ROOTS Weekend: Jackson by Alternate ROOTS

Table of Contents Land Acknowledgement............................................................................................1 Welcomes.....................................................................................................................2-3

Wendy Shenefelt, Programs Director, Alternate ROOTS & Monique Davis, Executive Committee Chair daniel johnson, Founder & CEO, Significant Developments, LLC

About Alternate ROOTS & ROOTS Weekend: Jackson....................................4 Local Partner Organizations.......................................................................................5 Meeting Agreements................................................................................................6-7 Venues...............................................................................................................................8 Hotel & Staff Contact Information............................................................................9 ROOTS Weekend: Jackson Schedule...........................................................10-23

Schedule at a Glance................................................................................10-11

Full Schedule...............................................................................................12-23

Special Thanks......................................................................................................24-25

#AlternateROOTS

Alternate ROOTS AlternateROOTS

#ROOTSWeekendJXN

Alternate_ROOTS

Land Acknowledgement As we gather together at ROOTS Weekend: Jackson, we acknowledge that we are on the homelands of the Choctaw people who have stewarded and continue to steward this land for generations. We acknowledge that we are in a city named after a US president who signed and implemented the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to an accelerated theft of First Nations land and the forced relocation of Native people who had been living east of the Mississippi River. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was the first implemented under the Indian Removal Act; it was signed under threat of war by the US government and resulted in the Choctaw people losing all rights to their homelands. We pay our respects to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the descendants of those who resisted removal by the US government to remain in their rightful place. In 1945, the tribe fought for and gained federal recognition, and is now 10,000 members strong with tribal lands stretching over ten counties. We honor the elders of this land, both past and present, near and far.

Welcome: Wendy Shenefelt, Programs Director, Alternate ROOTS & Monique Davis, Executive Committee Chair Alternate ROOTS is excited to kick off our second round of ROOTS Weekends in Jackson, Mississippi, a city that feels like a second home to many ROOTers and is a chosen home for the two of us. ROOTS mission says that, “as a coalition of cultural workers we strive to be allies in the elimination of all forms of oppression.” This mission is reflected in the beauty and challenges in Mississippi. Mississippi – like much of the South – is known as a place of separation and segregation. ROOTS was founded in the South, by artists from the South who believed that arts and culture are powerful tools that can help bridge these divisions, work through long-standing inequities, and heal old wounds. Throughout our 42 years, ROOTS has developed a framework of five principles of community engagement: Shared Power, Partnership, Open Dialogue, Individual and Community Transformation, and Aesthetics of Transparent Processes. We believe that these ideas/ideals of how we can choose to work together provide a model as we tackle big issues that Mississippi, and much of our country, still struggles with. ROOTS principles can push toward transformation with shared power and open communication. They can help us develop a common language that can help bridge divisions, as we work together to transform. We are so excited to be spending this weekend in Jackson and Utica, where this spirit of arts activism is alive and well.

Welcome: daniel johnson, Founder & CEO, Significant Developements, LLC Last year, when Jackson elected Mayor Chokwe Lumumba Jr. in a 93% landslide victory, the whole world seemed to turn their heads. In a statement to The Guardian, Lumumba deferred to the people, “The citizens of Jackson have demonstrated overwhelmingly a readiness to be a progressive city…to be a model for the nation of what progressive leadership and collective genius can accomplish.” It is this collective genius that we welcome you into during ROOTS Weekend: Jackson. For over a century, Mississippi has been a site of emergent new methodologies and the coming together of culture workers to reimagine what progress means and how progress is achieved. Mississippi is often highlighted in mass media and popular culture as having leading indicators for the worst of societal ills and a political class unwilling or unable to address them. We are also where one of the largest Black business districts in the South emerged during Reconstruction, and where the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee revolutionized the role of culture in organizing in the 1960s (think Free Southern Theater, Poor People’s Corporation cooperatives, and Freedom Schools). This weekend, let’s imagine together in a city which so many anticipate is capable of the unimaginable. Let’s mark the scope of our work with words spoken by Mississippi mother Fannie Lou Hamer on the floor of the Democratic National Convention 54 years ago as she led a movement to replace the entire MS Democratic delegation with the MS Freedom Democratic Party: “One day, I know the struggle will change. There’s got to be a change – not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United States, but people all over the world.”

