Stories from Alternate Roots: It'll Take Some Tellin' (Paperback or Softback)

Written by more than 50 contributors, Stories from Alternate ROOTS chronicles the origins and fifty-year journey of a nonprofit arts organization that began in 1976. Bringing together interviews, poems, illustrations and essays, both personal and analytical, the diverse stories touch on a wide range of lessons, philosophies, issues and themes including the transformative power of community arts, democratic leadership, racial and gender equity, and navigating organizational and generational change.

Kathie deNobriga, raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains, founded two community theaters in North Carolina. After a full career as director, producer, consultant, and organizer, Kathie is now the chief wrangler of the annual community arts festival in Pine Lake, Georgia, where she served two terms on the city council and one as mayor.

Yvette Angelique is a poet and teaching artist whose work blends mindfulness education, storytelling, and leadership. Her work guides artists, activists, and communities toward healing and liberation.

Ashley Minner Jones is a community-based visual artist and folklorist from Baltimore, Maryland, where she has lived on the same block her entire life. Her interdisciplinary practice is deeply rooted in place and is focused on honoring and celebrating everyday people by lifting up their stories. She is an enrolled citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.

Ron Ragin is a researcher, coach, strategist, organizer, and interdisciplinary artist. His creative practice is rooted in music of the African Diaspora, improvisation, liberation aesthetics, and the development and maintenance of spiritual technologies. Ron’s artistic work centers the role of the unamplified human voice in transforming our environment, our selves, and one another.

MK Wegmann, a lifelong New Orleanian, advocates for social and racial justice. Over a fifty-year career, she has steered the Contemporary Arts Center, Junebug Productions, and the National Performance Network and continues her work as a consultant.