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Monday, October 26
 

8:45am PDT

Opening Plenary with Keynote Speaker Sangita Kumar
Monday October 26, 2026 8:45am - 10:00am PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
To Be Water: Cultivating Belonging, Adaptability, and Collective Flow in Youth Development
Keynote Speaker: Sangita Kumar, with the Belonging Resident Company

Water knows how to move. It can flow around an obstacle, gather force, change shape, nourish what is growing, and find new pathways without losing its essential nature. In youth development, where the needs of young people, communities, and organizations are constantly changing, how might we learn to do the same?
To Be Water is an interactive keynote exploring adaptability not simply as the ability to endure change, but as a collective practice of staying connected to our purpose, to one another, and to what the moment requires of us.
Sangita Kumar and members of the Belonging Resident Company—Bolo, Chetna, Success, and Carla—will guide participants through an experiential journey that brings the conference theme into the room. We will begin by grounding in intention and reconnecting to the values that anchor us. From there, participants will engage in a playful collective problem-solving challenge, activating the creativity, flexibility, and resilience we already use every day in our work with young people.

We will then turn to the wisdom in the room. Participants will share real stories of moments when they had to adapt, build connections, navigate an obstacle, or find an unexpected way forward in their work. Through Playback Theatre - an improvisational form in which personal stories are immediately transformed into movement, sound, and theater - the Belonging Resident Company will bring these experiences to life.
Together, we will not only talk about resilience and adaptability; we will practice them, witness them, and feel them. By seeing our individual stories reflected back as part of a larger collective story, participants will surface the knowledge already flowing through this field: how we respond creatively to change, how belonging strengthens our capacity to adapt, and how we can move through challenge without losing sight of who and what we are here for.

The keynote invites us to leave with a different understanding of resilience: not becoming harder in response to difficult conditions, but becoming more responsive, connected, imaginative, and able to move—like water.
Speakers
avatar for Sangita Kumar (she/her)

Sangita Kumar (she/her)

Founder and CEO, Be the Change Consulting
Sangita Kumar (she/her) is a multifaceted strategist, facilitator, systems builder, movement organizer, and change agent committed to advancing social justice and community empowerment. She brings over 20 years of expertise in designing and leading transformative change across sectors, including... Read More →
BB
avatar for Carla Vega

Carla Vega

Carla Vega is a multi-disciplinary artistivist, actor, singer, teaching artist, published poet, and award-winning audiobook narrator. Currently, Carla plays “Tana Lee” in ‘CROSS’ on AmazonPrime, is working on her latest original solo show, and finds fulfillment working with and on... Read More →
avatar for Chetna Mehta

Chetna Mehta

 is a multidisciplinary commissionable artist, group facilitator, and creativity coach. She weaves somatic healing, decolonial/ecological frameworks, and expressive arts as liberatory practice. She is the founder of, creating resources, programs, and spaces where changemakers can... Read More →
avatar for Success Ufondu

Success Ufondu

Success Ufondu, on stage as Ije Success, is award-nominated multi-disciplinary artist, facilitator, and host. Drawing for her background as a corporate onboarding trainer, actor, and dancer, they create dynamic, engaging spaces for learning and connection. When she isn’t delivering... Read More →
TB

The Belonging Resident Company (BRC)

The Belonging Resident Company (BRC)
The Belonging Resident Company (BRC) is a groundbreaking performance ensemble that centers BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, facilitators, and musicians on the mission to make the revolution of belonging irresistible. Through radical imagination, contemporary and hip-hop dance, movement... Read More →
Monday October 26, 2026 8:45am - 10:00am PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
  Plenary
 
Tuesday, October 27
 

9:00am PDT

Plenary Session
Tuesday October 27, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center

Tuesday October 27, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
  Plenary

1:15pm PDT

Closing Plenary
Tuesday October 27, 2026 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center

Tuesday October 27, 2026 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
  Plenary
 

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Monday, October 26
Tuesday, October 27
Ballroom, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Chambers Bay 1, Marriott (3rd Floor)
Chambers Bay 2, Marriott (3rd Floor)
Chambers Bay 3, Marriott (3rd Floor)
Commencement I & II, Marriott (2nd Floor)
Point Defiance, Marriott (3rd Floor)
Prefunction, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Room 315, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Room 316, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Room 317, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Room 318, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Room 407, Greater Tacoma Convention Center
Stadium, Marriott (2nd Floor)
Union, Marriott (3rd Floor)
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