IA Announces 2026 REGIONAL Collaboratories

Imagining America is proud to announce the 2026 cohort for the IA Regional Collaboratories. IA staff reviewed many excellent submissions and we thank all who shared their visions as part of the call for proposals. We selected eight projects that examine how the work of imagining and practices of imagination are critical to organizing personal, institutional, and societal transformation. Please join us in celebrating the following projects: 

The Train. The Station: Imagining Collaboration & Democracy, convened by Jonathan Rattner at Vanderbilt University, Jon Winet at University of Iowa, Don Unger at University of Mississippi, Bridget Draxler at St. Olaf College, and Andrea Feeser at Clemson University

The Arboretum Sound Lab, convened by Pierpaolo Polzonetti at University of California, Davis and Karlton Hester at University of California, Santa Cruz

A Field Guide to Applied Imagination, convened by Dana Edell at Emerson College with collaborators at New York University, Fordham University, and the New School 

Genealogies of African Cinema Scholars and Filmmakers: Critical Considerations of Legacy, Exhibition, and Archival Practices, convened by Jerome Dent at Tulane University and Camille C. Dantzler at Xavier University of Louisiana

Little Bird Lab || Smoke Stories, convened by Michelle Swinehart and Michelle Illuminato at Portland State University and Jamie Cornelius at Oregon State University

Office of Creative Propulsion X IA Open Forums, convened by Kathryn Nusa Logan at James Madison University with regional collaborators

The Porchlight Collaboratory, convened by Heidi Schmalbach at University of Texas, Austin and Karolyn Andrews at Schreiner University

Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths (SOLHOT) Studio: A Collaboratory of Resonance for Respirting our Wildest Dreams, convened by Blair Smith at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign and Ruth Nicole Brown at Michigan State University