CONGRATULATIONS 2026 IA REGIONAL COLLABORATORIES!
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
Collaboratories have long been part of IA’s work to connect members across the IA consortium in the production of public knowledge and collective imagination through collaborative research and experimentation.
2025 COLLABORATORIES
In 2025, IA launched six new collaboratories, welcoming emergent partnerships and new communities of practice to form in areas of shared interest among IA members and partners in the broader IA network. As we approach Imagining America’s 25th anniversary, to be celebrated at the 2025 IA National Gathering in Cincinnati, we selected collaboratories with a focus on the first two IA guiding values. These two IA values combined represent some of the most critical tensions and opportunities in our work and in the world today:
1) It is important to struggle with the idea of America. The idea of ‘America’ embodies both the prophetic vision and legacy of social movements that have fought for a fully equitable broad-based popular democracy, and a troubling legacy of violence, oppression, and genocide. To realize our vision, we believe that it is important to struggle with this contradiction and how it has and continues to manifest domestically, regionally, and globally.
2) Creative culture is an important site of liberation. The bold power of art and design holds the key to bringing people together in imagining and embodying a better future. Creative practices force us to suspend belief, step outside of dead-end thinking, and imagine a different way of being. Collaborative creative culture-making brings people together in ways that foster empathy, joy, play, and connection.
From a virtual speaker series on the undercommons and a puppet parade performance to communities of practice on radical pedagogy, regional organizing, speculative futures, and student refuge, the following projects will be carried out across 10 IA member campuses and collaborate with at least 7 other neighboring campuses and communities.
Learn more about each of the collaboratories, including ongoing updates on opportunities to participate, by following the links below.
PAST COLLABORATORIES
Please follow the links below to learn more about IA’s previous collaboratory projects. While these projects are no longer actively funded, the communities of practice still continue to operate and inform IA’s mission, vision, and ongoing programs.
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.
