ROOTS Weekend 2024: UpROOTing Ableism

Enjoy from anywhere! Tickets are FREE but registration is required to obtain the schedule and links.
Saturday, October 26, all day, in-person.

In-person programming takes place at the Hilton Garden Inn, Knoxville, TN. Tickets include programming and 3 meals, but attendees must either be local or reserve their own housing. Folks local to Knoxville are encouraged to commute Saturday to and from the Hilton Garden Inn in Knoxville.

ROOTS Weekend will feature a variety of programming: performances, panels, film screenings, yoga, writing workshops, and contact improv jams. Offerings include a range of disabilities, aesthetics, modalities, and advocacy goals.

ROOTS Weekends are short (2-3 day) convenings that bring artists, activists, and cultural organizers together to build community through workshops, dialogue, visual arts, performances, and creative celebrations or offerings of all kinds. These gatherings lift up individuals and collectives who are working with communities to develop creative solutions to long-standing issues.

Honoring, collaging, questioning, and even transcending the notions of accessibility and disability justice, we are lifting up the notion of UpROOTing Ableism as the most inclusive and holistic approach to bringing people together across the South, contributing to their communities through arts and activism. This is a forever journey with a growth mindset, which is why we’ve chosen to emphasize improvisation in our theme.

In dominant culture, accessibility comes as an afterthought, something to be back-engineered. We are radically revisiting what it is like to design cultural opportunities with full inclusion as a central aesthetic and a human right.

If you’re curious about what this weekend is going to be like, so are we! While we’ve done ROOTS Weekends before, this is a first-of-its-kind gathering for our UpROOTing Ableism community. If you’d like to wander through anything from the content to your accessibility needs, please don’t hesitate our curator for this event, Shannon M. Turner, [email protected], 678-837-6681.

To register, you must complete each registration one after another. Please list your family members as 'roommates' and our registration team will know to house you all together.

It is the mission of Alternate ROOTS to strive to be allies in the elimination of all forms of oppression, and we cultivate an intentionally diverse and inclusive community. We embrace all people – across race, gender, sexuality, religion, immigration status, ability, or any other marginalized identity. We actively resist racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, ableism, and all other forms of oppression.

We want you to bring your whole self to ROOTS Week! Please be prepared to take whatever space / do whatever homework / seek whatever support you may need before and during ROOTS Week to be “respectfully responsible” for your own work as an ally in our collective liberation. All ROOTS spaces follow our Community Agreements & updated Safety Guidelines. More information will be sent to registrants prior to attending.

As we plan gatherings, our goal is to move in a spirit of collective care and focus on minimizing risks before, during, and after our time together. We are asking event participants – including staff – to follow these protocols as part of our meeting agreements. Thank you for helping us create COVID conscious, safer spaces for our beloved community! The latest COVID protocols can be found.

Host or Publisher Alternate ROOTS