August 13-18
We are so glad you are here. ROOTS Week is the perfect opportunity to connect with justice-loving cultural workers, engage in inspiring workshops and discussions, and celebrate the power of art rooted in community.
Together, we can create a better world.
Letter from Board Chair April C. Turner
Letter From The Interim Co-Executive Directors
Land Acknowledgement
COVID Protocols
2024 Theme: Southern Soil: Sankofa Seeds
Meeting Agreements
Gender Equity
Accessibility
Collective Wellness
Language Justice
Annual Business Meeting Sessions
Pollinator Keynotes
Performances
Visual Art
Workshops
Conversations
Special Happenings
Presenter Bios
Frequently Asked Questions Thanks
Take care of each other. In contemplating this year, I ask myself, “How did this organization make it this far?” Yes, we have some impressive facilitators in our membership. Yes, we are a coalition of strong organizations committed to building engaged communities. And yes, we are artists and culturebearers who communicate and carry history and vision for our collective future.
Upon observation, it becomes clear that these are valuable assets but none are the primary reason that ROOTS remains ROOTS almost fifty years from its beginning.
The answer rests in our capacity and willingness to take care of one another, as individual members moving on behalf of the whole. Whether in conflict or joy, dissension or optimism, anger or distance, change or stasis – our root response is to protect or take care of each other.
As we approach our 50th year, we have an opportunity to recommit to caring. We have an opportunity to plan to care for each other in ROOTS. We have an opportunity to examine all of the seen and unseen ways that we actually care for one another, and activate and amplify this continuum of care in the communities we serve. Now is also the moment that this awareness of care can be nurtured on every level between individual ROOTers, members, staff, ExComm, Workgroups, YOOTS, “old” ROOTS, “new” ROOTS – generation after generation of ROOTS care.
We care deeply about everything that happens in the world. We keep showing up here because, whether we always realize it or not, we care for one another. The invitation for us all this year is to recommit to caring.
Only Love, April C. Turner Executive Committee, Chair
Welcome back to Lutheridge and ROOTS WEEK 2024!
We’ve had some big transitions since we were together last year. In fall of 2023, we stepped forward to serve ROOTS as Interim Co Executive Directors (also known as Team ICED). While there have been challenges, there are also opportunities: to lean into shared power and leadership under the co-director model, and to more deeply engage our membership in decision-making and visioning for a stronger, healthier, and more connected community.
Our theme for ROOTS Week 2024 is Southern Soil: Sankofa Seeds. Sankofa is an Akan word from the Twi language of Ghana, meaning “go back and get it.” As we move forward into 2024, to our 50th anniversary in 2026 and beyond, we do so grounded in our history, in our people, in our culture and legacy. When we are challenged, we find solutions in innovative visioning, but also look back to where we have been. We take the lessons we have learned along with the new ideas, and we braid them together.
As always, ROOTS membership is at the center of all we do. The Membership Development Workgroup, led by the Membership Team, is reimagining the benefits and responsibilities of membership. The Strategic Partnerships Team is innovating
around partnerships and grants, designing new models for community accountability. ROOTS website and communications are being upgraded and redesigned to better serve our members. We have Workgroups coming together to draft more robust policies and safety plans informed by our mission and transformative healing practices. Much of this work is taking place in collaboration between staff, the Executive Committee, and members, visioning and creating the ROOTS of the future.
As we navigate this space between our history and now, we must acknowledge the ongoing genocide in Palestine and violence in Sudan, the Congo and many other regions. ROOTS was founded as the Vietnam War was ending and we continue to support and work towards peace and liberation. Our mission to dismantle all forms of oppression includes and is interconnected with freedom for all.
With all that our community is holding and on behalf of the staff and Team ICED, we are so grateful to have you here! Grounded in our mission, ROOTed in our art practices, we can’t wait to see what we can create together!
Paige Heurtin
Wendy Shenefelt
Alternate ROOTS Interim Co-Executive Directors
We pay our respects to Indigenous peoples – past, present, and future – who are the stewards of the lands we gather and live upon. We acknowledge that we benefit from the wealth created from the forced displacement of Indigenous peoples across this continent. We also acknowledge enslaved Africans stolen from their homelands whose forced labor helped to build this country. The ancestors and descendants of these people have and continue to weave the fabric of our culture. As we grow through the work of decolonization, we invite you to learn with us about the lands where we currently live and build relationships “at the speed of trust” as we move from acknowledgement to action.
As we gather for ROOTS Week, we acknowledge that North Carolina occupies the traditional and ancestral land of the Cherokee, Coharie, Haliwa-Saponi, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Meherrin, the Sappony, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and the Waccamaw Siouan.
To maintain the safety of our community, we are asking everyone who comes to ROOTS Week to take a daily COVID test and submit this Daily Wellness Form before they share space with others. (Scan the QR code below with your smartphone). We will provide rapid COVID tests for you at registration.
Once you have completed your COVID test, please fill out the quick Daily Wellness Form. ROOTS staff will check these each morning and follow up as necessary.
If you test positive for COVID,
please stay in your room or where you are and call or text: 470-210-4418.
Our goal is to move in a spirit of collective care and focus on minimizing risks before, during, and after our time together. Our protocols are informed by CDC and local guidelines, as well as our movement partners. If you have any questions or issues about COVID, please contact rootsweek@alternateroots.org.
Scan the QR code with your smartphone
“Sankofa” is an Akan word from the Twi language of Ghana, meaning “Go Back and Get It.” The phrase is often accompanied by an image of a bird walking forward while looking back in the direction from which it has just come and holding an egg in its beak. Sankofa is a mantra for all those trying to balance forward progress and rebirth, represented by the egg (and seeds), with a strong connection to lessons of the past.
It relates to:
• Honoring ROOTS through our connection to the South.
• The concept of “Go Back and Get It.”
• Rebirth, Renewal, Forward Progress, or Seeds.
• Any Interpretation of This Year’s Theme that Speaks to YOU!
The current landscape requires:
• Deep care and forward thinking,
• Justice-informed art-making and conversations,
• And a strong knowledge of where we’ve come from.
In addition to Alternate ROOTS’ own recent transitions, these are all complex challenges that will require deep care and many hands.
ROOTS Week begins Tuesday, August 13 and ends on Sunday, August 18, 2024. A detailed schedule can be found on a printout in this program book, emailed to all participants, and posted at various locations around Lutheridge.
As part of ROOTS’ community-building practice, we are intentional about the ways in which we gather together and share space. Over the years, we have developed meeting agreements – an evolving practice we use to cultivate equity, community, and wellness when we convene as a group.
The full list of meeting agreements can be found at: alternateroots.org/alternate-roots-community-agreements/
• We use “I” statements and speak from our own experiences and feelings.
• We take care and responsibility for ourselves and our own physical, emotional, mental, spiritual needs.
• We seek first to understand and assume good intent while also acknowledging impact – if something we say or do causes harm we commit to working through it.
• We give each other grace, knowing that the work of undoing oppressions is hard and we will all mess up at some point.
• We write pronouns on our name tags, include our pronouns in group introductions / check-ins; we are mindful of using folks’ correct pronouns as part of growing our practice of gender liberation.
Alternate ROOTS is centering gender equity in an attempt to directly address the sexism, transphobia, and lack of representation that exists within ROOTS and the Southern region. We imagine a ROOTS and South where everyone has the tools and knowledge to engage in conversations around dismantling these forces. We are ALL tasked with upholding ROOTS’ values and practices around gender equity. The Gender Equity Workgroup is building a list of learning tools and urges everyone to center those directly impacted by systemic oppression.
