An Introduction to the ROOTS Reader

We at Art in the Public Interest have long been deeply interested in Alternate ROOTS — Regional Organization of Theaters/Artists South. In the mid-'80s, when we first began to turn our attention to artists working in communities, we learned a great deal about the field from ROOTS, which was already ten years old.

We were struck by these artists' dedication to achieving social justice through the arts in the places where they live, and by the intensity of their discussions about making culture at the grassroots. We were touched time and again by their long-term relationships with each other and the tender loving care with which they minister to their widespread and diverse family. We were astonished by their participatory methods: members are on the board of directors, and the annual board meeting are a real exercise in democracy. We were riveted by the passionate pledge of these children of the Civil Rights Movement to remain substantially inter-racial and to devote ongoing, meticulous attention to undoing systemic racism in the South and elsewhere. No matter how many times they have stumbled in this resolve, they have continued to return to the family table for 25 years.

We began to publish writing by and about the artists of ROOTS in our magazine, High Performance, back in 1987. And in 1993, when we moved from the West Coast to the Southeast, we dedicated a whole issue of the magazine to ROOTS, profiling the member companies and commissioning many new essays by the artists themselves.

The artists of ROOTS continue to grow and change, and so does their organization, now recognized as a strong influence on the arts in America. They have helped to define art for social justice in the U.S., as well as the Critical Response Process and many strategies for training in this work. Longtime ROOTS members Bob Leonard and Ann Kilkelly joined us as co-founders of the Community Arts Network, and ROOTers Kathie deNobriga, Dudley Cocke and Jan Cohen-Cruz are on our Advisory Board. Kathie deNobriga is also a member of the Art in the Public Interest board of directors.

Because we consider ROOTS a flagship organization in the field we serve, we have gathered here on the CAN Web site an anthology of stories about and by these artists, culled from High Performance, ROOTS publications and other sources, as well as materials produced especially for CAN. We hope they begin to display the depth and breadth of thinking that has emerged from the ROOTS context over the past two decades. May the anthology — and the legacy — continue to grow.

For more information about Alternate ROOTS, visit their Web site (http://www.alternateroots.org).

Linda Frye Burnham is co-director of the Community Arts Network and Art in the Public Interest. She has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 1988.

Original CAN/API publication: October 2003