About Alternate ROOTS & ROOTS Weekend: Jackson Alternate ROOTS is an organization based in the Southern USA whose 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. ROOTS Weekend: Jackson brings together local and regional artists, cultural workers, activists, elected officials, and community members to engage in deep dialogue, make and witness art, and learn from one another. Through the theme of RENEW!, we’re digging into what it takes to envision and enact a true people’s democracy – one where active, creative community members work together, building collective strategies that allow equity and justice to thrive. At this time of civic renewal in Jackson – when the power of the people is recognized everywhere from the movement for a new state flag to the mayor’s office – the community’s artists and activists are coming together and leading the way. What’s happening here in Mississippi shows us that the work of social change is a balance of renewing the wisdom of the past while also calling in new ideas and ways of working. ROOTS Weekends are condensed versions of ROOTS Week, our signature gathering. These three-day convenings get ROOTS out in the field, connecting with and learning from our members’ home communities. ROOTS Weekends deepen our collective understanding of the work of social change by celebrating artists and organizers who are working within communities to develop creative solutions to long-standing issues.

Local Partner Organizations The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production is a space to facilitate the research, development, marketing, and commerce of agricultural products – through film, photography, audio stories, small and large scale agriculture, and culinary arts – that speaks to the history and future of the Utica community. The MCCP will promote economic empowerment and self-sufficiency of low- and moderate-income people through education, technical assistance, training, and mentoring in agribusiness. Significant Developments, LLC is an artist-centered company providing problem-solving and strategic planning through creative play. Unexpected, playful, and practical – we make ambitious goals achievable through fun, immersive experiences designed to engage existing strengths and capacities. We offer a range of services as unique as the clients we work for. Greater Jackson Arts Council/Mississippi Arts Center (GJAC) is a private nonprofit with a mission to value diversity by increasing cultural access and opportunities through grant offerings, special events, arts marketing, and venue management. The mission of the Mississippi Museum of Art is to engage Mississippians with visual art. The Museum has been a community-supported institution for more than 100 years. The Museum’s 31 affiliate museums across the state ensure that even those Mississippians who cannot make the trip to Jackson can enjoy our rich cultural history. Kundi Compound is a Creative, Collective, Computer Co-op that serves as an incubator for small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and musicians. The Compound also offers free internet access on site, a small library, and venue space for meetings, training sessions, rehearsals, and luncheons. The Compound has grant writers, and public-relations and marketing experts on staff to assist small-business owners. Jackson Black Pages, and Jackson Indie Music Week are both headquartered at the Kundi Compound.

Meeting Agreements

Photo: Melisa Cardona

As part of ROOTS’ community-building practice, we are intentional about the ways in which we gather together and share space. These meeting agreements are an evolving practice we use to cultivate equity, community, and wellness when we convene as a group. When you participate in discussions/ workshops/meetings throughout the week, please use these agreements as a starting point and add/edit/transform them as needed! We use “I” statements and speak from our own experiences and feelings. We’re mindful with our words. 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 acknowledge that the art shared and dialogues had at our gatherings often explore difficult, and sometimes triggering content. We affirm everyone’s agency to take care of themselves – it is okay to skip out/tune out/step out and seek support if you are experiencing distress. 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. We share time and space equitably: if we tend to participate a lot, we are intentional about moving back, if we tend to not participate much, we challenge ourselves to get in the mix! We ask before we hug – we acknowledge everyone has different physical boundaries, and seek to create a space where everyone feels safe and empowered in their own bodies. As time and group size allows, we check in and out at the beginning and end of meetings; we invite folks to share what physical/spiritual/emotional state they’re entering or leaving the meeting. We share the labor of meeting roles including (but not limited to): facilitator(s), note taker, public scribe, emotions monitor, timekeeper, doorkeeper. (And sometimes meeting DJ and food maven.) We avoid alphabet soup and coded language by unpacking acronyms or buzzwords. We take stretch/dance/movement breaks whenever possible! We leave our physical spaces in better shape than we found them.

Venues AND Gallery 133 Millsaps Avenue Jackson, MS 39202

Mississippi Arts Center 201 E Pascagoula Street Jackson, MS 39201

Street parking available.

Street parking available, in addition to paid parking garage on Pascagoula Street, near West Street. There is an accessible lot behind the center for folks with disabilities.

