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.”