ROOTS Week 2015 Program Book

ROOTS WEEK 39th Annual Meeting & Artists’ Retreat Aug 4 - 9, 2015

A Call to Action

Arts • Community • Activism

TRANSFORMATION

A Call to Action

TRANSFORMATION Lutheridge Conference Center Arden, NC

CONTENTS A Message from the Chair & President, Robert Martin & Rebecca Mwase ..............3 Reimagining ROOTS Week, Carlton Turner .............................................................4 Programming Note: UpROOTing Oppression at ROOTS Week..................................5 ROOTS Visual Arts Initiative, Val Lyle.......................................................................6 Artability Scholars & Collective Accessibility...........................................................9 Keynote Speakers................................................................................................10 Learning Exchanges ............................................................................................12 Meeting Processes & Roles..................................................................................18 Schedule.............................................................................................................19 Performances......................................................................................................22 Important Information.........................................................................................32 About Asheville...................................................................................................34 Lutheridge Map...................................................................................................35 Glossary of Terms................................................................................................36 Sponsors & Special Thank You...........................................................................Back

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Welcome friends, to ROOTS Week!!

We hope that your time here holds what you need in terms of community, connection and possibility.

We invite you into a space of growth and evolution, curiosity and questioning and most importantly fellowship with artists and cultural workers from around the South and the nation.

The theme of ROOTS Week is appropriately named as this has definitely been a year of “Transformation” for the organization. Internally, these changes are marked by an evolving organizational structure, new staff and a beautiful new office space in Atlanta. Externally, we have increased programming, a growing regional and national profile, and we’ve been intentionally developing a new strategic plan and preparing to celebrate our 40th Anniversary highlighting the history and legacy of and for our membership. This week you’ll hear about exciting and transformative work stemming from the growth of our Partners in Action programs along with updates on aligning the direction we are headed in our next Strategic Plan and the year of programming that celebrates our fantastic 40th year!

As Board Chair and President we’ve been working with your Executive Committee (ExCom) and staff to continue to find ways of creatively supporting the organization in serving our mission…

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.

bobbyb

rebecca As your elected Executive Committee, given the transformations occurring in the South and the U.S., we feel the call more than ever to be ready, adaptive and committed in supporting our staff, members and communities working the frontline as Artist-Activists envisioning and enacting change.

We see these transformations all around us: rising up against police brutality, racial equity movements in #BlackLivesMatter and challenging white supremacy, the nuances of the struggle for LGBTQ rights amidst the recent Supreme Court decision to legalize marriage for all couples, and so much more.

ROOTS’ ability to support the work of change comes from a tremendous amount of work and vision from your staff and ExCom. When you see one of them this week, share some love and acknowledgement as these folks have been working hard since ROOTS Week last year to prepare the conditions for Transformation to happen…the rest is up to all of us!

Here are few tips for the week: enjoy yourself, practice deep listening, make new connections and reinforce existing ones, try something different, lift up our youth and elders, spend some time in reflection, cultivate love, take care of each other, and appreciate this precious time we have together.

With love, your ExCom Chair and President, Robert ‘bobbyb’ Martin & Rebecca Mwase

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Reimagining ROOTS Week

There is much in the works within ROOTS – it is a very different organization today than it was in 1976. For 39 years, Alternate ROOTS has been working towards this place of stability and increased capacity to better support our members. Like Alternate ROOTS itself, our hallmark event, ROOTS Week, has experienced historic growth. Last year a record number of artists, activists and cultural workers participated in the event – more than 230 people attended, most for the entire week. Although we love the growth, we also understand the need to be both intentional and strategic with how we grow. We want to be able to utilize the abundance of resources that converge on ROOTS Week in a way that lifts our organizational mission – to support the creation and presentation of art in all its forms, while addressing issues of systemic oppression. We want to more fully realize the vision laid out in our strategic plan, of moving Alternate ROOTS from a place of service to a place of service, action, and reciprocity.

To realize this vision, we have shifted how ROOTS Week programming is curated. This year, performances, learning exchanges and dialogues will be organized around the three themes shared by our current Partners in Action cohort – Immigration/Migration, Environment/Economy and Cultural Equity (with an emphasis on #BlackLivesMatter). All three of these areas connect to our overarching event theme, A Call to Action: Transformation.

This year, we didn’t hold an open call for performance and learning exchange proposals as we have done in the past. Instead, the staff, ExCom, and ROOTS Week ensemble selected artists and presenters from the field that could help to deepen our collective experience and help us to build an analysis for transformation. We also programed work that relates to these themes from among those who were already committed to coming to ROOTS Week.

This new way of curating ROOTS Week directly reflects one of our strategic goals: that we “cultivate a culture of reciprocity where ROOTS relies on the experience and information of the membership and the members can look to the ROOTS office for a deeper level of support and engagement.” It also speaks to our evolved understanding that we are all resources for social change and that this principle is “embedded in all programs, threaded through all of our actions … and codified into the fabric of ROOTS.” Additionally, this shift meets another of our strategic goals – that we position the Partners in Action projects at the center of our collective learning. Using these projects as the week’s thematic framework provides us with tangible case studies that will help us more deeply understand the issues our communities are grappling with, the work artists are doing in communities, and how we can support each other in building a movement that eliminates all forms of oppression, everywhere.

As ROOTS Week has grown, we feel that we’ve been over-programming it and are finding that the best conversations are happening in private. This doesn’t always support our collective understanding of the 4

work. This new direction for ROOTS Week programming will allow us to have larger, deeper, more focused conversations. Instead of dipping our toes in a lot of different waters, we’ll be submerging ourselves in the deep, healing work that our Call to Action envisions.

This year marks Alternate ROOTS’ 39th annual gathering. Over the years, the structure of what is now known as ROOTS Week has included a variety of approaches. ROOTS has a history of shifting our structures and programming to meet the particular needs of the moment and ROOTS Week has always been about experimenting with form, content and design. The curatorial change outlined here presents another opportunity to test a new way of working, a new way of gathering. In true ROOTS tradition, we are resisting the impulse to lock ourselves into any one form, and empowering ourselves to constantly strengthen our practice and more fully embody our mission.

In peace and solidarity, Carlton Turner, Executive Director

with the support of: Ashley Davis, Programs Director Rebecca Mwase, ExCom President Robert “bobbyb” Martin, ExCom Chair

A PROGRAMMING NOTE:

UpROOTing Oppression at ROOTS Week

This year’s ROOTS Week overarching theme is A Call To Action: Transformation. This theme will show up not just in one session, but across the entire week through performances, visual art installations, conversations and Learning Exchanges – all looking through the lens of the work that ROOTS is doing with our Partners In Action program. Each day will take on a more specific focused theme of Environment/Economy, Immigration/ Migration, and Cultural Equity – with an emphasis on #BlackLivesMatter – through which we’ll focus our work.

Additionally, we will work with a team of dedicated facilitators to help us knit together all of the pieces of the week into a collective analysis and offer back to us cohesive and feasible action steps and guiding frames to support our ongoing work.

We are also very excited to work with Carmen Morgan, Director of artEquity, to provide us with an opportunity to collectively engage ideas around racial equity and dismantling oppression.

The intention is to leave our time together in Arden with a clear CALL TO ACTION and a framework for how we can work together to dismantle systems of oppression.

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ROOTS Visual A Alternate ROOTS Visual Arts Initiative is in its fourth year, funded by the generous support of the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Since this program began in 2012, we have awarded 31 scholarships to Visual Artists who are new to ROOTS, to attend and participate in ROOTS Week. In addition, we have hired Visual Arts Coordinators and have hosted multiple Visual Arts retreats, all to help us meet the following goals: - Increase the presence and visibility of Visual Arts within Alternate ROOTS - Generate dialogue about Visual Arts for Social Justice perspectives and processes - Have a clear sense of how Visual Arts connects with and finds entry into the ROOTS’ new strategic plan - Make Visual Artists feel welcome and supported within Alternate ROOTS Alternate ROOTS was founded in 1976 by a group of extraordinary theater artists. Today, we are a creative network dedicated to providing programs and services for artists of all disciplines. We can report that our growing family of visual artists has made a meaningful community that supports collaboration, challenges each other in productive ways, is generous in sharing knowledge and resources and is genuinely supportive of each other and ROOTS mission, in lasting ways.