Friday Excursions Street parking available at all venues. EcoShed 133 Commerce Park Drive Jackson, MS 39213

OffBeat 151 Wesley Avenue Jackson, MS 39202

Kundi Compound 3220 N. State Street Jackson, MS 39202

Barack H. Obama Magnet Elementary 750 N Congress Street Jackson, MS 39202

Utica Excursions Mississippi Center for Cultural Production 319 White Oak Street Utica, MS 39715

Hinds Community College, Utica Campus, Fine Arts Building 34175 MS-18 Utica, MS 39175

116 Main Street Utica, MS 39715

Parking available in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Visitorâ&#x20AC;? spots. Utica Community Center 414 E. Main Street Utica, MS 39715

Hotel & Staff Contact Info Hotel The Westin Jackson 407 South Congress Street Jackson, MS 39201 (601) 968-8200 The Westin Jackson offers valet parking only. There is a flat rate of $12.00 for day parking. Overnight parking costs $21.60 with in and out privilege. Limited street parking is available around the hotel.

Contacting ROOTS Staff ROOTS Staff can be reached by calling the office number, which will be re-routed to our various cell phones. To reach ROOTS Staff, call 404-577-1079 and dial the extension of the person you need to speak with: Wendy Shenefelt, Programs Director: x306 Paige Heurtin, Operations Manager: x305 Nicole Gurgel-Seefeldt, Communications Manager (Strategy): x303

Schedule at a Glance Thursday, November 8 10:15-11:15am: Decompress, Recharge, Take Care, Take Off! Welcome Breakfast and Warmup (Millsaps College Theater Students) @ Mississippi Arts Center 6-8pm: Opening Night Reception & Visual Art Exhibition @ AND Gallery

Friday, November 9 9:30am-1pm: Concurrent Workshops @ Mississippi Art Center 9:30-11am: In the Tradition (Charlie R. Braxton, C. Liegh McInnis, Dr. Shanna Smith, & Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears) & People Powered Public Planning (Melody Moody Thortis) 11:30am-1pm: Embodied Stories (Last Call) & Restoration to Renewal: The Story of Two Formerly Incarcerated Women (Dolita Wilhike & Dolfinette Martin) 1-2pm: Lunch @ Mississippi Art Center 2:15-5pm: Concurrent Workshops & Excursions @ Various Locations 2:15-3:15pm: EcoShed Excursion (Travis Crabtree & Salam Rida @ EcoShed) & Obama Mural Excursion (Talamieka Brice @ Barack H. Obama Magnet Elementary) 3:45-5pm: Kundi Compound Excursion (@ Kundi Compound) & Curious Citizens: work in progress critique (daniel johnson @ OffBeat) Explore on Your Own: “Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer” @ Mississippi Museum of Art (Free!) 5-7pm: Dinner on Your Own 7-9pm: ROOTS Lounge Live! Hip Hop Performance @ AND Gallery

Saturday, November 10: Day Trip to Utica 9-9:15am: Load Bus @ Mississippi Arts Center 9:30am (SHARP!): Bus Leaves

10:30am-12pm: Workshops @ Various Locations Step Up and Speak Out (Issim) & Cultural Activism in the Classroom (Mat Schwartzman) @ Hinds Community College, Utica Campus Wurmworks @ Mississippi Center for Cultural Productions – White Oak 12-1:30pm: Lunch & Step Up and Speak Out Performance @ Hinds Community College, Utica Campus 1:30pm: Bus travels to Utica 2pm-4:30pm: Tour & Conversations @ Mississippi Center for Cultural Production – White Oak Traditional Agriculture At Its Best (Felicia Bell) Youth Re/Newing Space, Place and Politics (Autumn Brown, Calvin Williams, Christina McField, DJ Baker, Kaitlyn Taylor, Liana Ambrose-Murrary) 4:30pm-5pm: Tour of Mississippi Center for Cultural Production - Main St. 5:30pm-6pm: Deep Seedz Performance @ Utica Community Center 6-8pm: Community Dinner @ Utica Community Center & Bonfire @ 17 Acres Bus returns to Jackson at 5:30 & 8pm.

Sunday, November 11 @ Mississippi Arts Center 10am-1pm: Workshops 10-11:15am: #TakinBackSunday, A #DignityInProcess Queer Black Church Series (ChE & kei) & Hold the Line! Use of the City of New Orleans Railway Line for History, Heritage, and Artistic Transformation (Peter Friedrich & Samuel Smith) 11:30am-1pm: Healing from Memory (Leticia Contreras) 1pm: Closing & Lunch Pick Up Explore on Your Own: “Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer” @ Mississippi Museum of Art (Free!)

