Dig Deeper
On grassroots theater
A comprehensive study of what defines grassroots theater and why it matters, written by Roadside leaders and allies
A quick summary of grassroots theater, taken from "From The Ground Up"
An essay on the role class plays in the performing arts
A study of how to build audiences that reflect their whole communities – Roadside is discussed on pages 15-17
Roadside's former artistic director on the link between theater and liberation
John O’Neal - story circle discussion paper
Podcast – Dudley Cocke and John O’Neal
Former Roadside artistic director Dudley Cocke reviews a collection of the writings of Robert Gard, a critical yet largely forgotten voice in the development of the rural and grassroots arts.
On community cultural development
How Roadside and its allies developed the practice of community cultural development
A study of the populist aesthetic and the role of community organizing in Roadside's work
A dialogue about the role of economics in community cultural development
An op-ed on the importance of recognizing and supporting communities’ centers of power
A short study of how Roadside’s home county used community cultural development to build the biggest non-industrial solar energy project in east Kentucky, with Trump voters in lead roles
A short video featuring east Kentucky community leaders’ perspectives on community cultural development
A political scientist’s perspective on community cultural development
A diagram of the Letcher County Culture Hub, showing community cultural development in practice in Roadside’s home county
Roadside CCD One-pager
Story circle guide
Story circle FAQs
On bridging divides
A former Klan leader tells Studs Terkel how he became an antiracist labor organizer
A short essay on how Roadside Theater and Junebug Productions learned to bring communities together across race and class lines, and how that lesson was lost
An extended reflection on working across race and class lines, by former directors of Roadside Theater and Junebug Productions
A short explanation of cultural organizing, and how it brought together artists and neighbors in East Kentucky and West Baltimore
A former Roadside ensemble member reflects on living and organizing in coal country during the 2016 election
A discussion and debate about how Roadside's methodology can bridge divides, with Harvard Law School
A short PBS documentary on the East Kentucky - Western Massachusetts cross-partisan dialogue project Hands Across the Hills, which Roadside co-founded
The shared statement of purpose written by residents of East Kentucky and Western Massachusetts during the Hands Across the Hills project
Podcast – a Roadside organizer’s story
A policeman’s perspective on grassroots theater and its potential to bridge divides
A piece of political theory by a longtime Roadside ally, explaining the differences between populism and leftism
On money and power
The unreported arts recession of 1997
On working with philanthropy
Funding the work – a program officer’s perspective
A study by allies on the politics of philanthropy
A study by an ally on how the right wing organizes
The economics of owning what we make
Working Definitions of Key Economic Terms…
More Roadside Material
New Ground Revival, featuring the Mullins Family Singers
Voices from the Battlefront, featuring residents of a local women’s shelter
The original cast recording of New Ground Revival.
Journeys Home: Revealing a Zuni Appalachia Collaboration