The Visual Arts Innovation Ensemble is excited to share our heartfelt works located throughout the Lutheridge Campgrounds. Look up, look down, inside and outside, listen for sounds, watch for images to change during the day and night, take a stroll down a path, and be open to finding profound visual artworks in both familiar and new formats all around you, from long-time ROOTers and new ROOTers alike.

Please help us welcome this year’s Joan Mitchell Visual Arts Scholars!

Val Lyle ANGELA DAVIS JOHNSON Atlanta, GA / Painter & Mixed Media Artist angeladavisjohnson.com SERENA MUTHI REED Los Angeles, CA / Audiovisual Composer & Multi Media Installation Artist phillyhomegrown.net/ & vimeo.com/serenareed Location: Whisnant Chapel & grounds in the Quiet Way Angela Davis Johnson is an award-winning artist who is best known for her vibrant narrative paintings that examine universal connections, identity and historical occurrences through personal symbols. Navigating between academic influences and outsider art individuality, she creates textured figures using paint, scrap paper and fabric within unique compositions. Her practice has extended to outdoor installations that create visibility for marginalized social issues.

Davis Johnson’s work has shown in numerous exhibitions including the Delta Exhibition at Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, AR, Texarkana Regional Arts Center in Texarkana,TX and Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art in Baton Rouge, LA. Her pieces can be seen in galleries and private collections throughout the United States. A wife and mother of two, Davis Johnson lives between Little Rock, AR and Atlanta, GA. 6

Arts Initiative Born in Detroit, MI and raised in several eclectic neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Muthi Reed’s aesthetic draws its context from the apocalyptic events of their early years — 1980s urban industrial ruin, summers spent in the Black Belt region of Alabama with kinfolk, soul/r&b/rap/hip hop aural immersion since pre-birth, and the influence of crack culture in Philadelphia with family & in public space. Reed documents + remixes narrative and contextual media that explore and manipulate how time, rhythm, body, imagination, memory and language generate & intersect.

Krewe Coumbite: Black Sound Band is Reed’s most recent work. Through deep sound listening & sampling, the aim of a Black Sound Band is to engage past/present/future Black Sense as a living instrument of evo\lving engineering, beginning with the formation of a popular Black Consciousness in America during the 1960s.

Krewe Coumbite is a MIGRANT sound. Appearing anywhere everywhere Blackness can be found — recordings derive from.. and remixes reflect.. the unique and diverse vernaculars of Black life. Black being understood here as “not a color, but an attitude (James Brown).” Blackness as the site of folk resonance: folk legend, aural extravaganza, fantasy, resistance to imperialism, indigene sovereignty, survival of original ideas against all odds, the expression of all light contradictions simultaneously, super natural, occult love. Black.

Gallery’s Leap Year Program from 2012-2013, and WonderRoot’s 2013-2014 Walthall Fellowship.

She has also been awarded various national and international residencies, including time at The Old Furnace Arts Residency, Blue Mountain Center and The Emerald Violin’s Backyard Bus. Caldas received the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs Emerging Artist Award in Visual Arts for 2014 and was a finalist for the Forward Arts Foundations 2014 Emerging Artist Award. Currently unrepresented, she shows work internationally and regularly throughout the city of Atlanta at various galleries and through several public art projects.

MICHELLE IVETTE GOMEZ Baltimore, MD / Arts Organizer, Curator & Public Artist michelleigomez.org Location: Bulletin board kiosk – Dining Hall Michelle Ivette Gomez is an artist, curator, organizer, educator, collaborator, connector and advocate for audience diversity in the arts. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD where she works collaboratively with under represented audiences to create relevant and accessible art exhibitions and programs about social issues, cultural identity, community, and much more.

JESSICA CALDAS Atlanta, GA / Printmaking & Interdisciplinary Artist jessicacaldas.com Location: Sidewalks & pavement of Lutheridge Jessica Caldas is an Atlanta based artist whose work centers around the sharing of people’s stories and connecting those narratives to larger social issues. Primarily a printmaker, she received her BFA in printmaking from the University of Georgia in 2012. Caldas has participated in numerous emerging artist residencies in the city of Atlanta, including the Atlanta Printmakers Studio in 2011, MINT 7

VITUS SHELL Monroe, LA / Painter theshellofvitus. com Location: Lawn between Dining Hall & Faith Vitus Shell’s paintings encompass a depth and intensity usually displayed in the work of artists far past his age. While a student at MCA, the Monroe, La., native traveled and learned more about different cultures and art forms. He attended the National Black Fine Arts Show in 1999 for the first time and received a first hand view of the inner workings of the art world. Other artists he met while at MCA who have continuously inspired him include Brenda Joysmith, George Hunt, and Alonzo Davis. To date, he has accumulated an impressive list of achievements, some of which include: participating in exhibits at universities, museums, and private galleries across the country; painting a mural for the National Civil Rights Museum’s NBA Pioneers exhibit; and being commissioned to do public art by the Memphis UrbanArt Commission.

Opportunities for Shell continue to arise for him and he leaves himself open to all they have to offer. He is humble about his bright future, yet poised to become one of the greatest artistic “voices” of his generation.

and Design in Savannah, Georgia; and Blue Gallery and Galerie Pfriem in Lacoste, France.

In addition, her work is in public and private collections, including those of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Lacoste, France. Jessica has also been the recipient of numerous fellowships from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the Savannah College of Art and Design. She was named a ‘2014 Woman to Watch’ at the Eighth Annual Conference of American Indian Women of Proud Nations and is profiled in the Winter 2014 issue of First American Art Magazine.

Jessica Clark was born and raised in Rowland, North Carolina, in 1983, the daughter of Kenneth and Elaine Clark. She is the mother of Christian Clark and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 2005 and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2010. She is currently employed with the Public Schools of Robeson County and resides in Fairmont, NC.

JORDAN FLAHERTY New Orleans, LA / Filmmaker jordanflaherty.org Location: Faith Center Back Wall/Pop-Up Cinema JESSICA CLARK Fairmont, NC / Mixed Media Artist JessicaClarkArt.com Location: Faith Center Back Wall Jessica Clark’s artwork documents and preserves the everyday life of the Lumbee, and other Southeastern native people. The works are from her perspective and depict the people, places and events specific to her.

Her art work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Southeast and abroad including the Native American Resource Center in Pembroke, North Carolina; the Savannah College of Art 8

Jordan Flaherty is a New Orleans-based filmmaker, journalist and media activist. He has produced television documentaries and news reports for Al Jazeera, TeleSUR, Democracy Now, and other outlets.

His writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and in several anthologies, including the South End Press books Live From Palestine and What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race and the State of the Nation. He has appeared as an actor in HBO’s television series Treme, playing himself, and was identified in an Associated Press report as a subject of the New York City Police Department’s spying programs. He is also the author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance From Katrina to the Jena Six.

Alternate ROOTS is delighted to welcome the Artability Scholars to the ROOTS community.

In June ROOTS launched an Indiegogo campaign, Artability, to provide scholarships for artists who are differently able to attend ROOTS Week, Annual Meeting and Artists’ Retreat. Artability raised $2,400, through which we offered support to four artists via scholarships and subsidies. (Thanks to everyone who made a contribution to the campaign. You rock!)

This project includes support for an artist and, where needed, a caregiver, or sign language interpreter.

2015 Further, in a few cases it also subsidizes travel.

Applications for Artability were open to artists in any discipline, or working in any medium. Huge thanks to the Collective Accessibility team for reviewing applications and making recommendations!

We also want to take the time to recognize Camille Shafer. Artability is her legacy as it was a scholarship she personally funded for many years to support artists with disabilities to attend ROOTS Week. Now ROOTS is building upon her leadership with Artability. Please check out Azule, Camille’s artist’s residency high up in the Smoky Mountains in Hot Springs, NC. Please don’t be shy this week. Introduce yourself to these artists and give them a warm welcome!

Keryl McCord, Director of Operations Due to tight deadlines, we regretfully were unable to print the Artability Scholars’ bios in the program book.

To learn more about these fabulous artists, please see the handout in your folder.

