2010 has been a hallmark year for Alternate ROOTS. The commitment to foster space for creative thinking about real issues is apparent in the work of our membership. We have chosen our path, and we walk it without trepidation. We love in the face of hate, speak truth through movement, words, images and sounds as we work collectively to build communities of resistance to oppression in all its forms.

    Unlike many of our peer organizations, and the arts field at large, Alternate ROOTS is experiencing unprecedented growth. This trend is reflected in the continued support of the Ford Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation and our new relationships with both the Kresge Foundation and Open Society Foundations. ROOTS' national image reflects a multicultural tableau of artist-citizens embracing the multifaceted problems and issues of a New South from multiple perspectives.
    As we close 2010 and begin the celebration of our 35^th anniversary, there is much work to do. The Baltimore community is excited and eager to host ROOTS Fest 2011. Our production team, the innovation ensemble, and all of the local supporters are aligned to make this event the best is can possibly be. We need all hands on deck to ensure the core mission of ROOTS is apparent to the world come June. There are many opportunities for you to engage. If you are not sure how you can contribute, please feel free to reach out to me at your convenience.

    We are placing our history on display for the world to examine, analyze, respond, and reflect on what 35 years of placing the art in the center of community has produced. We have a great deal to be thankful for.

    Throughout the year I have called on many of you for support, advice, and sometimes just casual conversation. I appreciate your trust in me to do the important and delicate work of this organization. I thank you for supporting my growth as an administrator, an artist, and as a human being. As a collective, you have much to offer and I am honored and delighted to be a recipient of your wisdom and love.

    Collectively, our voices are being heard through the fog of inequity because we align ourselves with people that live in a place of abundant love for self. This almost always translates to love for others, and you know what always follows love. Peace.

• Call for artists - Due December 31, 2011
• Call for volunteers - ongoing!
   

Dear Friend,

We are calling on writers, singers, and our artist friends to submit a work to Thousand Kites for our national radio broadcast

Calls From Home.

We hope to record hundreds of poems to reach the 2.4 million people in our nation's prisons. Will you help?

All you have to do is call 877-410-4863.

You can submit your poem/songs (or read a prisoner's poem if you

have permission) by calling it into our toll-free line and recording it on

our answering machine. Don't worry if you slip up, we will edit all calls.

Ten years ago when prisoners in our region's newly opened Supermax

facilities wrote us about human rights abuses and racism we responded as artists.

One of the first poems that came back to us from Wallens Ridge State

Prison was a gripping poem called "Grave Prison Yard." We responded by creating a public performance. Hear Grave Prison Yards and other poems on our website.

We are asking you to submit a work on the themes of incarceration,

family, the power to endure and anything that would lift the spirits and

spark creativity in our thousands of prisoner listeners.

Your work will be added to our website, broadcast on over 200 radio

stations as part of Calls from Home and released as part of a CD

celebrating all of the calls that come in this year.

Call: 877-410-4863.

Learn more about this project.

Peace,
Thousand Kites Team