Wildlife and nature

Animal shelters and rescues

Theater and dance

Rivers, parks and trails

Hunger and food

Schools and learning

Housing and homelessness

Community health

Mental health

Mentoring and foster care

Legal help and rights

Jobs and money help

Atlanta

The Triangle

Everywhere

The Collective Workshop

Royal Animal Refuge

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta

Georgia Advancing Communities Together

Atlanta Writers Club

Jewish Fertility Foundation

Elly MAB

Nicole Gurgel

Deisha Oliver

Mel Cardona

Long reads

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Alternate ROOTS Essentials

✍🏽 TODAY is a great day to start your application for Artistic Assistance Project Development! 👨🏿‍💻 Starting your grant application EARLY is a great way to identify any questions or sticking points and get full clarity before you submit. ☎️ Proposal Support Office Hours TODAY! Every Monday during the application period, Program Manager Elly MAB will hold office hours from 5 – 6pm ET. This is a great way to get your questions about the Artistic Assistance application and selection process answered while connecting with other ROOTS members! Register for Office Hours at 🔗 linkinbio “Office Hours Registration” Artistic Assistance Project Development provides direct funding to ROOTS members to support community-focused projects and collaborations. Project Development awards range from $500 to $6,000. These grants can be used to support live performance, exhibitions of visual art, workshop presentations, and much more. Program details at our 🔗 linkinbio under “Artistic Assistance Project Development” 🗓️ Monday, October 5, 11:59 pm ET: 🔚 Application & Membership Deadline 🗓️ End of November: 📧 Award Notifications 📸 Ariston Jacks

🎨 ROOTers! You have just under ONE WEEK to complete your application for for Artistic Assistance Project Development! Now is the time to write your proposal, craft your budget, and gather your work samples! Here are SOME of the things Artistic Assistance Project Development Supports: ✦ Live Performances ✦ Filming of Performances ✦ Motion Picture Production ✦ Photography ✦ Audio Recording Projects ✦ Podcasts – Video or Audio ✦ Publishing / Book Projects ✦ Workshop Presentations ✦ Gallery or Visual Art Exhibitions ✦ Conference or Festival Production ✦ Artists’ Retreats ✦ Archiving Projects Artistic Assistance Project Development provides direct funding to ROOTS members to support community-focused projects and collaborations. Project Development awards range from $500 to $6,000. These grants can be used to support live performance, exhibitions of visual art, workshop presentations, and much more. Program details at our 🔗 linkinbio under “Artistic Assistance Project Development” 🗓️ Monday, October 5, 11:59 pm ET: Application & Membership Deadline 📧 End of November: Award Notifications 🆘 Proposal Support! Every Monday during the application period, Program Manager Elly MAB will hold office hours from 5 – 6pm ET. This is a great way to get your questions about the Artistic Assistance application and selection process answered while connecting with other ROOTS members! Register for Office Hours at 🔗 linkinbio “Office Hours Registration” 📸 slides 1, 3: mel cardona. Slide 2 courtesy of elisewitt.com

We gather for ROOTS Week in order to struggle together, but also inspire each other with our stories and our art. These are just some of the words that uplifted us at ROOTS Week 2026. Incredible video of ROOTS Week by @chattam. A friend of mine once told me that the only thing that we ever really have to teach with, or talk about, is our lives… -Yvette Hyater For me, art has always been the most revolutionary thing that you can do because there is nothing more revolutionary than being yourself and then putting your view, your view of the world, out there for everyone to see. One thing I firmly believe: you can not free other people, you can only free yourself… -Alice Lovelace A person must open themself to the possibility of bein whole: that’s what healin’ is… -Jo Carson, as performed by Cece Daratany Using culture, art, history, organizing, all of the tools that they can find to save their communities, to heal the wound… -Bob Leonard It is the individual, once they are free, who can join in community with others, who then begin to build a communal path for others to be free—and that’s Alternate ROOTS. That is ROOTS. -Alice Lovelace

