About Southern Futures
Southern Futures works to disrupt stereotypes of the American South and create a bold, new, radically inclusive vision for who we are and who we can be. In doing so, we will be better equipped to face the truths of our past and the consequences of our actions and inactions, however painful, and bring about much-needed change for our future.
Jacqueline Lawton, the 2021-2022 Co-Director of Southern Futures at UNC-Chapel Hill and Associate Professor of Dramatic Art
The Initiative
Bridging UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts & Sciences, University Libraries, and Carolina Performing Arts, Southern Futures is a collaborative network for the students, scholars, creators, and community leaders doing extraordinary work to reimagine the American South. Southern Futures works for equity, justice, and possibility, using the arts and humanities to imagine and create positive change for Carolina’s home region.
Southern Futures at CPA
Southern Futures at CPA engages artists and community partners in close listening, restorative justice, and co-creation. We focus on stories to unite and inspire communities, reveal untold histories, and provide an increasingly nuanced understanding of the Southern region of the United States.
We produce new works and research on social justice, racial equity, and the American South. Southern Futures Artists benefit from commissioning support and Chapel Hill residencies, collaborating with local arts laboratory Culture Mill to incorporate restorative justice practices into their own artistic processes. Our goal in adapting restorative justice methodology in the performing arts space is to prevent the repetition of past violence, in which a select few controlled the narrative, omitting the voices, stories, triumphs, and traumas of Black, brown, and Indigenous communities.
An Activated Archive
This free digital platform and archive documents artistic practice and scholarly commentary in local, national, and historical contexts, featuring artist-generated materials and resources from UNC Libraries. We call this site an “activated archive” because it positions archival and artist-generated materials within the context of their making, exposing and contextualizing the networks of artists, histories, communities, and ideas that make up Southern Futures at CPA. We aim to include as many voices in this space as we can, gathering the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of those who made, participated in, and witnessed this project.
Please credit Carolina Performing Arts when using material from this website in your teachings, research, and practices.
This website contains a curated selection of archival materials that document Southern Futures at CPA. If you are curious about anything, would like to contribute, or want to know what else we have, contact us here.