COLLECTIVE ACCESSIBILITY Alternate ROOTS aims to provide inclusive community building by making our organization and its events accessible across a full spectrum of abilities. We are sensitive to, and attempt to accommodate, mobility differences, communication differences, sensory differences, chemical injury/sensitivities, and environmental illnesses. In so doing, we commit to our practice of “All of us, or none.” This practice of collective accessibility includes, but is not limited to: -Selecting a conference site that is as fully accessible as possible to participants with mobility challenges -Providing an American Sign Language interpreter for participants that are deaf or hard of hearing -Practicing awareness when maintaining our hygiene, e.g. avoiding the use of strong fragrances that might irritate other participants -Sharing the importance of mindful language, particularly related to a wide range of disabilities and differences It is our desire that ROOTS Week attendees integrate inclusive language that does not privilege and normalize non-disabled ways of thinking, communicating, feeling, and moving through the world (i.e. “moving through the world” rather than “walking through the world”; “coming forward for membership” rather than “stepping up for membership.”)

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KEYNOTE Colette Pichon Battle Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. is a native of Louisiana who has worked with leaders in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas toward multi-racial cross regional alliance building around human rights and anti-poverty issues. In 2006, Colette co-founded Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc. to help with the equitable rebuilding of impacted communities recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2007 Colette received recognition from the American Bar Association and in 2008, she was awarded the U.S. Civilian Medal of Honor for the state of Louisiana – both awards were for her work in the Katrina recovery throughout the Gulf Coast. Colette currently serves as Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (at Moving Forward Gulf Coast) with projects focused on Immigration, Community Economic Development, Land Sovereignty and Disaster Assistance. Colette’s legal specialization is in Immigration and Naturalization Law. Her current work spans from developing advocacy initiatives targeting state and federal immigration reform, to providing legal and advocacy services to communities of Color impacted by the BP Oil Crisis, and developing alternative economic structures for women entrepreneurs in the U.S. South. Ms. Pichon Battle earned her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and World Religion from Kenyon College, is a former Thomas J. Watson Fellow (Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal) and a graduate of the Southern University Law Center. She is Director of Action for her local NAACP and a member of the Louisiana State Bar.

Emery Wright An Atlanta native, Emery was raised to be part of Black radical traditions of the U.S. South. Emery carries two decades of experience in community organizing, movement building and political education working primarily across the U.S. South. Prior to working at Project South, Emery co-founded and directed a Black youth organization called The Nia Project which organized in Boston, Coastal South Carolina, and Atlanta. He co-founded and co-facilitated a weekly Black Studies course at South Bay Prison and he has developed learning and leadership exchanges between grassroots organizers in the U.S., the greater Caribbean, and East Africa. Emery joined the Project South staff team in 2004 and was part of a successful leadership transition to Co-Director in 2007.

Emery serves on the board of WRFG, the 35-year old community radio station in Atlanta, the Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger and Project Vote.

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SPEAKERS Jeff Chang Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music.

His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the HipHop Generation, (www.cantstopwonstop.com) garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He edited the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. (www. totalchaoshiphop.com) His new book, Who We Be: The Colorization of America, (whowebe.net) was released on St. Martin’s Press in October 2014. He is currently at work on two other book projects: Youth (Picador Big Ideas/Small Books series), and a biography of Bruce Lee (Little, Brown).

Jeff has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the North Star News Prize. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.” With H. Samy Alim, he was the 2014 winner of the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award at Stanford University. Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke (www.culturestrike.net) and ColorLines (www.colorlines.com). He has written for The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Believer, Foreign Policy, N+1, Mother Jones, Salon, Slate, Buzzfeed and Medium, among many others.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, he is a graduate of ‘Iolani School, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California at Los Angeles. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.

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LEARNING A Learning Exchange is an opportunity for a community, a group of people, artists, facilitators/trainers and any combination thereof, to come together around an agreed upon topic.

Inspired by the principles of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal, we have adopted the term “learning exchange” to show that all the knowledge that is needed to solve any given problem is already in the room. Facilitators are learning as much as they are teaching and operating from the principle that there are no ‘outside experts.’ Another way to to sum up this idea is in a very popular saying at Alternate ROOTS: “Who comes, is.”

Essentially, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

WEDNESDAY: ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY

Beyond Coal & Toward New Power: Transition in Appalachia More and more people within and surrounding Appalachian coal country are talking about Transition as a framework for what’s happening in the region. What we mean is a Just Transition for the region — a transition away from the dominance and extraction of coal, a transition toward a brighter future of our own making. It is cultural, economic, environmental, political and social. It is a transition from old power to new power — in the leaders we choose, the energy we use, the stories we tell and the way we organize.

This multi-media, interactive Learning Exchange will offer a grounding in the Transition of Appalachia as a basis for exploring the transitions necessary within each of us to envision and enact a better world for all.

We’ll draw on the work of two Partners in Action projects from Kentucky to discuss and experience ways art, cultural organizing and story are being used to inspire and manifest a just transition.

Bob Martin and Carrie Brunk from Clear Creek Creative will facilitate and will be joined by artists, farmers, young people and others from the Clear Creek community as well as Robert Gipe and Devyn Creech from the collaborative project between Higher Ground, the Appalachian Media Institute of Appalshop, and Southeast Community Technical College. Join us in this cross-Appalachian dialogue to explore the transitions that may be manifesting in your own life, your community and throughout the South.

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EXCHANGES Intersectional Action: Gulf South Rising’s Response to K10 & BP5 Gulf South Rising (GSR) is a regional movement of coordinated actions and events to highlight the impact of the global climate crisis on the Gulf South region (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida). Through collaborative events and actions around strategic dates in 2015 GSR demands a just transition away from extractive industries, discriminatory policies and unjust practices that hinder equitable recovery from disaster and impedes the development of sustainable communities.

Grassroots leaders across the Gulf South are organizing collaborative events and actions around strategic dates in 2015, including the 5th anniversary of the BP Oil Crisis and the 10th anniversary of the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, among other turning points. Frontline communities demand a just transition away from extractive industries and discriminatory and unjust practices that hinder equitable recovery from disaster and impedes the development of sustainable communities.

This session, led by GSR’s Executive Director Colette Pichon Battle (see Keynote section for full bio), will explore the actions and cultural organizing enacted by GSR through the intersectional lens of environmental racism.

THURSDAY: CULTURAL EQUITY Hula as a Protest Art Form PA‘I Foundation, organized in 2001, is a 501 c 3 organization whose mission is to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian cultural traditions for future generations. The goal of PA‘I Foundation is to establish a cultural center on O’ahu to better serve the broader Hawaiian community. PA‘I Foundation is the non-profit organization of Pua Ali’i ‘Ilima, a halau hula (school of Hawaiian dance) founded by kumu hula (master teacher of Hawaiian dance) Vicky Holt Takamine in 1977. While the organization is centered around and supported by halau members, the purpose of PA‘I Foundation is not centered around servicing the needs of the halau, but to address and serve the needs of native Hawaiians and those who make Hawai’i their home.

Led by Vicky Holt Takamine, this session investigates the ways that PA’I Foundation lifts up Hawaiian cultural traditions – and hula in particular – as protest art forms.

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LEARNING THURSDAY: CULTURAL EQUITY

Black Lives Matter: The Role of Independent Media in Sustaining Social Justice Movements This Learning Exchange combines a discussion, screening and brainstorming session about the role of independent documentation in sustaining social justice movements, with an emphasis on the role independent media has played in telling the story of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Facilitated by Katina Parker, a filmmaker and photographer whose work includes FERGUSON: A REPORT FROM OCCUPIED TERRITORY (Fusion/ABC/Disney); Amnesty International’s “Ferguson Voices on Police Brutality”; and Truth. Be. Told., a doc series about Queer Black Visionaries featuring Staceyann Chin, Darnell Moore, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and more.

Immigrant and Refugee Communities and the Changing South This workshop – led by four ROOTS members with diverse experiences with immigration and immigrant communities – seeks to expand the dominant narrative around U.S. immigration.

Elise Witt, a Swiss-born daughter of Nazi Germany survivors, serves as the Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project in Decatur, GA. Drawing on her 40+ year career as a musician, Witt is working with a team of educators and artists to develop curriculum that empowers teenage female refugee students to navigate their new world with confidence and creativity. As the Associate Director of Atlanta Chinese Dance Company, Kerry Lee promotes the development, advancement, and appreciation of Chinese history and culture through the art of Chinese dance. S.T. Shimi is a foxy brown performance artist who has been living and making work in San Antonio for two decades. Born and raised in Singapore, her theater work examines the intersections and contradictions of multiple identities in irreverent, provocative and visually intriguing ways. Kimi Maeda is a theatre artist based in Columbia, SC whose intimate visual performances cross disciplines and push boundaries. Her ephemera trilogy is a collection of sand drawing and shadow performances that deal with memory, home, and trans-cultural identity.

