Imagining America, the arts, humanities and design consortium that is moving its headquarters to UC Davis on July 1, will make its presence known in a big way three months later when the university hosts the consortium’s 17th annual conference, Oct. 12-14.

UC Davis is among more than 100 academic institutions and cultural organizations in the consortium. Its full name is Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life, and it’s moving here from Syracuse University, as announced last June.

The consortium recently issued a call for participation for the national conference, seeking creative sessions that engage with Communities, Arts, Lands and Learning, or C.A.L.L. for short. Imagining America invites proposals across formats, including performance and dialogue, pecha kucha, roundtable, media and poster sessions. Site-specific workshops are being developed through a local organizing process. The proposal deadline is March 20.

“We’re thrilled to be the host for the next Imagining America conference,” said Brett Snyder, associate professor of design and conference co-organizer. “This year’s C.A.L.L. comes out of rich discussions we’ve had between faculty, students, staff and community members.

“We’ve talked about how engaged and active our students and faculty are, the methods we’re excited to share, our eagerness to learn and challenge the status quo, and finally, our pride in sharing local and regional sites of culture as well as sites of conflict and contradiction.”

Launched in 1999 at a White House conference on the democratic role of arts and humanities, Imagining America was first based at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, before moving to Syracuse University in 2007. UC Davis will serve at the hosting partner for Imagining America on a renewable, five-year term.

Imagining America’s network of artists, designers, scholars and community members convene in a different host city annually to imagine education’s future through the lens of the cultural disciplines, which highlight the arts, humanities and design, but invite interactive engagement with all fields. Through an immersive three-day experience, the conference will tackle issues that matter to the local region, while also furthering the national discourse around public scholarship.

To join one of UC Davis’ information sessions on creating a proposal, contact Stephanie Maroney by email.

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