50 years worth of stories, over 50 contributors, almost 150 interviewees, more than 400 pages – “the ROOTS book” (as it has been called through its decade of development) is finally here. And just in time for our 50th anniversary! Stories from Alternate ROOTS: It’ll Take Some Tellin’ can be ordered directly from our publisher at our 🔗LinkinBio, or wherever books are sold! *AND* if you are in Atlanta, you can get a book directly in your hands on Sunday, November 15, 3-5pm at the ArtsXChange! We’ll have an amazing crew of Atlanta ROOTers in the house! Co-editors Yvette Angelique Hyater-Adams and Kathie deNobriga will be reading their work. You’ll sing with Elise Witt and enjoy readings by Alice Lovelace, Normando Ismay, and Ashley Walden. Your Emcee for the afternoon will be Ashlee Haze, and Executive Director Wendy Shenefelt will share some words. The November 15 party is FREE, but we ask you to register ahead of time. When you register, you have the opportunity to purchase your book ahead of time and have it waiting for you! You can also buy books at the event from our partner, Charis Books. Register for the November 15 Book Release Party at our 🔗LinkinBio. (Hit the bottom arrow next to “The ROOTS Book is here!”) This fall the book tour starts, and it will continue alongside our 50th Anniversary celebrations. @yvette_angelique_writer @abovebeyondbully @ashleyminnerjones @newvillagepress

ROOTS stays guided by is founders and elders—because they keep showing us the way! ⁠ ⁠ As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary as an organization, we count ourselves lucky to have so many former executive directors present at ROOTS Week. They are witnesses to our journey—the highs and the lows. We know we can call on them when we need perspective. We are so proud of the ways they continue the legacy of Alternate ROOTS in their artistry, their organizing, and their lives. ⁠ ⁠ ROOTS Week 2026 had its very first Artist in Residence: Alice Lovelace, former executive director of Alternate ROOTS and current poet, performer, author, teacher, presenter, publisher, and executive director of the ArtsXChange in Atlanta. During ROOTS Week, Alice delivered a keynote on her history as a revolutionary artist, taught a writing workshop, and brought the house down with a fiery performance of her poetry. That is what we mean by LEGACY! ⁠ ⁠ @artsxchangeatl⁠ @sippculture⁠ @whenshen7⁠ @solsta999⁠ @carolynreneeheals⁠ @lovelacealice⁠

One thing that makes ROOTS Week different from other conferences is that we incorporate body movement of many kinds into the flow of the days. ⁠ ⁠ We celebrate “making a decision” with a dance break. (Yes, we ask the sound folks to have some dance music queued up). ⁠ ⁠ In between performances, someone teaches a line dance. ⁠ ⁠ Early risers get their stretch on lakeside. ⁠ ⁠ Afro-Caribbean dance class with Marquetta DuPree is a perennial favorite, and accessible to many kinds of bodies. ⁠ ⁠ We love to see anyone and everyone moving! ⁠ ⁠ We remind ourselves to breathe, roll our shoulders, and let go of our tight glutes. We remember that we have bodies that need care, in order to do the good, hard work with each other. ⁠ ⁠ @md_wellness⁠ devonknightner

🏋🏿 Crafting a grant proposal might feel like a lot – but don’t worry, we’re here for you. 💸 Artistic Assistance Project Development provides direct funding to ROOTS members to support community-focused projects and collaborations. Project Development awards range from $500 to $6,000. ☎️ Every Monday during the application period, Program Manager Elly MAB will hold office hours from 5 – 6pm ET. This is a great way to get your questions about the Artistic Assistance application and selection process answered while connecting with other ROOTS members! Register for Office Hours at 🔗linkinbio “Office Hours” Other Important Dates: 🗓️Monday, October 5, 11:59 pm ET: 🔚Application & Membership Deadline 🗓️Late November: 📧Award Notifications Questions about Artistic Assistance? Reach out via our contact form at our link in bio. 🔗 Through our funding programs, we live into our mission of supporting artists and culture bearers while striving for social and economic justice.

Children and young people are not only welcome at ROOTS Week—they co-create the culture of ROOTS Week. At ROOTS Week 2026, folks under 30 were organized into three formations: YOUTH VILLAGE: children 0-10 had full day child care and creative programming led by The Bee Collective, who design their work with children around nature, literacy, arts and culturally rooted learning. ROOTeens: (founded by Mah Kouyate and Zaire DuPree) BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE on Saturday night when they showcased their art, music, and dance. ROOTeens was born out of a need for space and programming for young people who have aged out of child care, but are still under 18. ROOTeens were led by poet and teaching artist Jonathan Samuel Eddie. YOOTS: a strong cohort of young people 19+ have been organizing for several years. They taught a workshop on the Appalachian practice of broom-making, and led an intergenerational dialogue about arts activism that was so rich it had to be continued the next day! @beecollectivesc @jonsamedd @affrilachiancowboy @hannahburt

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