If you would like more information on the learning tools or would like to participate in the Gender Equity Workgroup, visit alternateroots.org/member-zone/workgroups/.
If you have any questions about Gender Equity, please email nathalie@alternateroots.org.
We are always working to make ROOTS spaces accessible. We asked about accessibility support in the registration process, but if you need more accessibility support, please email rootsweek@alternateroots.org or stop by the registration office.
The upROOTing Ableism Workgroup encourages the inclusion and showcasing of artists and organizers of all abilities not as an afterthought, but as integral to the ROOTS community. Please use the checklist below to guide you in increasing inclusion while holding space at ROOTS gatherings.
When We Center Accessibility, This is How We Gather:
; We ask, “Do you have what you need?”
; We take account of access needs at registration or upon welcoming folks.
; Throughout the whole experience (from start to finish), we strive for equity, not just access/ accessibility. Access and inclusion is an ongoing effort.
; When we gather, we know that access just brings people to the door, and we go beyond that, having all voices heard once they arrive.
; We understand that offering something around access once means that we are implying that it will always be offered, and we clearly communicate, in advance, when it is not being offered.
; We remain accountable to where we are on our equity journey. We name boundaries that bump up against, and use this as information to create intentions to further our journey.
; We make space for feedback and suggestions, and we create a culture where that is welcome. When we name where we are and notice boundaries in our offerings, we make space to talk about it.
If you would like to participate in the upROOTing Ableism Workgroup, visit alternateroots.org/memberzone/work-groups/.
The Wellness Co-Op is a group of ROOTers whose work is at the intersection of healing and climate justice. They are artists, healers, and cultural organizers who know we must be in harmony with ourselves and in harmony with the land. ROOTS gatherings can bring up a lot, and we know that we have to take care of our spirits as well as our minds and bodies to do our important work! Throughout ROOTS week, there are healers and healing spaces set to support our wellness. We also have each other, and we lean into taking care of ourselves. To find out more about the Wellness CoOp, check out information in the registration office and signs around Lutheridge. To learn more about the year round Heal/Teal Workgroup, visit alternateroots. org/member-zone/work-groups/.
Creating a language justice space takes time and intentionality and reflects a vision where all voices and languages are valued. Language justice is a shared responsibility, and it includes the right we all have to communicate in the language or languages in which we feel most comfortable and powerful.
• Please speak slowly, loudly, and clearly.
• When a microphone is available, always use the microphone.
• One speaker at a time.
In addition to everything that happens at ROOTS Week, it is also our Annual Business Meeting. The Annual Business Meeting features ROOTS staff and Executive Committee (ExComm) presentations, community deliberations, and planning for the future as we clarify our vision. It is when we vote on the next ExComm slate and anyone who is coming forward to join as a Voting Member.
You’ll find the times and topics of each Annual Business Meeting session on the schedule printout. Sessions will include:
This is when ROOTS members who have decided to take action and become an integral part of ROOTS’ 48 year history and its future. Those who wish to become voting members come forward at this time. The current voting membership body decides who will join the Alternate ROOTS board of directors. During this time the proposed slate of Executive Committee (ExComm) members present themselves as candidates to provide leadership and make decisions on behalf of the entire board of directors.
We’ll introduce, then vote to approve the minutes from the 2022 and 2023 Annual Business Meetings.
Learn about and get involved in reimagined workgroups with the ExComm. These groups operate all year long and are a good way for members to engage in the work of ROOTS leadership. We will be discussing:
• Safety Workgroup / updates to the Harassment Code of Conduct
• Policy Workgroup / proposed ByLaws amendments
• Nomination Committee Elevation Experience
The Executive Committee and ROOTS Leadership Search Advisory Task Force will share about the executive search process and give an update on ROOTS’ next executive leadership.
The Investment Strategy Workgroup will facilitate an in-depth discussion on ROOTS’ current allocation of the McKenzie Scott Funds and future opportunities, followed by an exploration of alternative investment opportunities and how we might invest in people, place, and power. We will include a recap of last year’s discussion and the three concepts for the allocation of those funds that garnered the broadest support from the membership.
The Membership Development Workgroup (MDWG) has worked since September of 2023 developing a new plan for the way Alternate ROOTS does membership. Approximately 10 years ago ROOTS made a bold decision, creating the current membership levels and changing the criteria for membership within the ROOTS organization. By examining our membership practices (benefits, responsibilities, and criteria) alongside our values and current challenges, the MDWG has crafted new membership policy and practices that allow the membership body to develop and mature with the times and our current and future circumstances. We will present this work to the full membership body for implementation in 2025.
This year’s reporting session aims to be light on presentation and heavy on conversation! ROOTS Staff will share highlights from their work over the past year (including an update on current ROOTS Finances) and make space for intentional dialogue, guided by questions offered by ROOTS Members, about the collective work and strategic priorities of the Alternate ROOTS community.
Shanon Williams Hughes will present a workshop experience designed to identify shared language in Alternate ROOTS on Transformative Justice practice, and outline the year’s journey in guiding a cohort of ROOTS ExComm, staff, and members in defining ROOTS culture through a Transformative Justice lens. ROOTS Week attendees are invited to participate in this revealing experience of transformation.
Listed in alphabetical order by title.
HYBRID Event
Shannon Ivey (she/they)
MFA, AEA, PCC and The UpROOTing Ableism Workgroup
On behalf of the UpROOTing Ableism Workgroup: Shannon Ivey, artist and magic maker, is the story worker with hidden disabilities who has been asked to host/co-create an interactive group Pollinator Keynote Session. We, the Uprooting Ableism Workgroup, believe that this is the right time for us to bring our work forward, and, in pure ROOTS fashion, we want to do more than just speak. We want to create an experience for ROOTS that will, like the Gender Workgroup before us, create lasting understanding and ongoing conversation about what inclusion could look like.
HYBRID Event
Rasha Abdulhadi
Right of return and right to stay are significant here, in the global South, Up-South, in Palestine, and beyond. From 2012-2014, Southerners on New Ground convened groups to produce the Small Town Crossroads report, drawing connections between rural (and urban!) displacement, resource extraction, land back, and rising political threats across many communities in the South. Those conversations return again as Rasha considers connections between the genocidal conditions – pandemic, settler colonialism, racial capitalism, long genocides in the US, genocide in Palestine and elsewhere – and the choices before us to face them and act or ignore them at our peril.
An introduction to rematriation as a means of regional repair and a means of challenging displacement, and a sharing of how our intertribal space and land care is/will be rekindling relationships to one another, to ancestral homes, and to traditional arts and cultural practices.
K.C. Ashinay
A Process To Prepare For The Crossing uses poetry, music, and movement to journey from trauma to acceptance, going back to turn nightmarish memories into compost that can blossom seeds into future dreams – Sankofa. Based in the Mississippi river, it honors our Southern roots while moving beyond darkness and light.
Jessica Valoris & Kelly “GreenLight” Thomas
Find a clue, roll the dice and pull a card…! This participatory ritual performance game centers stories of Black resistance, community building, and solidarity while asking participant audiences to consider what blueprints might be available as we imagine a world where abolition, reparations, lands stewardship, and transformative justice is made possible. Adventures in Black Fugitive Folklore emerges from Jessica Valoris’ Black Fugitive Study Kit, a body of work that honors histories of marronage and Black fugitivity, through immersive study, community activations, and sacred creative practice.
