St Mark's Square hosts festival from 14 to 15 November
Published on 11/14/2026 at 11:04 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSFestival programme and historic venue
- The Human Safety Net presents the two-day festival at St Mark's Square on 14 and 15 November 2026.
- Marinella Senatore leads participatory workshops linked to the Art Studio exhibition and its community project.
- The Procuratie Vecchie reconstruction was completed in 1538 by Bartolomeo Bon and Jacopo Sansovino.
St Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) in Venice hosts the We Rise by Lifting Others festival on 14 and 15 November 2026. The public programme brings participatory art, a discussion and somatic movement workshops to the Procuratie Vecchie in Italy.
We Rise by Lifting Others brings art to the square
The Human Safety Net presents the festival in collaboration with artist Marinella Senatore. The programme comprises three events, and each is preceded by a guided tour with Senatore of the We Rise by Lifting Others exhibition in the organisation's Art Studio.
The programme began on Saturday 14 November with the talk Participatory Art and Social Impact, a conversation between Senatore and cultural economist Pier Luigi Sacco. A workshop on somatic movement and body percussion followed on 14 November, while a second workshop takes place on 15 November. The sessions use movement, listening and interaction as tools for a collective creative process.
The event is designed for local residents, students, art lovers, social workers and the wider community. The festival is linked to an exhibition that grew from a participatory process involving families at risk of social exclusion, supported by The Human Safety Net and partner organisations in Warsaw, Mestre and Palermo. The festival programme for 14 and 15 November is published by Generali, the organisation behind the venue.
The Procuratie Vecchie gives the festival its setting
The events take place in the Procuratie Vecchie, the long historic building along the northern side of St Mark's Square. The building's first Procuratie were constructed in the twelfth century for the offices and homes of the Procurators of Saint Mark, then destroyed by fire in the early sixteenth century.
Reconstruction was completed in 1538 by Bartolomeo Bon and Jacopo Sansovino under Doge Andrea Gritti's Renovatio Urbis programme. Generali's history of the building records the restoration of the first and second floors, together with the conversion of the third floor into the public home of The Human Safety Net. Its present role therefore connects the festival's participatory theme with a building whose original civic function included social responsibility. The history of the Procuratie Vecchie provides the building's architectural and institutional background.
From historic offices to a public cultural programme
The exhibition We Rise by Lifting Others remains in the Art Studio until 22 March 2027. It was created for The Human Safety Net and is presented in dialogue with the permanent interactive exhibition A World of Potential.
That connection matters for visitors because the festival is not a detached performance in the piazza. It takes place inside the Procuratie Vecchie, where the talks, guided visits and workshops extend an existing exhibition into a dated public programme. The building reopened to the public in 2022 after restoration led by David Chipperfield Architects Milan.
Visiting St Mark's Square: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The festival takes place on 14 and 15 November 2026 at The Home of The Human Safety Net in the Procuratie Vecchie on St Mark's Square.
- Visitors will find a talk, two somatic movement and body percussion workshops, and guided exhibition visits; registration is required for the programme.
- The venue occupies the third floor of the Procuratie Vecchie, a building on the northern side of the square whose reconstruction was completed in 1538.
- Venice is in Italy, where Italian is the official language and the national currency is the euro.
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Frequently asked questions about St Mark's Square
When does We Rise by Lifting Others take place at St Mark's Square?
The festival takes place on 14 and 15 November 2026 at The Home of The Human Safety Net in the Procuratie Vecchie.
What is taking place at St Mark's Square during the festival?
The programme includes the Participatory Art and Social Impact talk, two somatic movement and body percussion workshops, and guided tours of the exhibition.
Where is St Mark's Square and how do you get there?
St Mark's Square is in central Venice, on the northern side of the historic centre's main monumental square. The festival venue is the Procuratie Vecchie, whose third floor houses The Home of The Human Safety Net.
