By Karen Fouts and Melissa AB Graetz, 2026 Conference Co-Chairs

Greetings, SIETAR USA Friends!

We are pleased to share that plans for this year’s virtual conference event are moving full steam ahead! Throughout the planning process, we keep coming back to the idea of being both rooted in our foundations and reaching for what is new.

There is something powerful about knowing what grounds us: our values, our experiences, our communities, the lessons we have learned along the way, while still being willing to stretch beyond what we already know.

That feels particularly important right now.

The world around us is changing quickly, and the work of intercultural practitioners is changing with it. But moving forward doesn’t mean abandoning what has brought us here. In fact, we firmly believe the strongest way to navigate change is to know what we are rooted in while remaining curious about what might be possible. We’ve been asking questions like: “How did we get here? What do our communities need from us now? How has our previous work missed the mark? How can we move forward, gain momentum and do good work?” 

That is at the heart of ROOT & REACH: Grounding Intercultural Practice While Stretching Into What’s Next, the theme for the 2026 SIETAR USA Virtual Conference.

As your Co-Chairs, we are excited about creating a space where we can pause and reflect on what sustains our work—and then ask the harder, more interesting questions: “What needs to change? What have we learned? Where do we need to stretch? And what might we create together that we haven't imagined yet?”

For us, “Root & Reach” is more than a conference theme. It is an invitation to approach the future with curiosity rather than anxiety, humility rather than certainty, and possibility rather than fear. We remain steadfast in not being complacent with where we are, but confident in our community to find what's next. 

Stay rooted. Keep reaching. There IS room for both.

The 2026 SIETAR USA Virtual Conference takes place November 4-7. For details and registration, visit www.sietarusa.org today!