Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry

06/15/2026

📮 Greetings from Banff, Alberta, Canada! 🇨🇦🏔️
 
What a week in the Canadian Rockies! Our Director, Dr. Javier Duran, and Program Manager, Yadira Caballero, traveled to Banff for the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) Annual Meeting, held on the traditional lands of Treaty 7 territory, home to the Stoney Nakoda, Blackfoot, and Tsuut’ina Nations.
 
Surrounded by breathtaking mountain views, they joined humanities leaders and scholars from around the world to explore this year’s theme: Building the Present We Want. Along the way, they exchanged ideas, made new connections, and reflected on how collaboration can strengthen humanities communities across the globe.
 
Dr. Duran also participated in the CHCI Board Meeting, helping shape future opportunities and directions for the international humanities community.
 
From inspiring conversations to unforgettable scenery, Banff was a reminder of the power of dialogue, partnership, and shared purpose.
 
📸 Swipe through for a few snapshots from the journey!
 
🌎✨
 

06/09/2026

Sneak peek from Banff, Canada 🇨🇦

Our director, Dr. Javier Duran, and Program Manager, Yadira Caballero, attended the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) Annual Meeting. Besides taking in the beautiful views of Banff, they joined conversations on the role of the humanities in addressing today’s most urgent challenges and imagining more just futures. 🌎

Stay tuned for more photos and highlights from their trip! 📸

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

Congratulations to Our Graduating Student Workers! 🎓🎉
We are proud to celebrate three incredible student workers who are leaving their mark on the Confluencenter.

Yashi Gupta and Adam Fehse, both earning their Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, served as our Website Managers and kept our digital home running effectively. Their technical expertise ensured that our community could always find, explore, and engage with the work we do at the intersection of arts, humanities, and social sciences.

Esperanza Fernandez, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a Minor in Public Relations and Fashion Industries Science, served as our Multimedia Specialist and brought creativity, storytelling, and intention to everything she worked on, perfectly aligned with our mission.

We are so grateful for the time, energy, and talent each of you poured into the Confluencenter. You came to us as students and leave as graduates ready to make your mark on the world.

We have no doubt that the curiosity and dedication you brought to this work will carry you far.

Congratulations, Yashi, Esperanza, and Adam, we are so proud of you! Bear Down! 🐻

05/28/2026

05/26/2026

Congratulations to the recipients of Confluencias — Voices & Visions of the Arizona–Sonora Border! 🎉

Through this Fronteridades grant opportunity, the Confluencenter is proud to support artists, creatives, educators, and community practitioners whose projects uplift the stories, lived experiences, and cultural landscapes of the Arizona–Sonora border region. 🎨 📷

From storytelling and digital media to visual arts, education, and community engagement, these projects reflect the creativity, resilience, and vision rooted in our border communities. We are excited to see how each recipient will help shape more inclusive and meaningful narratives of the borderlands. 🌵✨

Swipe to see each recipient and their project titles!📱

¡Felicitaciones a las personas seleccionadas de Confluencias — Voces y Visiones de la Frontera Arizona–Sonora! 🎉

A través de esta oportunidad de apoyo de Fronteridades, el Confluencenter se enorgullece de apoyar a artistas, creativos, educadores y líderes comunitarios cuyos proyectos resaltan las historias, experiencias vividas y paisajes culturales de la región fronteriza Arizona–Sonora. 🎨 📷

Desde la narrativa y los medios digitales hasta las artes visuales, la educación y el trabajo comunitario, estos proyectos reflejan la creatividad, resiliencia y visión que nacen de nuestras comunidades fronterizas. Nos emociona ver cómo cada persona contribuirá a construir narrativas más inclusivas y significativas sobre la frontera. 🌵✨

¡Desliza para ver a cada persona seleccionada y el título de su proyecto! 📱

05/21/2026

Congratulations to the three microgrant recipients of Creative Reuse of the Fronteridades 2026!

📱🤳🧵 These Southern Arizona creatives and scholars are doing something special, reimagining and rebuilding from the stories, archives, oral histories, and multimedia materials that make up the Fronteridades initiative.

Their work will reinterprets the borderlands' rich history and living culture, and we can't wait to share their progress!🏜️

Stay tuned to learn more about this year's recipients and the incredible projects they're bringing to life.

05/19/2026

🌵✨ We're proud to announce the 2026 recipients of the In This Frontera Moment graduate microgrant, supporting UA graduate students whose interdisciplinary work responds to the rapidly evolving realities of immigration, border enforcement, and the public narratives shaping our border communities.

🎥 📃 These recipients will produce work from visual art to digital media, performance to research, and so much more! These emerging scholars and creators are telling the stories that matter, right now, from the center of the borderlands.

Stay tuned to learn more about the Fronteridades microgrant initiatives and this year's recipients!

05/18/2026

This year, our director, Dr. Javier Duran, was invited to deliver the Spanish welcome at the University of Arizona’s 2026 commencement ceremony, sharing a powerful message rooted in respect, responsibility, reciprocity, and resilience.

In his remarks, Dr. Duran recognized the perseverance and sacrifices behind every graduate’s journey, especially those of first-generation, migrant, and international families whose dreams and determination helped make this achievement possible.

At the Confluencenter, we are proud to see these values reflected on such an important stage. Dr. Duran’s message speaks to the heart of our work: fostering dialogue, uplifting community voices, and creating pathways for more inclusive and humane futures through the arts, humanities, and public engagement.

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! 🎓

05/11/2026

We are so proud of the work Andrés Caballero has produced! We encourage you to visits the University of Arizona School of Art to view his Thesis Exhibition “IN PLACE” 🎨🎓