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EXCHANGES Something to Behold in West Baltimore How does ROOTS, as a nationally-recognized, regional organization, advance a large-scale action for art and social justice that boosts the capacity of local communities?

For eight years, ROOTS has been involved in grassroots art-making and organizing in response to the massive urban renewal disaster in West Baltimore that displaced 19,000 African Americans for an expressway that was never completed. In 2011, ROOTS and local partner CultureWorks held a massive festival next to the 1.4-mile dead-end expressway dubbed by community members The Highway to Nowhere. The event marked the 35th anniversary of ROOTS. Eleven thousand West Baltimoreans came together to celebrate their struggle and resilience with a star-studded line-up of musicians, singers, spoken-word artists, and dancers. West Baltimore residents said the festival created an isle of peace in the midst of 50 years of distress.

Something to Behold is a performance of this ROOTS story. The script was created from the first-voice reflections of those involved. The drama intends to spark critical discourse about how ROOTS will mark its 40th anniversary; continue to support West Baltimore, especially in the context of the current Uprising; and implement more large-scale initiatives aimed at cultural and social equity.

This Learning Exchange is led by members of ROOTS’ Baltimore Rhizome and Imagining America. A staged reading of the play by ROOTS’ members will be followed by an open dialog about the promise the West Baltimore experience holds for ROOTS’ future.

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LEARNING FRIDAY: UpROOTing Oppressions

The goal of this session, led by artEquity Director Carmen Morgan, is to offer an analysis and functional framework that connects the issues of race, gender, immigration/migration, class, and other ways that our identities, power dynamics, and privilege, work together to create a structural foundation of oppression. These issues are interconnected and will benefit from taking an intersectional approach to dismantling them.

This session will not stand alone, but be connected to the entire week of themes and critical discourse that will take place each night. While this is a long standing conversation and commitment of ROOTS Week, we appreciate that we all come to this discussion from varying perspectives and experiences. We invite patience and openness as we continue to explore these issues and solutions together.

Carmen Morgan is a national consultant on diversity and inclusion issues. For the past five years, she has worked with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival on structural and organizational equality. In addition, she serves as a consultant for Theatre Communication Group’s diversity and inclusion initiatives and programming. She also provides customized resources to theatres nation-wide, such as Steppenwolf, Portland Center Stage, and Center Theatre Group, around diversity and inclusion issues. Carmen is also currently the Director of Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations (LDIR), a nationally recognized program co-sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the Central American Resource Center, and the Martin Luther King Dispute Resolution Center.

Prior to her work with the LDIR program, Carmen was the Associate Regional Director for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), an international human rights organization, where she oversaw human rights work on the U.S. Mexico border, gay liberation and sovereignty education work in Hawai’i, and tenant rights and economic justice work in California and Arizona.

Carmen is a founding member of the California Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), a former Human Services Commissioner, and is currently on the Board of Directors for Black Women for Wellness, a community-based organization serving women in South Los Angeles. As a founding member and current President of Liberty Hill Foundation’s Women of Color Giving Circle, Carmen combines her commitment to community, activism, and philanthropy.

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EXCHANGES SATURDAY: ALL THEMES CONVERGE

Telares (o el olvido) / Looms (or, the forgetting) Workshop This workshop, lead by the members of Mujeres en Ritual Danza-Teatro, delves more deeply into their performance piece, Telares (o el Olvido) / Looms (or, the Forgetting), which will be performed on Friday night.

Telares (o el Olvido), is the story of a small mountain village where the inhabitants, without realizing it, are caught in a struggle between tradition and modernity. Telares tells a story of what happens in indigenous territories with the arrival of capitalistic culture, and how it devastates the lives of its inhabitants. It is a story of resistance, in which the characters re-member who they are through ancestral, pre-Hispanic practices.

Mujeres en Ritual is a transnational ensemble of women from MĂŠxico and the U.S., founded by Dora Arreola in 1999. For a full description of Telares (o el Olvido) and the ensemble, see the Performance section of this program.

SELF-ORGANIZED SPACE Self-Organized Space is a meeting technique that allows you to set your own agenda. We’ve scheduled a three hour block on Saturday afternoon when attendees are invited to gather for Self-Organized Space. Each convener of a session takes responsibility for creating it, posting it on the Self-Organized Space bulletin board, assigning it a space and time to meet, and then later showing up at that space and time, kicking off the exchange. Self-Organized Space is a process for convening that is reflective of our five principles of working in community. It is an opportunity for shared power, partnership, open dialogue, transformation and aesthetics of transparent processes.

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MEETING PROCESSES & ROLES This document is meant to be an evolving snapshot of the Alternate ROOTS practices for convening meetings.

It is by no means a mandate for every meeting, nor is it ever complete. Please feel free to add in new language or revise items as you see they serve the whole better/differently.

Meeting Agreements

At the beginning of each meeting/retreat, we create a meeting contract. This agreement includes everything from emotional needs to physical requests in order to keep us together and moving as a cohesive, productive group. It can include things like...

- Use “I” statements (speak from your own experience and feelings) - Take care of yourself and your own needs - Avoid alphabet soup/coded language (if there are newcomers in the room, do not assume that everyone knows what our acronyms or buzzwords mean) - Seek first to understand; assume good intent - Leave the space in better shape than we found it - your mother doesn’t work here - Come forward, come back (it means, if you’re talking a lot, take a step back and give room for others to have a turn; by the same token, if you’re not talking very much, challenge yourself to speak up) - Let’s have stretch breaks and creatively use our bodies whenever possible!

Assigned Roles

Also, at the beginning of a meeting, we assign roles. Some of these roles fall naturally to someone who already has a position the function is tied to it (e.g. our elected officer, the Secretary, will likely want to be the notetaker). Roles are: - Facilitator - knows the goals and outcome needs for the discussion and keeps everyone on point toward that end - Co-Facilitator - jumps in when the facilitator needs help, often will also keep “the stack” or “queue” (the list of people who are waiting to speak) - Time Keeper - is aware of how much time has been allotted for a discussion item and gives verbal or visual cues for when time is counting down or over - Public Scribe - takes notes up on the big white board/butcher paper/chalk board/etc.

- Note Taker - takes notes for archival purposes on computer - Emotions Monitor - keeps a temperature reading on the room. If things get heated, suggests a breathing exercise, bio-break, etc. If the group moves through a hard piece successfully, suggests a celebratory moment.

- Door Keeper - greets late comers or those who have had to leave and come back; catches them up on what the group has been discussing so that conversation does not have to stop with each new entry.

Check-ins/Check-outs

Generally, as time & agenda allow, meetings begin with a check-in and end with a check-out. Individuals are invited to say what’s going on in their neck of the woods, or in what physical, spiritual or emotional state they’re entering or leaving the meeting space. This process can be shortened creatively by asking participants to use one word, a song title, or some other abbreviating/creative concept to capture an energetic reading.

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SCHEDULE

This schedule provides an overview of the week. For a more detailed schedule, please see your folders.

