Radical Reckoning: Invoking the Elements for Collective Change
Call for Participation
Imagining America National Gathering
Providence, Rhode Island | Friday, October 20 – Sunday, October 22, 2023
In partnership with College Unbound, AS220, the City of Providence, and a diverse local Steering Committee, Imagining America (IA) invites participants to gather in Providence, Rhode Island for the in-person 2023 IA National Gathering on October 20-22, 2023.
Invoking the cleansing work of fire, the changing form of water, the steadiness of the earth, and the ethereal nature of air, the 2023 IA National Gathering conjures the elements to guide the radical work of reckoning with the past to create a future of collective liberation.
Reckoning is the practice of taking full account. It requires digging down to the roots—to be radical. While radical reckoning may unearth uncomfortable truths, past harms, and the origins of ongoing injustices, it also reveals the foundations of enduring cultural heritage, creative ecological adaptation, and the sources of physical and spiritual sustenance.
Taking full account is the necessary first step to create lasting change in ourselves, our communities, and our institutions. The work of radical reckoning requires a shared commitment to trust and care for each other, constant reflection in our practices, and a (re)connection to the land and places that we inhabit.
To guide these reckonings, the 2023 IA National Gathering invokes the elements of fire, water, earth, and air to inspire creative collaboration and offer new lessons and approaches. Fire shows that sometimes things have to burn to make new growth possible. Water reflects not only the birthing of new beings but also new ways of being. Earth provides a material connection to deep time and the origins of all life. Air brings us closer to our ancestors and the spirit world so that we can manifest that which is yet to be imagined.
We invite you to propose a session to the IA National Gathering that deepens our understanding of the practices of radical reckoning, explores how the elements inspire creative and generative approaches to this work, and imagines the collective change required for a shared, liberatory future.
The 2023 Gathering will explore questions such as:
- What can we learn from fire, water, earth, or air either metaphorically or literally, as it applies to cultural organizing, public scholarship, or institutional change work?
- How might a process of slow, controlled burning create conditions for new possibilities?
- What does the shapeshifting and placemaking power of water teach us about navigating the present?
- How does the earth remind us to be grounded through upheaval and practice patience in long-haul social change?
- How can air inspire lightness, joy, and play in collective work?
- How might a process of slow, controlled burning create conditions for new possibilities?
- What kind of collective reckoning is needed from social movements, cultural workers, artists, and educators?
- What does it mean to reckon with the legacies of enslavement, colonialism, and imperialism as they manifest in our communities and within institutions of higher learning? What might a cycle of change look like?
- What projects and people are already reckoning with the past and present towards collective change? How do we uplift and support them?
- What unique approaches can the arts, humanities, design, and other creative practices bring to the work of reckoning?
- How can we center multigenerational care and connection in creating a future of collective transformation and liberation?
- How can we create collective energy, a fire in our belly, to address the radical roots of ecological and societal crises?
All proposed sessions should be interactive, providing opportunities for sharing and co-creation. Typical session formats are as follows:
• Lightning Talk (7 minutes): In this brief presentation, a single speaker will share current or past research, creative outputs, media, artistic practice, or community projects.
• Projects & Practices (20 minutes): Groups or individuals will share compelling outcomes, lessons learned, methods, or collective change that emerged from community-based projects centering the arts, performance, design, cultural organizing, and humanities practices.
• Dialogue & Discussion (60 minutes): Designed to facilitate interactive dialogue around a pressing issue or action, these sessions feature multiple perspectives/parties on a specific topic.
• Participatory Workshop (90 minutes): Led by more than one facilitator, the workshop can focus on specific skill development, artistic or creative practice, participatory performances, or guided collective activity. Workshops must be highly interactive, collaborative, and provide opportunities for group co-creation.
• Fire / Water / Earth / Air Activities (ongoing): A collective art-making activity centered on one of the four elements that will be available to all participants throughout the IA National Gathering. These activities are ongoing (not limited to a single session) and will be set up in an accessible space with self-directed instructions for participants.
• Creative Works (ongoing): Media and visual or material work to be shared outside of a scheduled session time. We welcome your creative proposals for this submission format. If selected for inclusion in the IA National Gathering, IA staff will reach out for specific installation or exhibition needs.
Other session formats in mind? Discuss your ideas with us. Email us at gathering@imaginingamerica.org or call us at (530) 297-4640.
The deadline to submit your proposal is Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 11:59 PM PT
This Call for Participation is open to everyone, IA members and Non-Members.
The Imagining America consortium (IA) brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues. By dreaming and building together in public, IA creates the conditions to shift culture and transform inequitable institutional and societal structures.
The IA National Gathering is an annual convening of more than 500 public scholars, artists, designers, teachers, students, and cultural organizers who are addressing the most pressing issues of our time. Gatherings offer participants a three-day immersive experience in which to connect, dialogue, learn, and strategize on the ways in which the arts, humanities, and design are and may be leveraged locally, regionally, and nationally towards transformative action.
Funding has been provided by California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
