The We Rise by Lifting Others festival in Venice with Marinella Senatore

• On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November, The Home of The Human Safety Net will host discussions on the power of participatory art, alongside somatic movement and body sound workshops designed to foster connections and strengthen a sense of community.

Free admission upon registration here

Venice – On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November 2026, The Home of The Human Safety Net, the cultural and social inclusion hub located in the Procuratie Vecchie in Saint Mark Square, Venice, presents the We Rise by Lifting Others festival, conceived in collaboration with Marinella Senatore, one of Italy’s most internationally recognised artists, whose practice explores the potential of art as a tool for collective expression and transformation.

Over two days, talks and workshops explore the power of art to foster connections and strengthen a sense of community. The programme invites the public to take an active role in the creative process through somatic movement, body percussion, listening and interaction, using the body as a tool for knowledge and connection and bringing people from different cultural, generational and social backgrounds into dialogue.

The festival is part of We Rise by Lifting Others, Marinella Senatore’s site-specific exhibition, on view in the Art Studio at The Home of The Human Safety Net until 22 March 2027. The exhibition is the result of a co-creation process led by the artist between December 2025 and January 2026, involving families at risk of social exclusion, supported by The Human Safety Net and its partner NGOs in Warsaw, Mestre and Palermo.

Through writing, storytelling and movement workshops, their experiences took shape in an exhibition project featuring a luminaria approximately four metres tall and six tapestries, in which individual words, aspirations and memories come together to form a shared narrative.

"We believe that art has the power to unlock people's potential, creating spaces where they can express themselves, meet others and imagine new possibilities together. This Festival represents a further significant chapter in the exhibition and participatory journey developed with Marinella Senatore, which began last year with the involvement of our families in vulnerable circumstances and culminated in the exhibition hosted in our Art Studio. In keeping with the spirit of the project, the Festival opens this experience to the wider community, transforming it into a collective moment of sharing, inclusion and participation, where everyone can feel part of a shared story." stated Alexia Boro, Director of the Procuratie, The Home of The Human Safety Net.

“We Rise by Lifting Others stems from the coming together of different experiences and forms of knowledge. Through the festival, this journey opens up to new people and opportunities for mutual learning. In the workshops, somatic practices and body sound allow participants to learn through the body and their relationships with others. Everyone can share what they know and contribute to the development of the process. I am interested in creating the conditions for differences to enter into dialogue and for people to recognise their ability to act together. The aesthetic and social dimensions are closely connected: having a voice and building relationships means exercising one’s presence in the shared space and imagining new ways of living together.” stated Marinella Senatore.

The programme opens on Saturday 14 November at 10:30 am with the talk Participatory Art and Social Impact, a conversation between Marinella Senatore and Pier Luigi Sacco, one of the leading international experts in cultural economics. The discussion will focus on the role of art and culture in building communities and generating social impact. Drawing on their respective experiences, the talk will explore the relationships between collaborative artistic practices, social capital, well-being and active citizenship, examining how cultural participation can strengthen individual and collective potential and create new opportunities for action.

On the afternoon of Saturday 14 November, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and on the morning of Sunday 15 November, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, the auditorium at The Home of The Human Safety Net will be transformed into a space for experimentation and collective creation, hosting two somatic movement and body percussion workshops led by the artist, with up to 150 participants, upon registration.

The workshops draw inspiration from the methodologies developed by the artist through The School of Narrative Dance, the nomadic, free and non-hierarchical educational platform founded by Marinella Senatore in 2012, which recognises every participant as a bearer of experiences, memories and skills to be shared.

At the heart of the festival lies a conception of art in which formal exploration, the creation of works and participatory processes are closely intertwined and can generate shared knowledge and new possibilities for action.

Furthermore, before each session, the artist will lead guided tours of the exhibition We Rise by Lifting Others, offering visitors an opportunity to explore the creative process and the ideas behind the project in greater depth.

Participants can take part in both sessions or attend just one.