Tending Our Fire: Resilience & Regeneration
March 20 – 22, 2027 | Evanston, IL | In-Person & Virtual
Conference Info: Home | Registration | Program | ICAT Sponsorship | Hotel & Parking
Before beginning: Please review the Call for Papers (below) and prepare all required materials in advance. You may not be able to save an incomplete submission and return later. Questions? Please contact us at conference@itachicago.org.
Important Dates
Call for Papers Opens: September 15, 2026
Proposal Deadline: Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 11:59 PM (CST)
Acceptance Notifications: Monday, November 23, 2026
Conference Overview
Those who care for others carry a great deal. Creative arts therapists, healthcare and mental health professionals, and community practitioners work every day to foster healing, connection, and belonging while navigating burnout, increasing barriers to care, systemic oppression, and the evolving needs of the communities they serve.
Tending Our Fire: Resilience & Regeneration invites us to consider the many forms fire can take. Fire can represent warmth and creativity, anger and urgency, exhaustion and burnout, or renewal and transformation. It can illuminate and sustain, but it also requires care. How do we tend what keeps going without allowing it to consume us? How do we care for ourselves and one another while challenging the systems that make care harder to give and receive?
At ICAT 2027, ITA becomes a hearth for connection, community, learning, and renewal. Together we will explore creative, embodied, anti-carceral, culturally responsive, and liberatory approaches across healthcare, educational, and community settings, and we will experience how creative arts therapies can brighten our work as we carry our fire forward.
What We Are Seeking
We are seeking proposals for workshops, lectures, panels, performances, and discussions that empower and equip creative arts therapists and other professionals to respond to the evolving healthcare and community needs affecting those we serve.
We especially encourage proposals that explore:
- Anti-oppressive, liberatory, or culturally responsive frameworks
- Sustainability and resilience in the face of burnout and systemic barriers
- Advocacy strategies that uplift creative arts therapies within healthcare and related systems
- Strengths-based, embodied, and creative approaches in clinical, community, and educational settings
- Innovative models for access, funding, collaboration, and professional growth
We welcome proposals from within and beyond the creative arts therapies that encourage interdisciplinary learning and offer meaningful applications for attendees across professions and settings.
Who Can Submit?
We welcome submissions from:
- Creative Arts Therapists
- Healthcare and mental health professionals
- Educators and researchers
- Community-based practitioners
- Students and emerging professionals
- Advocates and organizational leaders
- Interdisciplinary collaborators whose work connects with the conference theme
Presentation Formats
Workshops
Interactive sessions that engage attendees through experiential learning, skill development, creative practice, or practical application.
Approximately 120 mins.
Lectures
Educational presentations that share research, clinical practice, theory, emerging approaches, or other knowledge relevant to the conference.
Approximately 60 mins.
Panels
Collaborative presentations that bring multiple perspectives or areas of expertise into conversation around a shared topic.
Approximately 90 mins.
Performances
Creative presentations that use artistic or embodied practice to explore ideas relevant to the conference theme and professional practice.
Length may vary within reason.
Discussions
Facilitated sessions designed to encourage dialogue, reflection, shared learning, or exploration of an issue affecting the field or communities we serve.
Approximately 90 mins.
Applicants will be asked to indicate whether they are available to present in person, virtually, or in either format.
Proposal Requirements
Please prepare all required information before beginning the online submission form. Each proposal must include:
- Contact information for all presenters
- Presentation title
- Presentation description, maximum 50 words
- At least two (2) learning objectives
- Abstract, maximum 250 words
- At least three (3) academic references
- Workshop outline, for workshop proposals
- Statement of professional or clinical relevance, where applicable
- CV for each presenter; uploaded to the cloud (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. with a shareable link
Presentation Description: Your 50-word presentation description should clearly communicate the focus of your session to prospective attendees. If your proposal is accepted, this description may be used in the conference program and promotional materials.
Learning Objectives: Please provide a minimum of two learning objectives that identify what participants will know, understand, identify, demonstrate, or be able to apply as a result of attending your session.
CV Uploads: CVs should be uploaded to a cloud-based service such as Google Drive or Dropbox, and applicant should provide a shareable link. Please make sure your link can be viewed without requesting access. We recommend testing the link in a private or incognito browser before submitting your proposal.
How Proposals Are Reviewed
All proposals will undergo peer review. Reviews will consider:
- Relevance to the ICAT 2027 theme, Tending Our Fire: Resilience & Regeneration
- Relevance to current creative arts therapy research, practice, education, advocacy, or community-based work
- Responsiveness to cultural and social contexts, including cross-cultural interactions, privilege, oppression, and other factors relevant to the proposed topic
- Accessibility and relevance to an interdisciplinary audience
- Clarity in academic research and practice
Presenter Expectations
If your proposal is accepted, presenters will receive additional information regarding scheduling, registration, presentation requirements, continuing education documentation, and conference logistics. Accepted presenters are responsible for ensuring that any client, patient, student, or community information included in a presentation is appropriately de-identified and that any necessary permission have been obtained.
Ready to Submit?
Before beginning, please make sure you have reviewed the proposal requirements and prepared all necessary materials.