The SECAC 2026 Call for Papers is now open through April 1, 2026, 11:59 EST.

For a complete list of sessions, please visit our website.

Rooted in a rich history of craft and reinvention, the 2026 SECAC conference will be guided by the theme Interwoven: Threads, Patterns & Disruptions. Known as the “Southern City of the Arts,” Winston-Salem has long woven together threads of tradition and transformation from its Moravian beginnings to its industrial rise in textiles and tobacco, and now into its second life as a hub for innovation and the arts.

Interwoven: Threads, Patterns & Disruptions evokes both the literal and metaphorical: the warp and weft of hand-made, home-grown, and self-reliant creative practices; the liminal nature of a city in transition, shaped by transplants, climate, and growth; and the patterns that emerge and disrupt across time, craft, and culture. The theme acknowledges the region’s textile heritage, where weaving connects Winston-Salem to Greensboro, High Point, and beyond while highlighting how the arts continue to interlace histories, communities, and futures.

SECAC 2026 invites artists, scholars, and educators to explore art as embedded in connections that hold memory, identity, resilience, and innovation within its threads. Through the interactions that occur at the conference, including conversations, presentations, panels, and exhibitions, SECAC 2026 will honor the city’s layered past while extending its reach into the evolving landscape of contemporary practice.

SECAC Call for Academic Posters New opportunity to present at SECAC 2026!

Poster session co-chairs: Al Denyer, Kevin Curry, Faith Berringer

SECAC 2026 will be offering an Academic Poster Session, and seeks poster proposals from graduate students, post-graduates and professionals. There is no session theme as we seek to showcase a range of research and projects created by members from education and research disciplines in the visual arts. Poster proposals will be reviewed by the panel chair and co-chairs.

SECAC will provide: display easels, sheets of black 20 x 30” foam core, double-sided scotch tape, and masking tape. Poster presenters will provide: a printed 20 x 30” poster, or a number of smaller sheets of image and text that can be collaged to the sheet of foam core. Presenters may choose to include original artwork (please bring alternative archival tape or hinges).

Presenters will be responsible for creating their poster on the foam core sheet ahead of the session. Proposals must be submitted through the SECAC website, in the form of an abstract that includes a description of the project/research and a weblink in order to access images and additional information.

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