TUESDAY - AUGUST 4, 2015 TIME EVENT LOCATION 8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast Lineberger

9:00-11:30 am

Executive Committee Meeting Faith Center Main

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch Lineberger

3:00-5:00 pm

Registration Faith Center

4:00-5:00 pm

ROOTS 101 Faith Center Main

5:00-6:00 pm

Opening Night Cocktail Hour Faith Center Porch

6:00-7:00 pm

Dinner Lineberger

7:00-10:00 pm

Opening Night Welcome & Celebration Faith Center Main

10:00 pm-2:00 am

Late Night Efird Hall

WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 5, 2015 - ENIVIRONMENT & ECONOMY TIME

EVENT LOCATION

7:00-8:00 am

Energize Your ROOTS

Efird Hall

8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast

Lineberger

9:00 am-12:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

9:00-11:30 am

Alternate ROOTS Annual Business Meeting

Whisnet Chapel

10:00-11:00 am

ROOTS 101

Faith Center Gallery Space

11:30 am-12:00 pm

All-Conference Keynote: Colette Pichon Battle

Whisnet Chapel

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch

Lineberger

1:00-2:00 pm

Siesta/Pop-Up Cinema

Faith Center Peace Room

2:00-6:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

2:00-5:00 pm

Learning Exchanges

Various Locations

6:00-7:00 pm

Dinner

Lineberger

7:00-8:30pm

Presentations & Performances

Faith Center

8:30-10:00 pm

Community Dialogue

Faith Center

10:00 pm-2:00 am

Late Night

Efird Hall

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THURSDAY - AUGUST 6, 2015 - CULTURAL EQUITY #BLACKLIVESMATTER

TIME

EVENT LOCATION

7:00-8:00 am

Energize Your ROOTS

Efird Hall

8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast

Lineberger

9:00 am-12:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

9:00-11:30 am

Alternate ROOTS Annual Business Meeting

Whisnet Chapel

9:00-11:30am

Self Guided Visual Tour

Various Locations

11:30 am-12:00 pm

All-Conference Keynote: Emery Wright

Whisnet Chapel

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch

Lineberger

1:00-2:00 pm

Siesta/Pop-Up Cinema

Faith Center Peace Room

2:00-6:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

2:00-5:00 pm

Learning Exchanges

Various Locations

5:00-6:00pm

Evening Reflection & Group Discussions

Various Locations

6:00-7:00 pm

Dinner

Lineberger

7:00-8:30pm

Presentations & Performances

Faith Center

8:30-10:00 pm

Community Dialogue

Faith Center

10:00 pm-2:00 am

Late Night

Efird Hall

FRIDAY - AUGUST 7, 2015 - IMMIGRATION/MIGRATION

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TIME EVENT

LOCATION

7:00-8:00 am

Energize Your ROOTS

Efird Hall

8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast

Lineberger

9:00 am-12:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

9:00-11:30 am

Alternate ROOTS Strategic Planning Meeting

Whisnet Chapel

9:00-11:30am

Self Guided Visual Tour

Various Locations

11:30 am-12:00 pm

All-Conference Keynote: Jeff Chang

Whisnet Chapel

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch

Lineberger

1:00-2:00 pm

Siesta/Pop-Up Cinema

Faith Center Peace Room

2:00-6:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

2:00-5:00 pm

Learning Exchanges

Various Locations

5:00-6:00pm

Evening Reflection & Group Discussions

Various Locations

6:00-7:00 pm

Dinner

Lineberger

7:00-8:30pm

Presentations & Performances

Faith Center

8:30-10:00 pm

Community Dialogue

Faith Center

10:00 pm-2:00 am

Late Night

Efird Hall

SATURDAY - AUGUST 8, 2015 - ASHEVILLE COMMUNITY DAY TIME EVENT LOCATION 7:00-8:00 am

Energize Your ROOTS

Efird Hall

8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast

Lineberger

9:00 am-12:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

9:00-11:30 am

Alternate ROOTS 40th Anniversary Meeting & New Members

Faith Center Main

10:30-11:00 am

Community Day Welcome

Faith Center Main

11:00-11:30 am

ROOTS 101

Faith Center Main

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch

Lineberger

1:00-2:00 pm

Alternate ROOTS Annual Business Meeting & New Members

Faith Center Main

2:00-6:00 pm

Registration

Faith Center

2:00-5:00 pm

Learning Exchanges

Various Locations

2:00-5:00 pm Self-Organized Spaces

See Bulletin Board in Faith Center for Locations

2:00-5:00pm

Pop-Up Cinema

Faith Center Peace Room

5:00-6:45pm

Dinner

Lake Pavilion

7:00-8:30pm

Performances

Faith Center Main

10:00 pm-2:00 am

Burlesque Barbeque & Bourbon Late Night

Efird Hall

SUNDAY - AUGUST 9, 2015 - CLOSING TIME

LOCATION EVENT

7:00-8:00 am

Energize Your ROOTS

Efird Hall

8:00-9:00 am

Breakfast

Lineberger

9:00-10:00 am

Alternate ROOTS Annual Business Meeting Evaluation

Faith Center Main

10:00 am-12:00 pm

Closing Celebration

Faith Center Main

12:00 am-1:00 pm

Lunch Leftovers

Lineberger

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PERFORM WEDNESDAY: ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY

Higher Ground 5: Find a Way

Presented by Allied Media Film Institute of Appalshop & Higher Ground Appalshop is a near 50-year old media arts and education center located in Central Appalachia, that focuses on local life becoming aware of itself and using that awareness to build agency and people power.

Higher Ground 5: Find a Way is the result of a collaboration between Appalshop’s youth media leadership development program, Appalachian Media Institute (AMI), and Higher Ground, a community theater project based at the Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College’s Appalachian Center.

This youth-devised performance addresses the the historical moment the region finds itself in, as the collapse of the 125-year-old coal industry presents not only the opportunity but the necessity to write a different future. This partnership activity began by asking young people, through surveys and convened discussions, what they wanted and what they needed. As it turned out, these were questions no one else was asking, to a demographic no one in the economic development apparatus was approaching. The young people’s answer: greater access to higher education closer to home; more arts-based community development projects that they could be active in; and most emphatically, meaningful work and to have their voices heard. In April 2015, the play opened to resounding success, opening community dialogue about the possibilities and desires in a post-coal eastern Kentucky.

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MANCES Land, Water, Food, Story

Presented by Clear Creek Creative Elements of song, story, spoken word, digital projection and ceremony will be offered from a longer piece originally devised and presented in the woods of Clear Creek in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

The piece has been developed with the support of ROOTS’ Partners in Action program and partially inspired through artistic exchanges with the Cry You One ensemble and a multi-year collaboration with Mondo Bizarro of New Orleans.

Featured performers will include Mitch Barrett, Carrie Brunk, Susana Lein, Bob Martin, Kayla Preston, Robert Rorrer, Mirra Shapiro and Melody Youngblood as well as Clear Creek fairy-worker-in-residence Nicole Garneau and maybe some special guests from New Orleans for a little taste of bayou-lachian goodness.

Rebuilding New Orleans

Produced and Directed by Jordan Flaherty Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, this documentary explores the race, class and gender outlines of the reconstruction of New Orleans. The film takes a look from the grassroots at systemic changes in housing, education, healthcare and policing. From the role of oil companies in Louisiana’s economy and politics, to the firing of the city’s teachers, the closing of Charity Hospital, artists and other cultural workers being pushed out by gentrification, and the federal oversight of the police and jail, the film asks how federal, state and city policies have affected the people of New Orleans.

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PERFORM THURSDAY: CULTURAL EQUITY Baltimore: A Moment to a Movement Produced and Directed by Jordan Flaherty

The media called it a riot, but on the streets of Baltimore it was called an uprising. The police murder of Freddie Gray ignited mass protests that were called Black Spring. This short documentary looks beyond police brutality to the oppressive conditions that fueled the mass protests. Personal stories from Baltimore activists working on the front lines of the struggle reveal how homelessness, unemployment and economic inequality caused residents to rebel once the news of Gray’s death went viral.

Something to Behold in West Baltimore

Presented by Baltimore Rhizome/ Imagining America For eight years, ROOTS has been involved in grassroots art-making and organizing in response to the massive urban renewal disaster in West Baltimore that displaced 19,000 African Americans for an expressway that was never completed. In 2011, ROOTS and local partner CultureWorks held a massive festival next to the 1.4mile dead-end expressway dubbed by community members The Highway to Nowhere.

Something to Behold is a performance of this ROOTS story. The script was created from the first-voice reflections of those involved. The drama intends to spark critical discourse about how ROOTS will mark its 40th anniversary; continue to support West Baltimore, especially in the context of the current Uprising; and implement more large-scale initiatives aimed at cultural and social equity. Something to Behold is also at the center of a Learning Exchange held on Thursday. For a fuller description of the project, see the Learning Exchange section.

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MANCES

Always in Season

Presented by Jacqueline Olive – Tell It Media, Director, Multimedia Producer & Writer Rodrigo Dorfman – Melloweb Multimedia, Cinematographer & Editor Dan Brawley – Cucalorus Film Festival, Executive Director As the trauma of almost a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present, Always in Season is a documentary feature film directed and produced by Jacqueline Olive that follows relatives of the perpetrators and victims of lynchings in four communities grappling with how best to acknowledge the victims, repair the damage, and reconcile – all in the midst of heated national discourse about the value of black lives.

