December 12, 2024

 ROOTS Week 2024. Photo: melisa cardona. As a beloved community of artists and cultural organizers, we know what to do in this time. We keep doing what we’ve been doing in this time.  We keep creating, truth telling, connecting, organizing, imagining and building a world rooted in justice, love, and liberation.  We’ve been doing this work. We’ll keep doing this work.  ROOTS has existed for nearly fifty years because artists and culture bearers are powerful and necessary agents of social transformation. ROOTS has existed for nearly fifty years because this community of justice loving cultural workers knows that we need strong relationships to carry us through.  ROOTS has existed for nearly fifty years because the South has always been on the frontlines of movement building in the US and the world.  In the coming years, we’re going to take care of ourselves and take care of our people. We’re going to stay well and strong and rooted in our mission.  One of the ways we do this is by gathering together. In November 2024, we met up for a virtual post-election “Porch Sit.” We talked, cried, laughed, and grounded ourselves in the strength of our beloved community. We fortified ourselves for the work ahead. 

 ROOTers in solidarity with Palestine at ROOTS Week 2024. Photo: melisa cardona As we get ready for the next presidential administration, Alternate ROOTS is lifting up our role in the Southern Movement Assembly (SMA). Alternate ROOTS has been an integral part of this vital southern movement since 2013, though ROOTS members have been part of SMA since the beginning.  SMA converges Southern frontline assemblies to collectively develop shared action plans rooted in political alignment. As members of the SMA governance team, we practice bottom-up, grassroots governance to build the infrastructure to carry out these action plans. At its core, our work with SMA is about building shared power, expanding democracy and community control, and defending our communities from violence.  We encourage all ROOTS members to join us and get involved with SMA. A great place to start is with the Get Ready Task Force. You can join the Task Force HERE and explore our Get Ready Tools & Resources guide HERE.  If you are looking for political analysis and organizing resources rooted in the realities of our region, this is the place for you.  If you are looking to connect with Southern organizers and artists working in your town, state, or region on the frontline issues you care about, this is the place for you. If you are seeking a Southern political home to root your art/cultural organizing practice in, this is the place for you.  In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing resources and stories from the SMA Task Force on our social media platforms. We’ll also continue including SMA’s monthly calls and yearly gathering in our Member News.  You, as an artist, have a place in this movement. We hope you’ll join us. 

 L-R: Paige Heurtin and Wendy Shenefelt are Alternate ROOTS’ new co-executive directors, and Keryl McCord is the ROOTS ExComm Chair. Photo: melisa cardona, 2024. Beloved Community, This has been quite a year. In fall of 2023, we stepped forward to serve ROOTS as interim co-executive directors. Less than a year later, we were named co-executive directors of Alternate ROOTS. We are honored to provide leadership for the next chapter of Alternate ROOTS.  We deeply love and enjoy this community and are dedicated to bringing the visionary and steady leadership that ROOTS needs at this time in our nearly 50-year history. We’ll continue building strong partnerships and comradeships across the South and nation, just as we’ve done for our shared 20 years at ROOTS and 40 years working for the public good. As we move further into our roles, we are committed to meeting our members and staff where they are, listening to their perspectives, and working together to find solutions.  Our vision for the next chapter of this beloved community involves rooting ourselves in best practices, retaining talented folks, and supporting their wellness and ability to make their strongest contributions. We envision a membership, staff, and Executive Committee that feels fully integrated into the work and community. We will build on ROOTS’ history and support our leaderful community where many can step into the roles needed to seed, tend, and nourish our thriving organization through our 50th year and beyond.  Our 2024 theme 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 as a community, 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. Grounded in our mission, rooted in our art and organizing practices, we can’t wait to see what we can create together! In joyful community, Paige HeurtinWendy ShenefeltCo-Executive Directors, Alternate ROOTS