Listen here to the VVorkshop podcast with Paddy Johnson and TransCultural Exchange’s Director Mary Sherman speaking about the 2025 International Conference on Opportunities in the Arts: Avenues for Daring.

2025 Conference Overview

From March 7-9, hundreds of artists and those who support artists’ work came together at The Foundry in Cambridge for TransCultural Exchange’s International Conference on Opportunities. Entitled Avenues for Daring, this three-day forum connected artists around the globe, down the block and across the nation. Participants considered our era’s pressing need for diversity, political equity, and climate and social justice. They did so while also celebrating the arts’ ability to provide joy, respite, and common ground for dialog. Both here and abroad. They reached beyond cultural, political and social divides, showcasing programs designed to engage artists with other cultures and disciplines to provide them with the tools, means and inspiration to, in turn, present the wonders and realities of the world to us. They explored innovative strategies, technologies and working methods for artists to best express today’s challenges. Through discussions, workshops, PechaKucha pitches, portfolio reviews and tours of local attractions, resources for sharing and new possibilities of caring were exchanged. As one of our attendees noted, “It was such an inspiring, powerful, and meaningful experience—truly one of a kind. Thank you for making this incredible experience possible.” More testimonials here.

2025 Conference Host: The Foundry, Cambridge Massachusetts

Touted as the ultimate creative space, with a room for fabric arts, housed next to a digitally equipped wood shop, a dance studio, theater, food lab, and numerous spaces for both large-scale and intimate gatherings, The Foundry is Cambridge’s inclusive hub for creative exploration. Nestled alongside MIT, steps from Cambridge’s renowned life science and tech innovators, and only a short subway ride to Harvard Square and Boston, our host of Avenues for Daring could not be more ideally situated. Or more ideally suited for a creative convening. Like the Conference itself, the possibilities for expanding horizons at the Foundry are endless. We are very grateful to the Foundry for lending us its entire space for this event. (Closer to the Conference date, added tours and other area activities will also be announced.)

Call for Sponsors
Interested in Sponsoring an aspect of the Conference to showcase your support of the arts as a platform for cultural understanding, dialog and creative innovation, contact Mary Sherman at msherman[at]transculturalexchange.org.

Registration
Registration available here.