Malcolm Davis & Jess Mullins Fullen
The Affrilachian Arts Institute (AAI) is proud to uplift and showcase two historical Black narratives from Appalachian Kentucky. Our mission with these performances is to provide audiences a new perspective of Black History, granting greater insight as to the belonging and livelihood of Black Kentuckians today. The stories of Monk Estill and Effie Waller Smith show unequivocally the contributions of Affrilachians to our greater cultural and national identity. AAI’s mission is Sankofa – we proudly carry our history with us to provide a new generation of Affrilachians with our own heroes.
Andre Love
Catch and Release: An interactive concert reflecting the traditions/ practices passed down in our families. Each song has a small writing prompt, movement, or breathing practice. Moments for the audience to share will present themselves, movement is welcomed! The intention is to honor our past while being brave enough to create a beautiful future! The show crosses genres, instruments, and practices to create an unforgettable experience.
Tambra Harris & Jeff Mather
Tambra Omiyale Harris and Jeff Mather have been collaborating for over 8 years on a series of eco-activist events in Atlanta – and the 2025 event is already in the works. Resources for Social Change work amongst ROOTers arrived, at one point, on some key principles for community engagement: Dialogue, Partnership, Power Analysis, Transformation (Individual/Community), and Aesthetics. But Aesthetics has often been left on the table. Left behind. Even avoided. Time to go back and get it!
Higher Ground in Harlan: Kate Handzlik, Nicole Garneau, Stephanie X
An excerpt of Higher Ground 10: Angels Unaware, the tenth original theater production of Higher Ground, a community performance project at Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College (SKCTC). Angels Unaware centers how we take care of each other in Harlan County. The play features real stories from our community and live original music. The show ran July 2024 in downtown Harlan, Kentucky. Directed by Kate Handzlik, SKCTC Assistant Professor and Higher Ground Creative Director. Nicole Garneau of Disputanta, KY is the artist-in-residence. Partnering with Arts for EveryBody, the Cloverfork Clinic, and the Harlan County Fiscal Court, Higher Ground works to integrate the arts into rural healthcare delivery.
Hymned/hIm/Hemmed UP!
Billy “Issim” Ramsey
Learning to love past his FEARS, Hymned/hIm/Hemmed UP! Speaks to fatherhood, spirituality, self-love and sacrifice, embracing healthier choices and the passage to getting there. It’s about the continuous willingness to learn, often falling/failing and the resilience of bouncing back to the center of self and high hopes, purpose and fortune. This time there’s a plan…. TELL THE STORY… his story…Step, dance, original music and singing of hymns and ghetto gems all shape this experience combined with call and response opportunities for audience members to come along.
Shannon M. Turner
I’m a Little Teapot: Existential Angst & the Search for Purpose at the Dawn of the Millennium is a retrospective on what we now call “adulting.” Storyteller Shannon M. Turner graduated in 1997 with no plans for the future. As the millennium approached, she wandered aimlessly through jobs, trying to find her sense of purpose. Parallels between twenty-five years ago and today are poignant, when global freakout over Y2K and a presidential impeachment were in the background. Teapot involves audience engagement around generational, technological, and cultural evolution and ultimately meditates on how we all reckon with our purpose, power, passion, and possibility.
liminal animal (a thousand blades of grass version)
Brooks Emanuel
The work is an outdoor projection installation arising from a solo dance performance practice in which I embody an emerging being. A video of myself engaged in the practice *on* a grassy hill is projected, in a loop, *onto* a grass lawn. Having a grass background projected onto grass makes me appear to emerge from the earth. It explores the liminal time between life and death in which we, as biological entities, constantly rebirth ourselves, ideally in more right relationship to each other and the rest of the natural world, *and* it reflects on the relationship between “progress” and simply “being.”
MAY BE THE LAST TIME: STILL DANCING, STILL DREAMING.
doris diosa davenport / Dr. D
This event comes from my connections to this traditional Cherokee Homeland (euro-colonized as Northeast GA), from this year’s theme, and from global situations. It deals with renewal and forward progress. I will present (multimedia) work from my current work in progress, an anthology of selections from my 13 books plus new poems. Its working title is “May be the Last Time: Still Dancing, Still Dreaming.”
Assane Kouyaté
A mini performance designed to explore and celebrate West African cultural heritage, and its diasporic journey to the South, incorporating the themes of rebirth, renewal, and forward progress. It interweaves music, dance, and storytelling through griot oral repertoires in diverse languages to illustrate the idea that understanding our past is crucial for moving forward. Cultural roots, although diverse, share common seeds of wisdom and resilience. It invites participants to dig deep into their heritage and sow new seeds of understanding and connection across cultures and generations.
SPIT FIRE SIDE CHAT (THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROOTS HIP HOP SCHOLARS)
New Danger
Omari Fox (2004 ROOTS Hip Hop Scholar) and King Shakur (2007 Hip Hop Scholar) are hosting a fire side open mic. This open mic is to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of Alternate ROOTS Hip Hop Scholar program. It is in partnership with the Membership team, and will be held around a fire outside during the evening. The fireside will feature visual art, poetry, dance and music will be shared.
Sam(ira) Obeid
Tell My Puppy I’m Coming Home is a one-human show about a documented queer immigrant who despite her best efforts is forced to return “home.” Since she last visited eight years ago, much has changed. A now powerful community leader, she returns to a family that no longer knows her, a country that has never accepted her, and a childhood whose scars return when her feet touch the land. A work-in-progress about family, precarity, and victorious return, this show weaves in and out of poetry, narrative, and humour in its exploration of displacement, immigration, and the diaspora experience.
Ashlee Haze
Ashlee Haze presents... The Anatomy of a Breakup, a poetry performance that explores the complex emotions associated with the loss of romantic love. This will be an intimate reading of poems from the book SMOKE and an artist talkback.
Meg Whalen; Marlon Morrison, filmmaker; Ashley L. Tate, choreographer
The Black neighborhood of Brooklyn was once home to 12 churches, which were forced out when this uptown Charlotte area was razed during “urban renewal.” Only Grace A.M.E. Zion remained, and in 1980, the Gothic revival church was named an historic landmark. Two decades later, the congregation purchased land in northeast Charlotte, sold their building, and on June 17, 2006, walked 11.5 miles north to build their new church. Based on interviews with Grace congregation members and featuring Charlotte Hip-Hop artist YUNG Citizen and dancer/choreographer Ashley L. Tate, Brooklyn to Browne’s Ferry tells this story in an 8-minute dance/music video.
Zahra Ali
The session is grounded by the painting, The Court of Sherbanoo: a reinterpretation of Sultan Muhammad’s illustration of Ferdowsi’s creation myth to center and honor women –specifically, my foremothers – and share the creation story of Sherbanoo, a teen displaced due to the partition of India. While forced to leave their home, my foremothers traversed harsh roads to build communities anew for generations to come. Participants are asked to reflect on the emotions elicited from the crossing over from a jagged and cavernous border – the past; and the colors as they shift and play and speak to hope with a look to the future.
Ivy Parsons
Visual Art Installation between the trees connecting them together with a thin membrane echoing that found in an egg shell, seed pod. The material and structure create the image that reflects multi generational strength and fragility at the same time and their interconnections. The incorporation of trees that for me embody the strength of multiple generations of growth into a strong beautiful structure juxtaposed with a thin fragile membrane that was a chamber, container of future potential and growth from which the trees grew out of such a small seed that is grounded in the local soil.