Full Schedule Thursday, November 8 10:15-11:15am: Decompress, Recharge, Take Care, Take Off! Welcome Breakfast and Warmup @ Mississippi Arts Center Join Professor Peter Friedrich and his Millsaps College theater students at the Mississippi Arts Center, and enjoy both healthy breakfast snacks and easy-to-join activities to launch the most rewarding weekend possible. The student presenters at this event are currently studying the practice of using theatre to create a more caring community.

6-8pm: Opening Night Reception & Visual Art Exhibition @ AND Gallery Jackson’s contemporary and emerging art gallery AND hosts an exhibition of visual art works exploring the roles our bodies play as intersections and origin points for enacting and disrupting cultural narratives. “A Body, An Archive” features a cross section of ROOTS-affiliated artists and will be on display November 2-December 5. AND is an independent, artist-run space for contemporary and emerging art in the Midtown Arts District of Jackson, MS. AND is interested in the accessibility of new and emerging art, facilitating creative experimentation and discussion, and supporting emerging artists and disciplines

“I am wondering if BLUE is a colonial color. I am wondering if BLACK is a natural color. I am wondering if WHITE is a FRESH (PURE?) color.” By: Gwylene Gallimard

Friday, November 9 9:30-11am: Concurrent Workshops @ Mississippi Arts Center In the Tradition Charlie R. Braxton, C. Liegh McInnis, Dr. Shanna Smith, & Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears In the Tradition is a panel discussion exploring the nexus between poetry & politics. The panel will consist of poets Charlie R. Braxton, C. Leigh McInnis, Dr. Shanna Smith, and Dr. RaShell Smith-Spears. In addition to engaging in a lively discussion about poetry and politics, each poet will read from their works illustrating how politics plays a role in their poetry. Charlie R. Braxton is a noted poet, playwright, scholar, and Cultural critic from Mississippi. Charlie Braxton is also the author of three volumes of verse: Ascension from the Ashes (Blackwood Press 1991), Cinder’s Rekindled (Jawara Press 2013), and Embers Among the Ashes: Poems in a Haiku Manner (Jawara 2018). His poetry has been published in various anthologies including: Trouble the Water edited by Jerry Ward, In the Tradition edited by Ras Baraka and Kevin Powell, Step Into a World edited by Kevin Powell, Roll Call edited by Tony Medina, Soulfires edited by Rohan Preston and Daniel Widerman, and the Def Jam Poetry Anthology edited by Tony Medina and Louis Reyes. C. Liegh McInnis is an instructor of English at Jackson State University, the former editor/publisher of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, one collection of short fiction (Scripts: Sketches and Tales of Urban Mississippi), one work of literary criticism (The Lyrics of Prince: A Literary Look), one co-authored work, Brother Hollis: The Sankofa of a Movement Man, which discusses the life of a legendary Mississippi Civil Rights icon, and the former First Runner-Up of the Amiri Baraka/Sonia Sanchez Poetry Award. Additionally, he has been published in various magazines, newspapers, and anthologies. Dr. Shanna L. Smith is an Assistant Professor of English at Jackson State University (Ph.D. University of Maryland College Park, M.A University of Kentucky, B.A. Kentucky State University). Native of Kentucky, she specializes in African American Literature and Culture, with emphasis in ethnography, oral history, and material culture. Smith is an Affrilachian Poet, a consortium of poets of color from the Appalachian Region that began in 1991 at The University of Kentucky. Her most recent publications include the poems “Rooted” in Black Bone: Twenty-Five years of the Affrilachian Poets and “Close Quarters” in Black Lives Still Matter. 13

Dr. RaShell R. Smith-Spears is a speculative fiction writer who has published short stories and poems in various journals and anthologies, including several short stories in the Mississippi-based journal, Black Magnolias: A Literary Journal. Her most recent publications appear in Mississippi Noir, Sycorax’s Daughters, and Dying Dahlia Review. A graduate of Spelman College, the University of Memphis, and the University of Missouri–Columbia, Smith-Spears currently teaches literature, composition, and creative writing classes at Jackson State University in the Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Speech Communication. She is currently working on a short story collection about black vampires who start a slave rebellion.

