Imagining America National Gathering

First organized in 2000, the Imagining America National Gathering is an annual convening of public scholars, artists, designers, students, and cultural organizers who are addressing the most pressing issues of our time. The gathering offers participants a multi-day immersive experience in which to connect, dialogue, learn, and strategize around the ways to build new knowledge and inspire collective imagination towards transformative education and action. This annual event is presented in a different city each year in partnership with a local host partner and steering committee.

Past Gatherings

2023, Radical Reckoning: Invoking the Elements for Collective Change (Providence, RI)

In partnership with College Unbound, AS220 community arts, and the City of Providence, the 2023 IA National Gathering convened over 600 participants in Providence. Invoking the cleansing work of fire, the changing form of water, the steadiness of the earth, and the ethereal nature of air, Radical Reckoning: Invoking the Elements for Collective Change conjured the elements to guide the radical work of reckoning with the past to create a future of collective liberation. View the opening and closing plenaries here.

2022, Rituals of Repair and Renewal (New Orleans, LA)

Building on a several-year collaboration, the 2022 National Gathering brought us together in-person for the first time in three years. Rituals of Repair and Renewal was organized in partnership with Tulane University and Ashé Cultural Arts Center and enacted rituals of reflection, repair, renewal, wellness, and imagination. View the plenary recordings on YouTube.

2021, The Shape of Us: Water Ways and Movements (Virtual)

Complementing a special issue of the journal PUBLIC, IA’s 2021 National Gathering, The Shape of Us: Water Ways and Movements, was held virtually in collaboration with Tulane University and Ashé Cultural Arts Center on reimagining and redesigning our water systems and thinking deeply about water-based ways of learning, working, organizing, and living.

2020, Through Tumultuous Times: Reimagining and Rebuilding ‘America’ (Virtual)

In place of an in-person IA National Gathering, Imagining America hosted a Collective Creative Engagement titled Through Tumultuous Times: Reimagining and Rebuilding ‘America’ in collaboration with Tulane University and Ashé Cultural Arts Center. IA invited creative responses that offer opportunities for community reflection, healing, and the creation of spaces and places for a radical reimagining of the world in which we live.

2019, Mighty Dreams: Designing & Fostering Beloning in America (Albuquerque, NM)

Mighty Dreams: Designing & Fostering Belonging in America was the 20th anniversary Gathering held in Albuquerque, New Mexico and organized in partnership with the University of New Mexico.

2018, Transformative Imaginations: Decarceration & Liberatory Futures (Chicago, IL)

Transformative Imaginations: Decarceration & Liberatory Futures was held in Chicago, Illinois and organized in partnership with Illinois Humanities and a local Chicago Steering Committee.

2017, C.A.L.L. Communities, Arts, Lands, Learning (Davis, CA)

C.A.L.L. Communities Arts Lands Learning was held in Davis, California and organized in partnership with University of California, Davis and local steering committee upon IA’s move to UC Davis.