Normando Ismay
I will create a multiple part sculpture using laminated cards created by many participants during ROOTS Week. I will sit at a table in common spaces during the meeting and will encourage people to participate by drawing and writing about those in our past that influenced who we are now, the other side of the card will share a dream for the road not traveled yet. Once the cards are finished, they will be laminated and assembled into one sculpture that will grow during the meeting as people participate. At the end of the meeting the sculpture will be disassembled so participants can retrieve their cards.
RECLAMATION OF LOVE: LOVE LETTERS TO GENDER EXPANSIVENESS
The Gender Gallery
An interactive love letter tree installation that will be set up throughout the week for public interaction along with a collective reading of “Reclamation of Love: Love Letters to Gender Expansiveness.” Come get some love y’all.
This multi-medium visual art series delves into the depths of our shared human experience, examining our intrinsic connection to each other, our relationship with nature, and the ties that bind us to both our inner child and our ancestors. It creates a space of curiosity and reflection, inviting viewers to explore how these interconnected relationships shape our understanding and care for others, particularly those who are marginalized and oppressed. Can I see myself in the faces and stories of others? This question lies at the heart of the series, urging us to recognize our shared humanity and the threads of connection that unite us all.
Marquetta Dupree
With a background in West African dance, and a love for Afrobeats and Caribbean Music, Marquetta began workshopping Afro-Caribbean dance 3 years ago. She is able to use a wide range of music and live drums when available. With short breakdowns before many of the dance routines you will get a good feel for each of the moves before we dance. Get a sample of Afrobeats, Dancehall, Haitian dance, West African, Brazilian Funk, Samba, Cuban Salsa, Reggaeton and more!
Elise Witt
Each of us carries the seeds of music from our ancestors within us. As we open to listening to that music, we open to creating the music of the present moment. Each of us has a unique voice and music that longs to be heard and shared. As we join voices in community, we honor the seeds of our individual and collective roots, and create sound to carry us forward, to grow and bloom, individually and as a group. Our collective song is born from lessons of the past, moving us forward into a creative and radical (ROOTS) future.
AUTHENTIC EXPRESSION
Courtney Rohan
“Authentic Expression” considers the artist’s body-mind and how their creative potential can be stifled by our conditioning and limiting mindsets. Through this workshop, we explore embodiment practices to tap back into the birth, life, transition and rebirth creation narrative to reconnect with our innate creative power through guided movement, breathwork and sounding.
Helms Jarrell, Rev. Greg Jarrell
“Bodies of Land: Connecting Place, Neighbor, and Self in Artful Reflection” invites participants to explore their sense of home and connection to their surroundings through multimedia art. Led by facilitator and artist Rev. Helms Jarrell, attendees create art pieces reflecting their homes – be it a watershed, neighborhood, or imagined space. The experience prompts reflection on how our bodies relate to the spaces we inhabit and each other, addressing themes of disconnection and community. This inclusive event welcomes participants of all ages to engage in meaningful dialogue and creative expression.
Samuel Valdez & Catalina Paz
La Carpa De La Frontera/Las
Voces is a mobile people’s theater, a modern vaudeville show that travels to any community that wants to experience our comedy, drama, political satire, circus, music, grassroots “edutainment.” These cultural productions allow audiences to experience the “Rascuache” formula… (People’s Theater) that focuses on political and social artistic expression. This work is rooted in the campesino and tent shows (Carpas) throughout Mexico in the early and mid-part of the 20th century. The workshop offered is focused on building a performance out of this model, and helps the artist create his/her own vaudeville character.
Charmille
(Charm) Walters & Kristoff Skalet
How do you communicate with your creator? How does this relationship impact your artist-activist journey? The common thread of art as an act of faith weaves this 2-session interfaith sharing into the fabric of unity.
Session 1 - People and Process is a learning exchange that creates space to recover and discover with established meditation and creative techniques.
Session 2 - Collective Power and Purpose is an art-making workshop with group experiments to affirm the power of choice. Creative dialogue and play facilitate balance to co-create from a place of peace.
Ananda Lo & Stanley Walker
A meditation, deep breathing and envisioning session that allows artists to look at their practice from a healing experience. We will also discuss and sample local foraged herbs that can assist in this journey, along with archival records of the healing work of the ancestral south.
EVERYONE’S A MUSICIAN; ANYONE CAN CONDUCT
Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra (AIO)
Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra (AIO) proposes to make a space for ROOTers to create and conduct ensemble improvised music. We’ll gather participants – musicians or not, share our lexicon of conductor’s gestures, then, under different conductors, play, sing, speak, and/or create percussive sounds as an ensemble. Any participant can also conduct. We’ll ask participants to form ensembles to play during the week with a new conductor. We’ll invite movers and visual artists to join. Why not finish it with a finale concert by members of AIO including everyone who wants to play, and conducted by recent recruits?
(GWAN BACK EN FETCH IT)
Lady SheRo and D.R.I.V.E.N. (Divine Respectable Vibrant Empowering Naturalistas)
An interactive workshop sharing Gullah Geechee Culture. It’s a blend of theatre, story-sharing along with Afro-rhythms and movement inspired by nature. We began with an ancestral tribute, followed by breath; then our cultural journey begins. We practice many of our Ancestors African traditions. My family in particular carries on one of our oldest traditions; the art of Sweetgrass Basket making. We will be sharing a theatrical performance that brings the audience with us onto my Great Grandfather’s sweetgrass basket stand alongside highway 17 in Mount Pleasant, SC. Attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing for movement and bring yoga mats/ percussion instruments (optional).
Chief Laura Yohualtlahuiz
Language can heal us when we are broken, but what kind of words heal us when our hearts, bodies and souls are gaping, spewing out blood and dying? The ephemeral nature of blossoming needs space to decay as do our words. Decay is a necessary process that fertilizes change and naturally moves towards liberation by allowing death to exist as an alchemizing part of growth. We will reflect on the process of decay through movement, wordsmithing and art-making and collaboratively experiment with creating art as a ritual with nature using local seeds, foliage, mindful foraging, our bodies and our tongue. This session will be held outside.
Abigail Gómez, MFA
Petals for Palestine: A Healing Art Workshop, is an effort to connect with other individuals who want to gather and share space in solidarity with Palestine. Abigail Gómez, MFA & Social Emotional Arts Facilitator, developed the concept of this collaborative public art project as a way of processing grief and offering support to others who are heartbroken and outraged about the ongoing cruelty of the occupying state. The goal of this public art installation is to create 15,000+ clay poppies to represent the children lost to the genocide since October.
*Starred sessions are those led by Workgroups and/or staff, focused on the mission and function of Alternate ROOTS.
ART IN CITY HALL: YOUR DAY-TO-DAY
INVOLVEMENT WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT MATTERS FAR MORE THAN A REFERENDUM ON THE WHITE HOUSE EVERY 4 YEARS
Toni Shifalo, Kathie deNobriga, & Daniel Johnson
The formative years of Toni’s artist career coincide with the birth and growth of ROOTS. As her focus turned from artistic training to activism through arts, she struggled to figure out how Juggling and Music skills could be considered “activism” although she knew inherently her art is the ability to engage and thus be a powerful agent for change. She must use theatrical presentation skills, stage knowledge, and Vaudeville Bravado to attempt to influence local government. This panel will host a conversation about using artistic skills to influence local governments and policies.