People Powered Public Planning Melody Moody Thortis Attending public meetings can feel like “checking a box,” finding yourself giving input for decisions that have already been made, or asking questions that may never be answered. These meetings often lack a true spirit of engagement and dialogue between planners and community stakeholders and don’t often allow opportunities for participatory decision-making in public projects. This workshop session will explore various organizing tools and meeting tactics to help increase public engagement, organizing, and participatory decision making and will explore arts-based strategies that can be used to position the people’s voice at the forefront of communityfocused work being done across sectors. Melody Moody Thortis serves as the Director of Arts-based Community Development and oversees visual artists at the Mississippi Arts Commission. Making Jackson her home for over 19 years, Melody has worked extensively with nonprofits, community leaders, elected officials, and government agencies though her efforts in community development, advocacy, and organizing. Prior to her work at MAC, she served as the Executive Director of Mississippi’s only statewide advocacy organization for bicycling and walking and focused its work around issues of equity, access, and livability. Melody received a Master of Arts from Eastern University in International Development, Advocacy, and Human Rights in 2009. She is also an acrylic painter and musician.

11:30am-1pm: Concurrent Workshops @ Mississippi Arts Center

Embodied Stories Last Call Embodied storytelling is all about sharing and creating practices that showcase individual and collective narratives and the people who have helped shape them. In this workshop, we will play with storytelling from positions of power and gratitude using oral history and elements of generative performance! Last Call is a multiracial collective of queer artists, activists, and archivists. Drawn together by the closing of the last remaining dyke bar, Last Call creates innovative, multi-platform performances, events, and digital media that document and interpret neglected queer history, creating connections between those who lived this history and those who have much at stake if it is forgotten. We conjure up intergenerational gathering places where the movement for queer liberation is carried forward.

Restoration to Renewal: The Story of Two Formerly Incarcerated Women Dolita Wilhike & Dolfinette Martin Operation Restoration supports women and girls impacted by incarceration to recognize their full potential, restore their lives, and discover new possibilities. Dolfinette Martin is the Operations Manager of OR, and Dolita Wilhike is the Outreach Specialist at Covenant House of New Orleans. Both women have worked on numerous state and federal policy initiatives to help formerly and currently incarcerated women and girls. As experts with lived experiences, they will speak about the different programs that Operation Restoration offers and the importance of programs being created and run by women who are directly impacted to restore women to an unimpaired and improved condition. Dolita Wilhike is 52 years old, has 10 children, and has served 27 years in prison in installments. She currently works as an Outreach Specialist at Covenant House of New Orleans in addition to working closely with the Human Trafficking department where she conducts undercover street outreach throughout the metro area. Besides her passion for prison reform, she is dedicated to one day ending homelessness. Dolfinette Martin was incarcerated for 12 years before finishing her degree and beginning her work as an organizer for criminal justice reform. Now the Operations Manager at Operation Restoration, Dolfinette joins the OR team as a powerful voice for women who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system.

1-2 pm: Lunch @ Mississippi Art Center 15

2:15-3:15pm: Concurrent Excursions Excursion: Ecoshed (@ 133 Commerce Park Dr, Jackson, MS 39213) Travis Crabtree & Salam Rida Carbon office is an interdisciplinary design office practicing a variation of work involving the built environment, including architecture, urban planning, real estate development, and sustainability consulting. We specialize in designing the performance of building and environmental systems that are responsive to technological, social, ecological, and economic challenges. This tour of the Ecoshed includes a presentation by Travis Crabtree and Salam Rida on how to tap into underutilized spaces and turn them into productive spaces.

Excursion: Obama Mural (@ Barack H. Obama Magnet Elementary School: 750 N Congress St, Jackson, MS 39202) Talamieka & Charles Brice

Mural of President Barack Obama along with the artists, Charles and Talamieka Brice. (AP Photos / Rogelio V. Solis)

This presentation reflects on the role of an artist in the community and provides examples and inspiration for creatives moving forward. It looks at the process of renaming formerly Davis Magnet School to Barack Obama Elementary School and the process of producing large scale mural work. Charles Brice & Talamieka Brice met in drawing class at Jackson State University. Fierce competitors initially, the two combined forces and formed Brice Media during Charlesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; deployment to Afghanistan in 2008. The two have won numerous awards both nationally and internationally for their photography, branding, and design and recently finished the Barack Obama mural for a local, renamed elementary school that has been featured by the Washington Post and numerous other organizations. 16

3:45-5pm: Concurrent Excursion & Workshop Excursion: Kundi Compound (@ 3220 N. State Street, Jackson, MS 39202) This presentation will consist of an introduction and brief history of our incubator and community space, followed by an introduction of our anchor tenants and our mission. Finally, we’ll discuss how business incubators and cooperative spaces are vital in blossoming communities like Midtown as beacons for education, mentorship, and spiritual healing.

