2026 Imagining America National Gathering

The IA Gathering is a convening of public scholars, artists, students, and cultural organizers addressing the pressing issues of our time.
About this Event

View the Main Event Webpage here.

Tides of Transition: Restoring Collective Spirit in Troubled Times

In partnership with the University of California, Davis and a diverse regional Steering Committee, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life (IA) invites participants to gather in Davis, California for the 2026 IA National Gathering.

Reflecting on the importance of transitions – from political crises to global climate change, and personal identity to organizational transformation – this gathering invites participants to share stories, research, creative works, and community practices exploring the complex process of transitioning away from systems of fear and domination and towards restoring collective spirit.

Tides of Transition: Restoring Collective Spirit in Troubled Times calls us to re-story and honor the places, knowledges, relationships, and ecologies that have been made broken through centuries of violence and abandonment, and the current intensifying fear and repression. We know that our communities are tired, and we know that being together revives our collective spirit, giving us the strength and inspiration we need in troubled times. In this moment of upheaval, the 2026 IA National Gathering draws participants to Davis, CA in the spirit of mending the roots of our connections, and to “awaken,” as Buddhist monk and activist Thích Nhất Hạnh teaches, “from the illusion of our separateness.”

Registration Types

Please select the registration type that best matches your professional and financial situation. Being honest in this selection allows us to subsidize reduced rates for students, community members, and independent creatives and organizers.

• IA Member: You are faculty or staff at an IA member higher education institution. Not sure if your institution is a member? Find out here.
• Non-Member Higher Education: You are faculty or staff at a non-IA-member higher education institution, or you work in a higher education adjacent professional organization. If you would like to join IA now to receive discounted member registration please email us at [email protected].
• Sustainer: You work at a private business or foundation. Or, you are an individual who can afford the full sustainer rate.

If the registration types listed above do not apply, please select from the following reduced registration rates that are designed to support participation from our diverse network of collaborators.

• Advocate: You work at an organization, governmental body, non-profit, or independently with resources to attend conferences.
• Friend: You are an independent creative or organizer, or you work at a small, grassroots organization with limited resources to attend conferences.
• Student: You are an enrolled student at any educational institution.