Clyde Valentin; Hollerin Space - muthi reed & Angela Davis Johnson; daniel johnson; Higher Ground - Kate Handzlik & Nicole Garneau; Simone Cottrell
This session highlights the work of three artists/collectives across three distinct communities through the South who are participating in a national initiative. This session will be both reflective of the successes & learnings of each project from Harlan County, Kentucky and Phillips County, Arkansas to Utica, Mississippi to explore how this work carries forward, not only in each place, but across the ROOTS spectrum. The session is designed to be a workshopping of possibilities and how each project addressed seemingly intractable challenges such as access to clean water and healthy food to economic development and community cohesion and solidarity.
*LET’S TALK ABOUT IT: DEMYSTIFYING POWER AT ROOTS
Alice Lovelace, Bill Cleveland, Hannah Burt, Aimee McCoy, Clarissa Crawford
This conversation series serves as a pathway to intentional conversations within the ROOTS community, focusing on solutions. This first session will allow members to unpack “power” within the Alternate ROOTS community. Participants will explore and reflect on:
• How can ROOTS do its Best Work? / How can I do my Best Work?
• How can we grow and deepen our community practice?
• How can we embrace agency, power, and responsibility in our work?
• How can our power be best exercised to support our work?
*SELF-MARKETING FOR ARTISTS
Thysha Shabazz, Shoshana Israel, Nicole Garneau, and Deisha Oliver
Do you struggle to market yourself and your art offerings? Come get expert advice and guidance from the Alternate ROOTS Communications Team. All ROOTS members are invited to create a Member Profile on the new Alternate ROOTS website, or give your old one a glow up! Get a high quality headshot and talk about all kinds of strategies for connecting your art with your audience.
*FINANCE DEEP DIVE
Tiffany Dawson
This session is a deep dive into all things finance. The agenda will be designed by those who attend the session. Everything you always wanted to know about ROOTS finances but were afraid to ask!
RENEWING OUR CLIMATE NARRATIVE THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL ZINE
GulfRoots Collective
Dive into the pages of GulfRoots Collective’s zine of art and storytelling from the heart of the US Gulf South’s climate justice movement. Funded through Alternate Roots’ 2023 Artistic Assistance Project Development and guided by the Toni Cade Bambara’s provocation to “make the revolution irresistible,” this project is a culmination of our past learnings and the “planting of seeds” during community film screenings, convenings, and last year’s ROOTS Week. We invite artists, storytellers, organizers, and others to hear insights and dialogue on how to build narrative power and turn art into climate action.
RESEARCH SHARE OUT:
THEATRE FOR YOUTH WORLD CONGRESS IN CUBA
Justice Ciera & Garrett Blaize
YOOTS Organizer Justice Ciera, traveled to the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ World Congress) to share their latest research article, “Shaping Culture Through Relational Interconnectedness in TYA (Emergentheatre)” at the International Theatre for Young Audiences Research Network (ITYARN) symposium. Justice will facilitate a group analysis of aesthetics used in performances for youth from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and more. We will view images and videos of live theatre geared towards young people and ponder what cultural information might be communicated to young people through various aesthetics devices.
Tim Habeger, Aimee McCoy, and Shelby Hofer
As we focus on rebirth, renewal, and progress, SeedWorks is all about gestation, nurturing, and sustainability. This free, self-directed and agile incubator program may be of use to many. SeedWorks shares resources such as space and planning help for artists of all disciplines and promotes non-hierarchical mentorships where those who have gained certain experiences can send the elevator back for those who need a hand in their own career journey.
*WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF ILI LIVING ROOM
Lauren Fitzgerald
Welcome to The House of ILI’s Living Room is a space to process the Pollinator presentations through the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) Fellowship four core questions and learning arch. After each Pollination Keynote, the ILI alumni will host FamILI (all who want to come) in the Living Room to collectively process the presentation with facilitated conversations and art making (poetry, visual art, and movement) in small groups.
LATE NIGHT OPEN MIC: WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
Late Night is ROOTS’ legendary after-hours cabaret/open mic. At Lutheridge, Late Night will be hosted by a rotating cast of incredible performers and musicians. Late Night offers an inclusive space for creative expression. Please note that there may be adult subject matter in this space. Parents, please selfmonitor your young ones.
StoriedROOTS is an audio recording project. ROOTers are asked to tell their stories, from their experiences with Alternate ROOTS, theme of the current event, or about important times. These stories are produced and added to the ROOTS Archive. They are used in promotional and programming initiatives as well as material for an artistic project by Aimee McCoy.
Abigail Gómez is a Latine visual artist, teaching artist, arts advocate, and owner of Pretty Girl Painting. She is also the founder of Arte Libre VA, a nonprofit arts organization that empowers Latine, Black, and Youth of the Global Majority through equitable access to quality arts education and programming, and uplifts communities through participatory public art projects. @PrettyGirlPainting, www. prettygirlpainting.com; @ArteLibreVA, www.artelibreva.org
Aimee McCoy. Director of the ROOTS Membership Team, Aimee is primarily a film and theater artist, multifaceted in her approach to creative expression and development. She is always seeking to build. Roles she has performed in creative art making: performer, director, devisor, writer, designer, editor, educator, and facilitator. www. theartizencompany.com, @theartizencompany
Alice Lovelace, with a Master’s Degree from Antioch University, focuses on the artist’s role in communities with conflicts. Alice helped draft ROOTS’ Resources for Social Change principles using her proactive approach as a socially engaged artist. She is Executive Director of ArtsXchange, an artist-owned community arts center in East-Point, Georgia.
Ananda Lo is a writer, archivist, yogi, herbalist. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Ananda discusses and focuses on healing through art. She does this through her poetry, productions, herbs, yoga and research. And believes that approaching wellness from natural, creative, and future forward capacity could bring a global shift into healthier living.
Andre Love is a multi instrumental artivist, a human with a big heart trying to navigate life through love and creativity, a passionate chef, plant dad, community organizer, Creative Program Director at Teens With a Purpose. @weloveyou_andre
Ashlee Haze is a poet and spoken word artist from Atlanta by way of Chicago. Ashlee was the first poet to appear on NPR’s Tiny Desk series and is the host of Moderne Renaissance, an educational and cultural podcast for moderne thinkers. Her studio album “The Anatomy of a Breakup” is available on streaming platforms. @ashleehaze, www. ashleehaze.com
Assane Kouyaté, a culture bearer, griot and multidisciplinary artist, leverages traditional West African arts for educational and community empowerment. Kouyaté’s latest project, Cultural Arts in Neighborhood Community Spaces, supported by ROOTS, Mellon and Ford Foundation, transforms communities into vibrant, inclusive, equitable and dynamic hubs of cultural exchange and artistic expression. Website: www.kouyatejeli.com Instagram/Facebook: @ kouyatejeli
The Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra creates space for musicians and listeners alike to engage in an idiosyncratic music experience as a potent demonstration of the possibilities of social action in art. Empowering each individual to connect with their own expression and that of the other participants, AIO offers radical practices of communication and mobilization. https://www.atlimprovorch.org/ https://www.instagram.com/atlanta_improvisers_orchestra/
Bill Cleveland is a pioneer in the cultural community development movement and one of its most poetic documenters. His books Art in Other Places, Making Exact Change, and Art and Upheaval are considered seminal works. An organizer, teacher, researcher, and musician, he directs the Center for Study of Art and Community. For the past three years, Bill has hosted The Center’s podcast Change the Story / Change the World: A Chronicle of Art and Community Transformation.