Curious Citizens: work in progress critique (@ OffBeat: 151 Wesley Avenue, Jackson, MS 39202) daniel johnson Curious Citizens is a participatory civic artwork increasing citizen engagement in the processes of the Mississippi State Capitol building. A history of intentional design restricting citizen access to government has left a gap in our system leaving citizens who are curious with no path to becoming engaged. Through Curious Citizens, we explore the possibilities which open up when citizens are actively given resources and facilitation to participate. Join us to discuss and critique this Mississippi project currently in process. daniel johnson is a Jackson-based artist who works in community to create frameworks inviting a heightened sense of one’s role in the performance of the everyday. His process is rooted in understanding storytelling as the most fundamental building block of personal and group identity, and a primary driver of individual and collective activity. Clients and collaborators in his work have included the communities of people unfolding from the Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, Hinds County School District, City of Jackson Transportation Department, the City of Jackson Mayor’s Office, and Midtown Partners CDC.

5-7pm: Dinner on Your Own 7-9pm: ROOTS Lounge Live! Hip Hop Performance @ AND Gallery ROOTS Lounge Live! is a hip hop performance curated by Ourglass Media Group, highlighting young indie hip hop artists that incorporate conscious, political, and social activism themes in their music. OurGlass Media Group is a full service public relations company specializing in branding, artist management and entertainment consulting, social media marketing, and street promotions. ROOTS Lounge Live show will feature DJ Stefan Urquelle, Scottie Pimpen, and Mr. Fluid. 17

Saturday, November 10 9-9:15am: Load Bus @ Mississippi Arts Center â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bus Leaves at 9:30 (SHARP!) 10:30am-12pm: Concurrent Workshops @ Various Locations wurmworks (@ Mississippi Center for Cultural Production: 319 White Oak Street, Utica, MS) Learn how to make and maintain your own DIY wurm bin to compost your own waste. The compost created can be used on your lawn, garden, or potted plants. We will discuss among other things: type of bin, bedding material, what is the soil food web?, type and anatomy of wurms, food, temperature, and moisture levels, and general FAQs. There will be a question and answer session at the end of the workshop as well as time to look in a demonstration wurm bin and say hello to our ecosystem engineers. wurmworks, llc is the future of food waste reduction, landfill diversion, and all natural soil amendments. wurmworks high quality compost and liquid compost is created from the estimated 40% of food waste usually destined for the landfill. As leaders in this space, wurmworks strives to utilize biology and scientific methods to define our approach and get to the ROOT of a problem, while working with and participating in the MS community through partnerships with local nonprofits and other organizations focused on sustainability, education and creativity to achieve better soil, healthier food, and environmental justice.

Step Up and Speak Out (@ Hinds Community College, Fine Arts Building: 34175 MS-18, Utica, MS 39175) Issim Our thoughts, words, and actions are valuable instruments in shaping the communities we work to see. Step Up and Speak Out is a movement and performance based work space that engages participants in cross exchanges of information through prompted group dialogue. Individuals and groups create the words, the choreography and sounds using poetry and African rooted step as the tools of choice. The workshop ends with a collective work to be shared with others in a short but impactful performance. Comfy enclosed shoes recommended. All are welcome. Issim is a multidisciplinary artist and activist who treasures facilitating cultural experiences and interchanges using communication, collecting writing, and movement. He is the co-founder of Az Talking Drum Performance Studio Network where he is the artistic director. 18

Cultural Activism in the Classroom @ Hinds Community College, Fine Arts Building Mat Schwartzman Cultural Activism in the Classroom at Xavier University of Louisiana is a new online training program for middle and high school teachers in all subjects. Members of the faculty and students from the first cohort of the program will lead an interactive workshop about translating school-based educational standards into cultural activist projects led by students. The workshop will include a short presentation, small group exercises, and whole group report back, followed by a look into the future of this new program. Cultural Activism in the Classroom’s purpose is to equip school and community-based educators with the knowledge, relationships, and skills they need to better prepare our children and youth to become successful, creative, and civically engaged adults. At the core of its practice, the C.R.A.F.T. Circle will promote and continuously improve the use of a research-based learning model called “C.R.A.F.T.,” which stands for the five territories in the cultural activist’s journey: Contact, Research, Action, Feedback, and Teaching.