In Laurens, SC, Rev. David Kennedy fights to shut down the shop that sells KKK robes, Confederate flags and neo-Nazi memorabilia right in the middle of downtown and a mile from where his great-uncle was lynched in 1913.

In Monroe, GA, a diverse group of amateur actors annually reenact a 1946 quadruple lynching on the very spot where the violence happened to ensure the nation never forgets and to bring the perpetrators, some of whom they believe are still living, to justice.

In Duluth, MN, Warren Read recently unraveled the secret of his great-grandfather’s instigating role in the 1920 lynching of three innocent men and meets with Don Clariette, a cousin of one of the victims, and Mike Tusken, whose great-aunt falsely accused them of rape, and the three men attempt to reconcile.

On August, 29, 2014, seventeen year old Lennon Lacy was found hanging from a swing set in Bladenboro, NC. Local authorities quickly ruled his death a suicide, but his mother, Claudia, continues to fight for justice, even as she grieves, because she, like others, believes Lennon was lynched.

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PERFORM FRIDAY: IMMIGRATION/MIGRATION

Bend

Presented by Kimi Maeda Have you seen the movie about my dad called Bend? My dad hasn’t either, but he’s pretty sure it’s playing next Thursday. He doesn’t know where, just like he doesn’t know where he is right now. Is it a hospital? All he knows is it isn’t home.

Combining live feed projection of sand drawings and archival film footage, Bend is a solo performance that tells the true story of two men who were interned in a Japanese American relocation camp during World War II: the artist’s father, an Asian Art historian now suffering from dementia, and the subject of his research, Isamu Noguchi, a half-Japanese-half-American sculptor.

Kimi Maeda is a theatre artist based in Columbia, SC whose intimate visual performances cross disciplines and push boundaries. Her ephemera trilogy is a collection of sand drawing and shadow performances that deal with memory, home, and trans-cultural identity. In 2011 she founded Belle et Bête, a puppet production and promotion company, with local artist Lyon Hill. Kimi received her MFA in scenic design from the University of South Carolina, her MA in Scenography from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, and her BA in studio art from Williams College. She was the recipient of the 2005 Rose Brand Award from the United States Institute of Theatre Technology and her costume design for Polaroid Stories was chosen for display in the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. She has designed sets and costumes in Columbia, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, London and Sevilla and was a puppeteer for several years for the Columbia Marionette Theatre.

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MANCES Telares (o el olvido) / Looms (or, the forgetting) A work-in-progress performance in Spanish

By Fabiola Ruiz Directed by Dora Arreola Performed by: Mujeres en Ritual Danza- Teatro- Gisela Madrigal, Arinda Caballero, Dora Arreola, Siki Carpio, Grissel Aviles and Kenia Delgadillo Telares (o el Olvido) / Looms (or, the Forgetting) is the story of a small mountain village where the inhabitants, without realizing it, are caught in a struggle between tradition and modernity. Telares tells a story of what happens in indigenous territories with the arrival of capitalistic culture, and how it devastates the lives of its inhabitants. It is a story of resistance, in which the characters re-member who they are through ancestral, pre-Hispanic practices. We are exploring both indigenous rituals and the Catholic traditions, and how they have mixed – this syncretism that keeps indigenous practices alive, though masked. As these practices start to disappear, colonialism in the guise of modernity begins to devour identity, causing people to forget. Telares is about this practice of resistance, reanimating stories from our own history – to remember the traditions we have been separated from by migration and borders. These traditions feed contemporary forms, resisting disappearance, erasure and “the forgetting.”

Mujeres en Ritual is a transnational ensemble of women from México and the U.S., founded by Dora Arreola in 1999 to investigate techniques of the body and the experiences of women at the border. Our unique physical training process draws from Grotowski’s physical actions, Butoh’s body poetics, Suzuki’s precision, and ritual structures from traditions of México. The company creates original performances from the expressive needs, levels of experience or ability, cultural/historical and personal experiences of the ensemble and community members.

We explore issues of gender and communities in crisis through performances, classes and workshops; we aim to establish the presence and voices of women in the public sphere, particularly in the border region of México and the United States. Mujeres en Ritual has been creating work about im/migration and border issues, from a feminist perspective. Additional themes of our work include human trafficking and the sex industry, feminicide and colonization. We have created over 10 full-length works, including: El Sueño de Sor Juana; Fronteras Desviadas/Deviant Borders; and Outside the Circle with Art2Action.

For us, making performance is a collaborative and critical process, to develop interdisciplinary and cross-cultural work.

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PERFORM SATURDAY: ALL THEMES, MEMBERS WORK ROOTS Choir

Presented by Elise Witt, assisted by Sonia Osio Low-pressure, High-pleasure! Singers of all abilities, styles, and experience welcome! No music reading required! Relax before dinner and make a joyful noise! Explore and expand your own voice, and create community by becoming part of the ROOTS Choir!

Elise leads a daily session of glorious group singing, teaching in a style so easy that, before you know it, the room is in perfect harmony!

Drawing from her love of diverse melodies and rhythms, Elise will teach songs around the themes of ROOTS Week – Transformation, Immigration/Migration, Environment & Economy, Cultural Equity & Black Lives Matter.

All of the songs are broken down into easily learnable parts and become thrilling to sing in a group. We will also have plenty of time to improvise and create our own musical masterpieces! Whether you’ve sung all your life or think you “can’t carry a tune in a bucket,” in no time at all, you’ll find yourself part of the beautiful ROOTS Choir!

Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features her original compositions. Elise is Artist-in-Residence at the Global Village Project, a school for teenage refugee girls.

The Choir will rehearse throughout ROOTS Week and perform in concert Saturday evening. Participants are encouraged to attend all rehearsals, but are not required to.

ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS Presented by José Torres-Tama

ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS is politically provocative, visually dynamic and hilariously absurd, and it humanizes the demonized “immigrant alien” by putting a human face and heart on immigrants under persecution in the so-called land of the free. ALIENS is inspired by interviews the artist conducted with immigrants in the cities of Houston, New Orleans, and Washington, DC. Ecuadorian-born José Torres-Tama is an alien agent from Her Majesty’s Secret Salsa Service with a license to transport subversive performance art across state lines and international waters. As an interdisciplinary provocateur, poet, performance and visual artist, he challenges the USA to live up to its press release as the beacon of Democracy.

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MANCES GOMELA/to return: Movement of Our Mother Tongue Presented by Junebug Productions

Gomela/To Return: Movement of our Mother Tongue is an original production featuring award-winning poet Sunni Patterson and New Orleans dance and drumming company, Kumbuka African Drum and Dance Collective. Gomela is a journey that connects the past and the present highlighting ancient art forms (African dance and drumming) and new artistic expressions (jazz, spoken word, hip-hop) that make evident the connection between Africa, Haiti and New Orleans.

Are We Teammates?

A Journey into the Heart of My Family Presented by Arianna Ross

Listen and move as this story takes your body through an insider’s/outsider’s understanding of immigration, identity and family. It begins, for my inner circle, with the question: What does it mean to simply be on Team Human? There is a deep longing to just be counted as a human being. To be known for who you are within; not labeled or put on a side of the ethnic line. For my immediate family, it began before my husband and I had a child, before the question of teams came up repeatedly. We had to prove, with evidence, our love for each other. Complexity rose as we entered the byzantine immigration process better known as: K-1 Non-Immigrant Visa. As we hit walls, I asked friends about their stories. Quickly learning how capricious the U.S. was about immigration, shuttling between open/closed borders, depending on economic needs.

In the end, I was labeled the wife of an African Brazilian man; a member of the immigrant team. Friends have been labeled “Illegal Aliens” as they came not through the visa process but stuffed in the back of a truck. Our daughter is considered bi-racial, bi-lingual, and bi-national. She longs to live where her Brazilian Grandmother, who was denied a visa, could visit her like her American Granny. I dream of when my daughter doesn’t feel pushed to choose between her father’s darker-skinned, Portuguese-speaking Brazilian “team” and her mother’s lighter-skinned, English-speaking American “team” but instead can choose just to belong to the Human Team.