Brooks Emanuel utilizes his backgrounds in dance, law, policy, and politics to challenge social injustice through movement. His Moving New Futures workshop uses improvised movement to help social justice practitioners imagine new possibilities for a just society. His performance works investigate humans’ relationships to each other and the rest of the natural world. IG: @ruckus_be / Facebook @ brooksemanuel
Physical comedian and dancer Catalina Paz Tapia is always researching different ways of expression beyond conventional forms. She has become a storyteller and cultural bearer through many of her characters. She believes in the power of laughter and failure as tools for learning, healing and growth. She dedicates her life to her work, social circus. She is passionate about teaching and performing. Her goals are to always be open to discovery and plant as many seeds of change for future generations.
Charmille Walters is the President of Rhythmic Rapture with the mission to advance the healing powers of music and dance. She provides teaching community artist and production services. Ms. Charm produced educational and spiritual events with renowned artists and scholars at a university after receiving her B.A. in dance.
Chief Laura Yohualtlahuiz is a Mexican-born detribalized Xicana recognized for her canon of healing justice praxis intersecting performance, ritual, & ancestral healing arts as transformative justice tools for liberation. They’re a Culture Bearer, Veteran Bgirl, Wife, and Mami passionate about healing colonial trauma through matriarchal leadership, cultural resilience and folklife preservation. IG: @ mexicaboogie - @decorazoncircles - @ayolopaktzin WEBSITE: www. decorazoncircles.com
Clarissa Crawford is a Creative Director and Strategist who builds pathways for change as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Alternate ROOTS. As the lead steward of partnership-building grantmaking for the community, she facilitates equitable processes to provide direct funding and capacity-building support for Southern artists and community organizers.
Clyde Valentín is a Creative Producer, Entrepreneur and Cultural Strategist. He has over twenty years of experience managing startup organizational environments, multidisciplinary projects and live events. He is currently the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of One Nation/One Project and their national arts and health campaign Arts for EveryBody. @artsforeverybody
Courtney Rohan is a writer, singer, and coach with formal education and certifications in English, Psychology, Education and Yoga Flow. As a copywriter and Wellness Writing coach, she supports individuals and small businesses with a wellness approach to writing and content creation, while offering wellness classes and courses online. IG: Courtneyrohan / Yourwritingcoachcourtney
daniel johnson, multi-disciplinary artist-activist, founder of Curious Citizens organized to introduce citizens to their local and state government facilities.
doris davenport aka “Dr. D.” Pronouns - person / per; Visionary 75-yearold sapiosexual lesbian-feminist born & raised in traditional Cherokee Homelands (colonized as Northeast Georgia). Performance poet, writer, educator. BA Paine College; MA SUNY/Buffalo; PhD Univ. of Southern California. ROOTS member since 1998. Testimony, person’s 13th published book, is now available. Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/doris.davenport.37; Linked in: https://www.linkedin. com/in/davenportpoetprofessor/
Deisha Oliver is the Architect of Liminal Spaces [Communications Manager] at Alternate ROOTS. Deisha has spent the last 20 years as an artist advocate, a brand storyteller, a designer, and a writer in Atlanta, Georgia. Deisha is also a multi-instrumentalist and soundscape artist. She works as a studio musician and a performing artist in public art spaces, as well as with dance and theatre companies. Oliver currently composes and performs with her group Flight of Swallows, the Atlanta Improvisor’s Orchestra, and sometimes simply solo under a bridge. Her most recent credits include composition and cellist muse for Theatrical Outfit’s An Iliad and as an ensemble performer and the composer for Emory University’s production of Lorca’s Blood Wedding. www.dtmillar.com
Elise Witt’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Elise’s music is featured in her Choral Series, and her songbooks All Singing, and Imagine A Circle, songs for using singing/songwriting to teach English language learners. www. EliseWitt.com
Garrett Blaize is a community organizer and administrator from the Appalachian Mountains. They serve as the staff lead for grantmaking and philanthropic partnerships at the Appalachian Community Fund (ACF). Garrett supports the Waymakers Collective, an Assembly of radical arts grantmakers serving artists and culture-bearers across Appalachia. Garrett serves on the Coordinating Committee of Alliance for Appalachia and as a volunteer leader of their local affiliate Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, a local organizing collective dedicated to building deep democracy, accelerating a just transition, and remediating the harm caused by the historic extraction of labor, capital, and natural resources from the Appalachian region.
The Gender Gallery is an interdisciplinary documentary theatre project that explores the expansiveness of gender through creativity, community, and performance while cultivating a creative archive about trans and gender-nonconforming lived experiences in the South. @thegendergallery
GulfRoots Collective builds Gulf South communities’ power to stop climate injustice and build grassroots solutions. Cathrine (she/her), Zach (he/him), and Kathleen (she/her) are moved by Grace-Lee Boggs words: “Now is the time to grow our soul.” Beyond GulfRoots, we grow our souls with Dream Defenders and Jewish Voice for Peace. @ gulfroots.co @catherine_villalonga @bocaflojaquilombo
Hannah Burt is a Kentucky-based theater maker, teaching artist, and youth advocate. She is a teaching artist with the Kentucky Arts Council and an artist in residence with Clear Creek Creative. As a CASA advocate and theater artist, she believes in supporting young people’s agency and imagination.
Helms Jarrell, an interdisciplinary artist, integrates art, faith, and culture into organizing strategies for social change. Through mixed media, ceramics, and needlework, she expresses the significance of interdependence. Helms is co-Director of QC Family Tree and organizing pastor of Beloved Community Charlotte. helmsjarrell.com @iamhelmsie
Higher Ground is a community arts organization in Harlan County, Kentucky (pop. 25,000) that creates performances and other artworks drawn from oral histories by and about Harlan Countians. Higher Ground is a project of the Appalachian Program at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. @highergroundinharlan, https://www.highergroundinharlan.com/
The work of the Investment Strategy Workgroup is centered on the $3 million grant ROOTS received from MacKenzie Scott in 2020. These funds are currently being held in a values-aligned investment account at Merrill Lynch. When the funds were received, it was decided we would use a portion of the funds for projects like the ROOTS book and archives, but the majority of the funds would be held to allow the ROOTS membership to participate in deciding if and how they should be spent.
Issim is an award winning multiplatform artist, director, entrepreneur and activist utilizing arts to catalyze and unify “the village”. Africanrooted step, acting, directing, hosting/MC, spoken word performance, workshop development and implementation, radio production, vocal and instrumental performer are the several roles Ramsey plays. issimdark.com, bspokeconsults.com, issimd on IG, Billy Ramsey on Facebook, Issim Dark on Facebook,
Ivy Parsons: I am a sculptor creating installations in nature, community gardens and community spaces. Instagram.com/Ivyparsons55
Jeff Mather is a community-based public artist, an environmental sculptor, and a STEAM teaching artist based in Atlanta. https://www. instagram.com/mather_site_art/
Jess Mullins Fullen grew up in far southeastern Kentucky, reared by her grandparents in the same coal camp house her papaw grew up in. She currently resides in Southwestern Virginia, just over the hill, where she is deeply engaged as a community and cultural organizer. Jess is a trained theater practitioner, currently performing Cumberland Mountain Muse, the story of Black Kentuckian Effie Waller Smith. Jess is the first roster artist of the Affrilachian Arts Institute. https://www.affrilachianarts.org/ @affrilachianoperator @affrilachianartsinstitute
Jessica Valoris is an interdisciplinary artist and community facilitator of Black American and Jewish ancestry, based in Washington, DC. Jessica and Kelly ‘GreenLight” Thomas have been creating ritual performance and sacred spaces together since 2009. @jessicavaloris
Justice Ciera is a black feminist theatre maker, cultural organizer, and researcher from Nassau, Bahamas who currently resides on Yemassee land in Savannah, Georgia. They have organized on behalf of YOOTS at ROOTS since 2022, while working at Savannah Children’s Theatre. Currently, Justice is on staff as Education Manager for Savannah Music Festival. IG: @justiemaxey
K.C. Ashinay: I am a multidisciplinary performer, facilitator, and urban gardener dedicated to environmental and transformative justice. By blending dance, music, acting, and writing, I explore consent, intimacy, and our connection to nature. My work promotes compassion, joy, and community building for personal and planetary well-being.