12-1:30pm: Lunch @ Hinds Community College, Fine Arts Building Performance from Step Up & Speak Out workshop 1:30pm: Bus travels to Utica 2-4:30pm Sipp Culture Tour & Conversations (@ Mississippi Center for Cultural Production: 319 White Oak Street, Utica, MS)

Traditional Agriculture At Its Best Felicia Bell This session will be provide a brief overview of how traditional agriculture (i.e. chemical-free agriculture) can fulfill gaps within our communities pertaining to health, food access, and quality. The art form of traditional agriculture will get explained by sharing the various methods and techniques of long ago that will heal our land, body, and spirit. Felicia Bell of RD & S Farm, LLC was born into agriculture with her family sustaining themselves from the land and the food grown from it. It was instilled in Ms. Bell that helping others in your community is a very important value to hold and informs your very existence as a farmer and producer. Ms. Bell over many years has learned new agricultural methods and practices for small producers that would lessen the burden of cost but increase the economic viability of a farm enterprise. 19

These foundational experiences have warranted Ms. Bell wonderful opportunities to share her work and knowledge through sustainable agriculture project development, Board assignments, and acting as the Ag Specialist for National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and a Network Coordinator for the Southeastern African American Organic Farmers Network (SAAFON). She believes that everyone deserves the option of healthy food, and with the collective effort of small sustainable farmers across the country this can become a reality.

Youth Re/Newing Space, Place and Politics Join us for an intergenerational discussion led by six young black artists and professionals. What does it mean to be a young artist, farmer, or organizer working in this political climate? How are we, as young people, finding our way in our prospective fields? How can we renew, recreate, and re-energize the spaces and practices passed down to us? We will begin with small group discussions, and then move into a full group discussion to envision solutions, challenge each other, and see what we can grow. People of all backgrounds and ages are encouraged to participate. Our Facilitators: Autumn Brown (Age 18) Artist, Musician, Producer, Organizer, Sipp Culture Intern Calvin Williams (Age 22) Board of Alderman - Town of Utica Ward 4, Community Organizer, Public Service Advocate Christina McField (Age 26) Philanthropy and Membership Manager at Mississippi Museum of Art, Freelance Photographer, Curator, Painter, Sculptor DJ Baker (Age 23) Gardener, Farmer, Educator, Organizer Kaitlyn Taylor (Age 18) Artist, Youth Program Coordinator, Musician, Writer, Visionary Liana Ambrose-Murray (Age 22) Visual Artist, Educator, Organizer, Dreamer, Sipp Culture Artist-in-Residence

4:30-5pm: Tour of Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (@ Main Street Cultural Center: 116 Main Street, Utica, MS)

5:30-6pm: Deep Seedz Performance (@ Utica Community Center: 414 E. Main St., Utica, MS 39175) The mission of Deep Seedz is to enhance artistic skill through civic engagement, leadership development, and cultural enrichment for youth and young artists in Jackson, MS. Our objectives seek to enhance members seeking artistic development in graphic art, poetry & creative writing, dance, and all forms of creative arts. 20

6-8pm: Community Dinner (@ 414 E. Main St., Utica, MS 39175 ) & Bonfire @ 17 Acres Bus returns to Jackson at 5:30 & 8pm.

Leticia Contreras, Healing from Memory. Photo: Jâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;nae Williamson.

Sunday, November 11 10-11:15am: Concurrent Workshops @ Mississippi Arts Center Hold the Line! Use of the City of New Orleans Railway Line for History, Heritage and Artistic Transformation Peter Friedrich & Samuel Smith Peter and Samuel are investigating the use of the City of New Orleans Amtrak Line for an original collaborative project between black artists. In addition to discussion of potential works in progress, their presentation will also offer some history of the lineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in the Great Migration as a transporter, communicator, and destination of progress in itself. Peter Friedrich is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Millsaps College in Jackson. He has guest lectured at several other institutions including Stanford, NYU, Hoftstra, and Columbia University, and was a Scholar in Residence at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. The American Conservatory Theater awarded Friedrich the 2013 Contribution to the Field Award for his five years of work in Northern Iraq. He continues theatremaking on national, overseas, and Millsaps community stages. Samuel Smith is the Director of Civic Engagement and Social Practice at the University of Illinois Krannert Center for Performing Arts. With interests in schools, challenged neighborhoods, and international settings, Sam uses the resources and tools of making art to extend the impact of the Krannert Center.

