ACCAD served as an institutional sponsor for the 2026 New Media Caucus (NMC) Symposium, Restoration / Regeneration, held at Arizona State University's MIX Center. As an international, peer-reviewed gathering for practitioners, theorists, and educators, the NMC symposium functions as a major clearinghouse for experimental media arts scholarship, focusing this year on how computational practices respond to ecological, cultural, and technological crises. Beyond institutional support, the center and Ohio State had a pronounced presence across the three-day program through open-source toolmaking, exhibition showcases, and organizational leadership.

Faculty research featured prominently in both presentation and gallery tracks. ACCAD Director Chris Coleman presented a session on the Clinic for Open Source Arts (COSA) and its integration into ACCAD’s interdisciplinary research ecosystem. The talk provided critical context ahead of ACCAD hosting the national Open Source Arts Contributor’s Conference on campus this fall, scheduled for October 22–24, 2026. In the symposium's expanded media showcase, creative practice took center stage with original artworks exhibited by both Coleman and Department of Art Professor Laleh Mehran.

The gathering also brought Ohio State’s deep media arts lineage into sharp focus. Keynote speaker Paula Gaetano Adi (Professor, RISD) and NMC President Nick Bontrager (Associate Professor, TCU) are both alumni of OSU’s Art & Technology MFA program. Their prominent roles highlight an ongoing lineage of creators and educators whose work continues to shape open-source tools, scholarly discourse, and institutional frameworks across the field.