Kathie DeNobriga is an actor, director, and former Mayor of her town.
Kelly “GreenLight” Thomas is an artist, cultural organizer & creative coach from New Jersey with roots in the Commonwealth of Dominica and Alabama. Kelly and Jessica Valoris have been creating ritual performance and sacred spaces together since 2009. @kellygreenlight
King Shakur is a poet, DJ and creative whose art is steeped in the Hip Hop tradition. From South Dallas, TS. @PoetDJKingShakur
Kristoff Skalet is an eclectic artist who leads with his heart. Expressing himself in both the visual and performing arts. A soulful acapella singer and improvisational dancer who utilizes the power and strength of his African ancestry to tell unique stories through his instrument. An actor playing a wide range of cultures and backgrounds as he interprets the world around him. Much of his inspiration stems from world travel and digging deeply into the memories and experiences that many may call tragic yet his navigation through these challenges makes him triumphant and grateful as a vessel.
Lady SheRo and D.R.I.V.E.N. (Divine Respectable Vibrant Empowering Naturalistas) SewGullahGeecheefied is a performing arts group based in Jacksonville, FL and Charleston, SC that shares the vibrant culture of the Gullah Geechee people through rhythmic sounds, motion, oral history or story-sharing, and theatrical performances. Our African-inspired drumming, dancing, folk art, and handmade pieces like Sweetgrass Art, jewelry, paintings, and hobo bags represent the rich traditions of our community. We have captivated the hearts of audiences with a variety of quality performances and shows. @drivenllc, https:// sewgullahgeecheefi.wixsite.com/sewgullahgeecheefie
Lauren Fitzgerald is a Cultural Way Maker and multi-disciplinary performing artist. She is the Managing Director of the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) and the founder and Strategist for Strategize/619, a cultural strategy firm. She has worked with several art institutions, theaters, and community development corporations. @weareili @strategize619 #thisiswhatleadershiplookslike
Malcolm Davis is an Affrilachian artist, educator, and activist born and raised in Berea, KY. He’s a 3rd-generation ROOTer and proud resident of Appalachia. https://www.affrilachianarts.org/ @affrilachianoperator @affrilachianartsinstitute
Marquetta Dupree is the Owner of MD Wellness in Atlanta, GA offering holistic health services for the body, mind and spirit. She has a degree in Sports Medicine and she is a licensed group fitness instructor who works with all ages including special populations. In all the work Marquetta does, her goal is to facilitate healthy community and connection. IG: md_wellness FB: MarquettaDupreeWellness
Meg Whalen is the Director of Communications & External Relations for the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture in Charlotte, N.C. She is a founder of Arts Impact Charlotte, a local initiative committed to understanding how the arts and design address issues of justice, equity, mobility, and well-being in Charlotte.
The Membership Development Workgroup is a special group of ROOTers (Voting, General, and Organizational members) who volunteer to work closely with the ROOTS Membership Team to review and evaluate current practices, strategize and develop new initiatives for the ROOTS membership body, and help execute these initiatives when possible.
Nicole Garneau is an interdisciplinary performing artist and the author of Performing Revolutionary: Art, Action, Activism. She is the guest Artist in Residence at Higher Ground in Harlan and the Interim Director of Communications at Alternate ROOTS. nicolegarneau.com
Normando Ismay, born northwest Argentina. Moved to the USA, 1974. Lives Toccoa, Ga. Normando created work in metal smithing, sculpture, painting, installation art, storytelling, performance and theatre. His recycled aluminum sculptures exhibited MasonScharfenstein Museum, Piedmont University till Sep. 7, 2024. Normando created “Café Bizzoso” an installation/performance space that traveled. normando.biz
Omari Fox, New Danger Crew Co-founder, is an Artivist. Heavily inspired by the “Stop the Violence” Hip-Hop Movement of the late 1980s in his hometown Bronx, NY.
Paige Heurtin Caretaker, Peacemaker & Resource Facilitator [Interim Co-Executive Director and Managing Director] Paige serves the ROOTS community by ensuring that the staff has the capacity, energy and financial resources to fulfill the ROOTS’ mission of supporting artists and activists working in the US South. Her work includes financial management, human resources and organizational strategy. Paige’s work is centered in the values of kindness and compassion, and her goal is the creation of a human focused work culture where all employees can thrive.
Rasha Abdulhadi calls on you to renew your commitment to resisting genocide everywhere. May your commitment to Palestinian liberation deepen your commitment to your own. May your exhaustion deepen and make you immovable. May we all be drawn irresistibly closer to refusals as spectacular as the violence waged against us. twitter: @rashaabdulhadi
Rev. Greg Jarrell is a cultural organizer with QC Family Tree in the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. He works with words and music to impact housing and neighborhood justice issues. Jarrell writes about theology and history and co-leads Carolina Social Music Club, a popular jazz band. He and his wife, Helms, are ordained ministers and are raising two sons. Greg is the author of Our Trespasses: White Churches and the Taking of American Neighborhoods (Fortress Press). He frequently speaks, teaches, and preaches on place, race, and faith.
Sam(ira) Obeid is an internationally renowned spoken word poet, a reputed anti-discrimination educator, and a local activist. Her commitment to justice stems from a long and existing journey of knowing what it is to have one’s humanity revoked socially, politically, legally and economically. Instagram: @poetry.is.activism Website: www.poetryisactivism.com
Samuel Valdez graduated from San Diego State University in 1991 with a B.A. degree in theater arts. He is an actor, playwright, director, and producer who has worked with several groups around San Diego and nationwide. Currently he runs is own performing arts bi-national company, CARPA San Diego. https://www.facebook.com/samuel. valdez.33/, https://www.facebook.com/CARPASanDiego/
Shanon Williams Hughes , raised in Pittsburgh, is dedicated to serving others through facilitation and art. A University of Pittsburgh social work graduate, she founded Self Care Housekeeping, a trauma-informed service emphasizing spatial health and wellness. She also established The Narrative Justice, empowering marginalized voices and promoting accountable media representation. Since 2020, Shanon has expanded her mediation work to include human-centered training and consulting on spatial health and wellness. She facilitates workshops on healthy boundaries and conflict resolution, fostering healthier environments. Her initiatives reflect a profound commitment to holistic wellness, social justice, and community empowerment.
Shannon Ivey MFA, AEA, PCC from Memphis, TN, is a professional actor, director, Tedx speaker, ICF certified professional coach, doctoral student at the European Graduate School, and Theatre of the Oppressed joker. Ms. Ivey taught theatre to all ages for over 25 years. Her creative work blurs the line between art, activism, and advocacy. Shannon has a medical memoir coming out in Fall of 2025.