#TakinBackSunday, A #DignityInProcess Queer Black Church Series ChE & kei This Trans-denominational service is an artistic act of Queering Black* Church. Celebrating intersectional Queer/Trans/Two-Spirit/GenderNonconforming Life, reconnect with ritual routes of Indigenous/Creole/ Afro-Diasporic* origins. A #DignityInProcess folk-medicine circle woven with Black Feminist scripture, Freedom Song ciphers, and embodied ancestor reverence, we recognize sanctuary as site for both sacred and social movements. We touch Afro-futurities, bending space-time as we rise in counterclockwise shuffles and claps of RingShout processions. Part participatory performance, part Freedom School, part Shout House, we lean into Afro-Indigenous cultural-cosmologies where community process to Create, steward Wisdom, and Conjure are One.

ChE (they/them) is a Queer/Gender Non-Conforming, Afro-Indigenous artivist weaving ancestral healing, embodied education, and sociallyengaged artmaking to conjure movements of intersectional Freedom. ChE is an honored 2017-2018 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow and a 2017 Black Spatial Relics: Artist-in-Residence with Brown University’s Center for Slavery & Justice. Steeped in national organizing, ChE is the Founder/Artivist Director of #DignityInProcess, an interdisciplinary platform celebrating the dignity of gender-expansive First Peoples/Afro-Diasporic Life through site-specific performance rituals, Wisdom Councils of crossgenerational mentorship, and Freedom Schools rooted in Queer Black Feminism. Creator of liberatory coaching programs Underground Railroad and Freedom Land, ChE supports radical leaders-of-Color in manifesting our ancestors’ wildest dreams! Learn more at http://che-art.life/ kei (they/them) is a Queer Black Gender-Non-Conforming Musician/ Producer, Soulful Healer, and Community Activator. As a Vocalist, MultiInstrumentalist, and Sonic Storyteller, kei conjures bokou ancestral magik from deep New Orleans roots. Founder of S O U L F O L K Sounds, kei offers radical music therapy, production, and culturally responsive training and community programming centering QTPOC. As The Pencil Fairy, kei shapes safe spaces for Queer Black imagination to take flight. Noted Projects include: #DignityinProcess (Director of Freedom Freequencies), Alleged Lesbian Activities (Co-Music Director) and Spirit & Sparrow. Discography: Dark Fire (2017). Learn more: keislaughter.com.

11:30am-1pm: Healing from Memory Leticia Contreras Healing from Memory is a workshop that allows participants to recognize their past, feel the present moment, and envision a beloved collective future. Using the tools of meditation, movement (dance and yoga), and storytelling, Leticia invites participants to recognize the stories that live within their bodies and identify the tools and resources they have for collective healing. As organizers, activists, caregivers, and people who seek justice, we often compromise our well being. NOT NO MORE! NUNCA MÁS! Come ready to move your body, recognize the power and light within you, and celebrate the light that exists within this beloved ROOTS community. Leticia Contreras is a queer, afro-xicana, multidisciplinary artist who uses movement, storytelling, and abuelita knowledge to build collective power and healing. She is currently pursing her MFA at The University of Houston. She believes that when we connect to breath and connect to feeling we are able to transform ourselves and the world around us.

1pm: Closing & Lunch Pick Up 23

Special Thanks ROOTS Weekend:Jackson Partners Significant Developments, LLC (daniel johnson) Kundi Compound (Funmi and Brad Franklin) Greater Jackson Arts Council/ Mississippi Arts Center (Janet Scott, Jon Salem, Tammy Golden) Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Brandi & Carlton Turner, Liana Ambrose, Cassio Batteast) Mississippi Museum of Art ROOTS Weekend: Jackson Staff Christina McField, ROOTS Arts Management Fellow Chef Enrika Williams, New Leaf Catering Alternate ROOTS Staff Michelle Ramos, Executive Director Ashley Walden Davis, Managing Director Wendy Shenefelt, Programs Director Paige Heurtin, Operations Manager Nicole Gurgel-Seefeldt, Communications Manager (Strategy) Joseph Thomas, Communications Manager (Technology) Clarissa Crawford, Programs Associate Mark Kidd, Development Associate Ben Weber, Programs & Policy Associate

Many Thanks to our Funders! The ROOTS Weekend Series is supported by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2018 Institutional Funders THE

NATHAN

CUMMINGS FOUNDATION

SonEdna Foundation