This case study documents the pilot phase of Junebug Productions’ Color Line Project, a long-term national endeavor that combines performance and community story-collecting in an effort to revitalize Civil Rights Movement history as a valued and illuminating context for current issues of race. Using story circles methodology as a dialogue form, artist John O’Neal and a national organizing team worked over several months with local scholars, activists, and partner organizations to collect stories of local people's involvement in and understanding of the movement. Local artists moved the community’s stories to public presentation. These performances, along with Junebug Productions’ Jabbo Jones plays and scholar panels, provided varied opportunities for public dialogues. The case study illuminates Junebug’s evolution of a new type of “artist residency model,” aiming is to engage, educate, and organize. It analyzes challenges encountered by both presenters and Junebug Productions, including balancing local and national goals, and it raises valuable questions about who is best at the local level to lead short-term and sustained efforts—cultural organizations or other civic or activist organizations. The Color Line Project case study was written by Animating Democracy project liaison Cheryl Yuen, in close collaboration with John O’Neal and Theresa Holden, and draws upon project documentation by Stacie Walker.

This case study documents the pilot phase of Junebug Productions’ Color Line Project, a long-term national endeavor that combines performance and community story-collecting in an effort to revitalize Civil Rights Movement history as a valued and illuminating context for current issues of race. Using story circles methodology as a dialogue form, artist John O’Neal and a national organizing team worked over several months with local scholars, activists, and partner organizations to collect stories of local people's involvement in and understanding of the movement. Local artists moved the community’s stories to public presentation. These performances, along with Junebug Productions’ Jabbo Jones plays and scholar panels, provided varied opportunities for public dialogues. The case study illuminates Junebug’s evolution of a new type of “artist residency model,” aiming is to engage, educate, and organize. It analyzes challenges encountered by both presenters and Junebug Productions, including balancing local and national goals, and it raises valuable questions about who is best at the local level to lead short-term and sustained efforts—cultural organizations or other civic or activist organizations. The Color Line Project case study was written by Animating Democracy project liaison Cheryl Yuen, in close collaboration with John O’Neal and Theresa Holden, and draws upon project documentation by Stacie Walker.