, and cultural organizers together to build community and share work through workshops, dialogues, visual arts, and performances. ROOTS Weekends deepen our collective understanding and analysis of the work of social change by lifting up the ways artists and cultural organizers are working with communities to develop creative solutions to long-standing issues.
ROOTS has long had a presence in Florida, with some of our earliest members hailing from the state. With this ROOTS Weekend, we celebrated our local members, both past and present, while welcoming new folks into our midst.
ROOTS Weekend in Eatonville, FL Schedule
Orisiri African Folklore. Don and Tutu Harrell (L-R).
Thursday January 28, 2016, Winter Park Civic Center (1050 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32789)
7-10 pm: Opening Reception and ZORA Fest Kick Off
Welcome: Carlton Turner & Don Harrell
Dance Performance: My Caribbean People, SHADES Dance Company
Visual Arts Presentations: Tamerlane Bey and Sonia Baez-Hernandez
Music Performance: Elodie Germain
Short Film & Installation: Water Warriors, Working Films and Michael Premo
Friday, January 29, 2016 , Winter Park Civic Center (1050 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32789)
People’s Movement Assembly
11-11:30 am: Registration and Welcome Activities
11:30 am: Welcome and Introduction
Welcome: Carlton Turner
Grounding: Don Harrell & Orisirisi African Folklore, Eatonville Story Tellers
12-1:30 pm: Workshops
Working in Community: Linda Parris Bailey, and other ROOTS members
1:30-2 pm: Community Lunch
2:15-3:45 pm: Performance
Zora as an Anti-Oppression Activist: Aleta Alston-Toure
4-5:30 pm: Workshops
People’s Movement Assembly: Aleta Alston-Toure, New Jim Crow Movement, with Dream Defenders, Power U for Social Change, Southern Movement Assembly, Sanford Trayvon Martin Memorial, Black Lives Matter Florida
Dancing the Winds of Change–The Fire Dance (Performance) & Crisscrossing the Crossroads (Panel): Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier
Speed Killed My Cousin.(L-R) Bert Tanner and Ashley Wilkerson. Photo: James Geiger, 2012.
5:30-7 pm: Dinner on Your Own
Evening Performance, Orlando Museum of Art (2416 North Mills Rd. Orlando, FL 32803)
7:30-9:30 pm: Speed Killed My Cousin: Carpetbag Theatre
Post Performance Community Talk Back
Saturday, January 30, 2016
10-6 pm: In the spirit of collaboration, ROOTS Weekend will break to participate in ZORA! Festival activities. Festival programming is not included in ROOTS Weekend ticketed fees. Saturday programming highlights include the HATitude Party and Brunch from 10am-1pm and the Festival of Arts from 9:00am to 5pm. We’ll link to the full schedule of events when it’s available!
6-8 pm: Dinner on Your Own
SHADES Dance Company
Evening Performances, Orlando Museum of Art (2416 North Mills Rd. Orlando, FL 32803)
7 pm: Mix and Mingle, drinks and snacks served
8-10 pm: Music: The Elodie Germain Band
Dance: SHADES Dance Company
Spoken Word: King Shakur, Anita Crethers, Omari Fox
Performance: GOMELA/to return: Movement of Our Mother Tongue: Junebug Productions
This evening, we will be accepting a $12.50 donation at the door for the ZORA! STEM Initiative, Preserve Eatonville Community’s 10-year commitment to STEM Education for those students historically underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Sunday January, 31, 2016, Homewood Suites, Lake Lucien Suite (290 Southhall Lane, Maitland, Florida, 32751)
Elise Witt and Choir. Photo by Jonathan B Banks
9:30 am: Breakfast Snacks
10 am-1 pm: Closing Programming
10:15-11:15 am: Workshop(s)
Clown Workshop: Toni LaBanana
11:30 am-12:30 pm: Community Singing Workshop: Elise Witt
12:30 pm: Individual Closing Journey
1 pm: Lunch and Wrap Up
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The ROOTS Weekend Series is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Additional funding for ROOTS Weekend-Eatonville is provided by New England Foundation for the Arts.