Shannon M. Turner is a professional storyteller and story coach. She is the Founder/Creative Director of StoryMuse, which offers storytelling techniques for personal discernment, team building, advocacy, and community development in effort to cultivate a world where all stories are heard and honored. Read more at StoryMuse.net. Facebook.com/StoryMuse, Instagram.com/Story_ Muse
Shawneki Wright is a queer indigenous black woman and an emerging artist currently based in Austin, TX, USA hailing from the culturally rich city of New Orleans, La, USA. Her work is deeply influenced by her commitment to understanding the complexities of the human experience as well as healing, recovery, and self discovery. instagram.com/shawneki
Shelby Hofer is a writer/performer and Co-director at Atlanta’s PushPush Arts for over 20 years. Her diverse career includes stand-up comedy and 30+ stage & screen productions in Atlanta alone. Her award-winning solo shows, such as “101 Humiliating Stories” garnered numerous awards including one of the Top 50 Shows of the Decade and a Best Actress award from Creative Loafing in 2010. She’s currently touring “High Risk, Baby!” - an original comedic exploration of motherhood and a journey to Ukraine for conception. She is currently working on adapting this show into a short film and graphic novel.
Shoshana Isreal brings over 15 years of experience in communications and digital marketing, currently shining as the Senior Digital Marketer at the Hey Thysha team. In the realm of digital content creation and influencer marketing, Shoshana has collaborated with dynamic brands such as NolaSkinsentials, BaseButter, Black Girl Sunscreen, and AbsoluteJoi Skincare. Her role at Harlem’s Fashion Row, blends event planning, social media expertise and AI marketing. Shoshana has been working with Alternate ROOTS communications team as a marketing consultant and digital content creator since 2022. https://heythysha.com/
A culture keeper of the Gullah Geechee ways, Stanley Walker learned the traditions of his ancestors growing and living on Sapelo Island. The son of Cornelia Walker Bailey, Stanley Walker was trained to be a storyteller, craftsman, fisherman and man of the earth. He learned herbalism from his grandmother and aunts. And learned the art of net making, hunting, and gardening from his grandfather and uncles. During his tenure as a technician, wildlife manager, and land steward with GA’s Dept of Natural Resources, Stanley reinforced his childhood knowledge over the decades with embodied physical practice and communion with the island.
Tambra Omiyale Harris is the Artistic Director of Giwayen Mata, an all-sistah dance and drumming company in Atlanta. She is a dance educator and a STEAM educator and an eco-activist. www. instagram.com/mstambraharris/
For more than 20 years, Thysha M. Shabazz has been making waves in the realms of media, digital media, marketing, public relations, and event production. Now, at the helm of Hey Thysha!, she’s collaborating directly with arts, culture, and purpose-driven organizations and businesses. Her focus? Digging into their unique stories and guiding them on how to weave those narratives into impactful marketing strategies.Thysha has been working with Alternate ROOTS communications team as a marketing consultant and copywriter since 2022. https://heythysha.com/
Tiffany Dawson comes to Alternate ROOTS with 20+ years of finance and accounting experience in the corporate sector as well as a small business owner. She has always had a passion for financial literacy and the nonprofit arena as a result of her upbringing and desire to give back. With undergraduate degrees in accounting and political science from Tuskegee University, she is excited about the intersectionality between finance and the social arena as a way to “lift others as we climb” and to always lead with humility and empathy.
Tiffany Pyette is a Co-Executive Director of The Appalachian Rekindling Project as well as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and facilitator from central Appalachia. Their creative work asserts that arts and culture are some of our most valuable tools of healing and of resistance. @appalachian_rekindling_project on IG, appalachianrekindlingproject.org
Tim Habeger is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Atlanta’s arts incubator, PushPush Arts. Tim started in New York at La Mama ETC with Ellen Stewart. He was an ensemble member at The Neighborhood Group Theater with Sandy Meisner while moonlighting at CBGB, The Kat Club, and The Bitter End. www.pushpusharts.com
Toni Shifalo wanted to be in show business as I was born in a trunk. Made a musical career on the washtub bass; I learned to juggle, badly, so I became a clown. I needed to change the world using my talents to engage and influence people so I am an activist.
Zahra Ali is an artist, technologist, strategist, and civil society advocate with over a decade of experience across the public and private sectors. Zahra’s current body of work centers and uplifts the lived experiences of women of color. This focus is realized through active projects in the visual arts, writing, tech-strategy & leadership development services. Instagram: Zahraali.91
Call 911 and then notify the nearest ROOTS staff member. For full details of the ROOTS Week Safety Plan, please find printed copies in the Registration Office.
Closest Hospital:
Parkridge Hospital 100 Hospital Dr, Hendersonville, NC 28792 / 828-684-8501.
Nearby Hospitals:
Mission Health System 509 Biltmore Ave, Asheville, NC 28801 / 828-213-1111.
Pardee UNC Health Care 2695 Hendersonville Rd, Arden NC 28704 / 828-651-6300.
Lutheridge Guest Services can be reached, day or night at: 828-6065684. (The number is on your room key chain!)
ROOTS Staff can be reached by emailing rootsweek@alternateroots. org.
You can also call ROOTS Staff by calling 404-577-1079 and the extension of the person you need to speak with. The call will be rerouted to our cell phones.
Constance Collier-Mercado, 470-210-4418
Marina Lujan, Operations Manager: 404-577-1079 x 304
Wireless access at Lutheridge is spotty. We encourage you to unplug as much as possible this week, and really soak in all ROOTS Week has to offer. If you absolutely need WiFi, going to a local coffee shop will be your best bet.
People should feel free to enjoy beverages of their choice. We also support those in recovery. Please keep in mind that not everyone drinks alcohol or feels comfortable around drinking. We ask that you don’t push it on others or serve someone who is underage.
Weather permitting, the pool will be open during ROOTS Week. Please see the schedule for the time blocks. The pool is a bit of a hike (you can find it on the map on your schedule) but the waterslide makes it totally worth it!
Alternate ROOTS is member-based and focused. As artists and cultural organizers based in the US South, we are creating a better world together. Joining ROOTS is the first step into a vital and engaged community that creates powerful and moving art – and supports each other along the path. For more information on each membership level, please visit the ROOTS website at alternateroots. org.
ROOTS now offers quarterly new member orientation calls, virtually, to help new members start off their membership more engaged and connected. The next orientation opportunity will be Thursday, Septmber 12th, 2024 ET via Zoom. Please find all upcoming orientations on ROOTS Public Calendar here: alternateroots.org/ calendar-public/
Be on the lookout for virtual New ROOTer Meet-ups where you can begin to develop lifelong relationships with your fellow new ROOTers! If you have any question or concerns about ROOTS membership please contact membership@alternateroots.org or call during open office hours, also found on ROOTS’ Calendar.
Alternate ROOTS is supported by the generous donations from our members, individual donors, and funders including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Surdna Foundation, the Windward Fund, Fund for Southern Communities, Hill-Snowdon Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Kresge Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ROOTS Week would not be possible without the ROOTS Week Workgroup, the Executive Committee, the Cultural Organizing Team, all of the ROOTS and ROOTS Week staff, and the Lutheridge staff.
Alternate ROOTS is an organization with 48 years of history, based in the Southern USA.* Our mission is to support the creation and presentation of original art, in all its forms, which is rooted in a particular community of place, tradition or spirit. As a coalition of cultural workers we strive to be allies in the elimination of all forms of oppression. ROOTS is committed to social and economic justice and the protection of the natural world and addresses these concerns through its programs and services.
*The ROOTS Region covers the Southern area of the United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.