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PERFORM SATURDAY: ALL THEMES, MEMBERS WORK Burlesque Barbecue and Bourbon, Preview (NOT PG)

Presented by S.T. Shimi and Sadie Hawkins On October 24, 2015,ROOTS’ will host our inaugural fundraising event, Burlesque, Barbecue and Bourbon, to raise money for programs, projects, and activities. It’s a party with a purpose, we’ll eat some BBQ, have some libations, and be entertained by a crew of burlesque performers par excellence. In short, we’re going to have a lot of fun while doing good.

Tonight you’ll have a glimpse of what you’ll see in October when you join us for 3BQ. Put your hands together for ROOTS’ own fierce and fabulous, S.T. Shimi, and Sadie Hawkins, Atlanta’s top ranked burlesque artist! (Sadie is 3BQ’s burlesque curator.)

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MANCES SUNDAY: CLOSING CEREMONY

Sound Community

Presented by Hamidou Koivogui & Gregory Acker Hamidou Koivogui was born in the village of Macenta in Guinea, and grew up singing and playing music with his friends — on drums they made themselves out of tomato cans. The first-born son, Hamidou was expected to stay at home and help his father on the farm, but his skills as a dancer caught the eye of local dance troupes, and after winning a competition in the capital Conakry, he became a featured dancer for Ballets Nationales Djoliba and Les Ballets Africains, touring internationally. Hamidou was invited to teach and perform in the U.S., and worked with resident companies in New York and Cincinnati. Now in Louisville, KY, Hamidou performs with Pati Kele Drum Ensemble. He also works with the Kentucky Center’s Arts-in-Healing and Arts Access programs.

Gregory Acker is a Community Artist from Louisville, KY offering hands-on world music workshops and related activities for all ages and abilities. He coordinates the Pati Kele Drum Ensemble (traditional West African music), performs with the Afrophysicists (Afrobeat), and is artist-organizer for Sound Community — an artistcoordinated world music and dance space. A former Peace Corps volunteer in two countries in Africa, with extended study experience in India and Indonesia, Gregory holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University (CT). He teaches world music for local colleges, and has received grants from the NEA, Southern Arts Federation, Louisville Fund for the Arts, the City of Louisville, and was selected by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation as “one of America’s most skilled and experienced community artists.”

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IMPORTANT INFO (you might want to know what you’ve gotten yourself into…)

ROOTS Week: The Annual Meeting & Artists Retreat is a fun, challenging, and life-altering gathering for many people. Because this is an experiential event, it may be difficult to describe ROOTS Week to someone who has not attended before. However, we’ve provided answers to some of the questions you might have if this is your first ROOTS Week.

Who attends ROOTS Week?

Artists, cultural workers, educators, art supporters and activists/organizers, as well as many others, from throughout the South, other parts of the U.S., and even some international friends, attend ROOTS Week.

Participants are people who want to meet and learn about the work of community-based artists making change happen. They are people who want to learn new methods of interacting with their communities, people who want to work towards the elimination of all forms of oppression, and people who are concerned about the/their environment.

Who will be performing and sharing art?

Check out the Visual Arts, Keynotes, Learning Exchanges, and Performances sections for a full line-up of who will be featured this year. In addition to a dynamic schedule, there are also informal opportunities for attendees to share art. Mini-performances are a regular feature of business meetings, and late-night cabaret/ open-mic sessions are open to anyone who has something to share. These spontaneous happenings are an integral part of a ROOTS gathering.

Is there wireless access? How will I check my e-mail?!?!?

Yes, there is limited, sometimes unreliable wireless access. The main internet cafe is on the second level of Kohnjoy (this cafe has a public printer), with a secondary cafe on the second floor of Thornburg. However, we encourage you to be as low-tech as you can this week. It can be a lovely thing to step away from your computer for a while.

Can I drink at ROOTS Week?

Yes – if you’re over 21. We like to let loose around here. But, please keep in mind – not everyone drinks or feels comfortable around drinking, either because of personal/health choices, religious convictions, or other reasons. Please be discreet about your alcohol consumption and do not push it on others. Additionally, not everyone is over 21. Please do not serve alcohol to an underage participant.

When’s the pool open?

Weather permitting, the pool is open from 10 AM -12 PM and 1-5 PM every day, Tuesday-Saturday.

What do I do in case of an emergency?

If the incident is a real medical emergency please call 911.

Parkridge Hospital is the closest: 100 Hospital Dr, Hendersonville, NC 28792 / 828-684-8501.

Mission Hospital is also nearby: 509 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 / 828-213-1111.

Mission Pardee Health Campus (Urgent Care) is available for non-emergencies: 2695 Hendersonville Rd, Arden NC 28704 / 828-651-6300.

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How can I get in touch with Lutheridge and/or ROOTS Staff?

Lutheridge Guest Services can be reached, day or night at: 828-606-5684.

ROOTS Staff can be reached by calling the office number, which will be re-routed to our various cell phones. To reach ROOTS Staff, call 404-577-1079 and dial the extension of the person you need to speak with: Wendy Shenefelt, ROOTS Week Programs Associate: x306 Paige Heurtin, Operations Manager: x305 Ashley Walden Davis, Programs Director: x304 Sarah Lamb, Registration Assistant: x303

AND A FEW MORE THINGS...

Work Co-Ops: Everybody works at ROOTS Week!

Whether you’re coming to ROOTS Week for the first time or are a founding member, there is a place for you to contribute your genius and energy. By working together, we can keep costs low, build community, and live out our values of fairly sharing labor. The vision is that everyone works one shift per week and you’ll learn your work co-op details at registration. Year after year, ROOTS members say that their experiences working together are one of the most important parts of ROOTS Week. Let’s make this year delightful together!

Please be mindful of your personal fragrances.

Please be mindful that some fragrances are a trigger for those with asthma and allergies. Let’s do what we can to help our fellow participants have a safe and enjoyable ROOTS Week. We ask that you use soaps, shampoos, laundry detergents, etc. labelled “fragrance free” or “scent free” and refrain from the use of perfumes and other chemicals/fragrances, particularly when you will be engaging in our public spaces.

Please be mindful of folks’ preferred pronouns.

You’ve probably noticed that in addition to your name, your name tag features your preferred gender pronoun (or PGP). If you’re not familiar with PGPs here are some basics: a person’s PGP is, quite simply, the pronoun they prefer to be called by. Some common ones include: she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/their, ze/hir/hirs (although this list is certainly not exhaustive). Being intentional about sharing our PGPs is a way to make the space at ROOTS Week more affirming and welcoming to gender non-conforming, transgender and gender queer folks. If being mindful of PGPs is new to you, consider this week a wonderful opportunity for us as a community to support one another in putting this into practice.

Please note our gender neutral restrooms.

Alternate ROOTS welcomes gender diversity. All ROOTS Week participants are invited to use the restroom that best fits their identity. Multi-stall restrooms are located in the Faith Center, Dining Room, and Mission Halls.

Single stall restrooms are located in Thornberg and Kohnjoy.

And last but not least: Please bring your wallets or purses to evening events!

Alternate ROOTS is a not-for-profit organization that frequently relies upon the kindness of strangers, who become friends, to help support this incredible network of artists. This year we are asking everyone at ROOTS Week to become a Friend of Alternate ROOTS (FOAR)! FOAR is ROOTS’ donor program, and over the coming years we want to grow our base of support – beginning with you!

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ABOUT ASHEVILLE Keep your eye out for folks from Asheville on Community Day (Saturday), welcome them into the fold, and stop by the Burton Street Peace Garden if you can on your way out of town. If you are a lover of community art, creative placemaking and being outdoors, you will love the Burton Street Peace Garden (47 Bryant Street/ Asheville, NC 28806).

Here are a few “artist-friendly” local businesses to consider supporting: Downtown Rosetta’s Kitchen 116 N. Lexington Ave rosettaskitchen.com (whole food/local) Firestorm Café & Bookstore 48 Commerce St. www.firestormcafe.com (worker-owned cooperative) French Broad Food Co-op 90 Biltmore Ave. frenchbroadfood.coop (grocery store) Greenlife Grocery 70 Merrimon Ave. (whole foods grocery store) Bobo’s Gallery 22 Lexington Ave www.bobogallery.com (wine, beer, music, art) Tod Tasties 102 Montford Ave todstasties.com (coffee shop/cafe) River Arts District Clingman Café 242 Clingman Ave clingmancafeasheville.com (coffee shop/cafe) Green’s Deli 414 Depot St (soul food) West Asheville West End Bakery 757 Haywood Rd www.westendbakery.com (locally-sourced food) Farmacy Juice & Tonic Bar in West Village Market 771 Haywood Rd in the Bledsoe Bldg.

The Hop West 721 Haywood Rd thehopicecreamcafe.com (locally-made ice cream) Hostels Sweet Peas 23 Rankin Ave (downtown) www.sweetpeashostel.com Bon Paul & Sharkey’s 816 Haywood Rd (west AVL) http://www.bonpaulandsharkys.com/EMain.html Healing Arts Asheville Community Yoga, 8 Brookdale Rd, ashevillecommunityyoga.com (donation-based yoga) Asheville Yoga Donation Studio, 239 S. Liberty St., ashevilledonationyoga.com (donation-based yoga) People’s Acupuncture of Asheville 55 Grove St., http://www.peoplesacupunctureavl.com/ ($15-35 sliding scale) Local Community Initiatives East of the Riverway eastoftheriverway.com (sustainable communities initiative) Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council abfoodpolicy.com

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VENUE INFO & LOCATION Lutheridge Conference Center Asheville, NC area (Arden)

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Glossary and Definitions Identity and Social Location Definitions These definitions have been developed by artEquity and will be used during the UpROOTing Oppressions training on Friday. They are printed here with permission.

Race: A social and artificial construct with exceeding social, economic, and political significance. Race is often associated with physical characteristics, e.g., skin color, hair types, eye shape, eye color, lip shape, etc.

Sexual Orientation: An individual’s physical and/or emotional attraction to another individual. A person’s sexual orientation is sometimes distinct from a person’s gender identity and expression.

Class: A relative social ranking or category based on income, financial resources, education, status, and/or power. Class categories are usually associated with levels of access to resources such as money, contacts, education. Our perceptions of class identity are often tied to culture, food, clothing, language, cars, entertainment, work, and more.

Gender: Refers to socially constructed roles, behavior, activities, and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women.

Gender is also an individual’s self-conception, as distinguished from biological sex. Gender identities include, but are not limited to “transgender,” “woman,” and “man.” “Transgender” is the state of one’s gender identity not matching one’s ‘assigned sex,’ while “cisgender” is to have a gender identity that does match one’s assigned sex. “Gender nonconforming” is another identifier, used to indicate that one doesn’t adhere to stereotypical understandings of gender expression and roles.

Ability: Possession of the capacity (especially physical, mental and psychological capabilities) required to do something or get something done.

Ability is informed by the construction of a society’s physical, social, cultural, and technological spaces, customs, and institutions, which often privilege those who are considered to be “fully able.”

Nation of Citizenship & Immigration Status: Nation of citizenship refers to where one holds citizenship status. Immigrant status refers to the status of a person’s residency -- in this context, in the United States. Citizenship and certain immigration statuses bring with them a host of protections and privileges.

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Privilege: Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels and gives advantages, access, favors, and benefits to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of marginalized groups. In the United States, privilege is granted to people who have membership in one or more of these social identity groups: white people, able-bodied people, heterosexuals, males, Christians, middle or owning class people, middle-aged people, and Englishspeaking people. Privilege is commonly invisible to or taken for granted by people who have it. People in dominant groups often believe that they have earned the privileges that they enjoy or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked to earn them. In fact, privileges are unearned and they are granted to people in the dominant groups whether they want those privileges or not, and regardless of their stated intent.

Power: Ability to exert control and influence over institutions, resources, and cultural norms.

Oppression: Any attitude, action or institutional structure that subordinates a person because of his/ her membership in a targeted group.

Examples of target groups are: Women, Transgender people, Asians, African Americans, Latino/as, Native Americans, individuals with disabilities, Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Jewish individuals, the Elderly, Children.

Oppression can be intentional or unintentional.

Diversity: Recognition of individual differences.

These differences can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical abilities, nationality, language, religious beliefs, and socioeconomic background.

Racism: Racism is a system of oppression that consists of racial prejudice and discrimination – supported by institutional power and authority – used to the advantage of one race and the disadvantage of another race or races. The critical element which differentiates racism from prejudice and discrimination is the use of institutional power and authority to support white supremacy, reiterate prejudices, and enforce discriminatory behaviors in systematic ways with far-reaching outcomes and effects.

Internalized Oppression: An experience of oppression as internal and personal that occurs for people who are subjected to oppression.

The internalizing of oppression can look like a belief in the prejudices and stereotypes about the identity group that the person is a member of. This is exhibited in attitudes, behaviors, speech and self-confidence. A person who has internalized oppression may alter their practices to reflect the stereotypes and norms of the dominant group.

Internalized oppression can create low self-esteem and self-doubt. It can also be projected outward as fear, criticism or distrust of one’s own identity group.

Learning Exchange: A Learning Exchange looks different wherever and whenever it happens. It is an opportunity for a community, a group of people, artists, facilitators/trainers, and any combination thereof to come together around an agreed upon topic. Inspired by the principles of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal, ROOTS has adopted the term “learning exchange” to show that all the knowledge that is needed to solve any given problem is already in the room.

Equity: The state, quality or ideal of being just.

Using the principles of fairness and ethics to apply justice to circumstances.

Self-Organized Space: A meeting technique that acknowledges your power to set your own agenda.

Come prepared to share with one another. Studios, workshops, discussion sessions and performances can all happen during time set aside for SelfOrganized Space.

Social Justice: The promotion of a just society by challenging injustice. Social justice exists when all people receive equitable treatment, have their human rights upheld, and receive a fair allocation of community resources. In conditions of social justice, people are not discriminated against, nor are their welfare and well-being constrained.

An Alternate ROOTS Glossary of Terms ROOTS has a 39-year history of creating and defining language. Here are a few terms you might hear over the course of this week: All-Conference Session: Keynotes; creative program updates and evaluations; conducting organizational business, surveying the field; planning the future and clarifying our vision; voting in new members. All meeting attendees, no matter how new they are to the organization, are encouraged to participate in All-Conference Sessions.

ExCom: ROOTS’ Executive Committee is frequently referred to as the “ExCom.” The ExCom is comprised of elected representatives, a slate of officers and the staff.

Late Night: Based on an open mic or cabaret format, Late Night is an opportunity for you to get up and show some of your stuff. Totally casual and off-the-cuff, Late Night is a place where our night owls come together to share poetry, dance, skits, monologues, blog entries, whatever you want to show. Each evening has a host/hostess/hosting team and that’s who you would speak to about getting on the list.

Region: ROOTS has a 14-state service area, plus the District of Columbia. Our service region is the geographic area of the United States often referred to as “The South”: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. Rhizome: Taken from a horticultural term that relates to plants that grow through their root structure, rhizomes are small groupings of ROOTS members and friends who convene and participate in ROOTS-related activities across the region. A Rhizome is sometimes a smaller grouping within a region, ex.: GA/AL/SC = Region, Charleston = Rhizome.

Spontaneous performance/happenings/ combustion: Also known as “Gettin’ ROOT-y.” We occasionally burst out into song during the middle of a meal, create an impromptu performance on the way to the pool, or make a sculpture of tin cans. You don’t need permission to join this sort of thing – you just have to give yourself permission.

Strategic Plan(ning): This is the process of setting priorities and new directions for an organization.

These priorities will serve as a roadmap for future programmatic decisions. Every 3-5 years ROOTS evaluates and sets new directions. This year we will be spending some time in an all-conference session in order to discuss and ratify our new strategic plan.

All meeting attendees, no matter how new they are to the organization, are encouraged to participate.

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is made possible through support from the following:

SPONSORS

Official Coffee Sponsor Congratulations to Dean’s Beans for winning the 2013 Business for Peace Award, commonly known as the “Nobel Prize for Business.”

SPECIAL THANKS! Alternate ROOTS Executive Committee The Lutheridge Conference Center Staff ROOTS Week Innovation Ensemble Ennis Carter/Social Impact Studios artEquity

Cover Art: Ariston Jacks

ROOTS Week 2014 Photos: Melisa Cardona

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