BEYOND 2025 Programme

Programme

BEYOND 2025: Being Many

4-7 June, 2025 Turin, Italy

*Last update: 28 May 2025

Wednesday 4 June

12.00 - 17.30 | Members Forum | Part 1

Sermig - CAE Members Only

12:30 - 13:30 | CAE Members Welcome lunch
13:30 - 17:30 | CAE Members Forum

Find the full schedule here

19:00 - 23:00 | Opening Dinner

EDIT Torino - All guests

Join us for the opening moment of the BEYOND 2025 gathering. We are happy to host all participants for dinner for our first encounter together. A shuttle service will be provided back to a central meeting point at the end of the night. Details to follow.

19:00 - 23:00 | DIY "Being Many" Shirts

EDIT Torino - All guests

Reuse your old items and turn them into new BEYOND fashion! Bring a pre-loved t-shirt, tote bag, or scarf to make your custom BEYOND piece during the opening dinner with il Cerchio e le Gocce, a Torino-based urban art collective. You can take your sustainable creation with you by the night's end and wear it throughout the rest of BEYOND. In line with our commitment to greener organising, enjoy this sustainable way of getting your BEYOND goodie bag.

Thursday 5 June

09:00 - 09:30 | Registrations

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

09:30 - 10:00 | Welcome Words

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

10:00 - 11:00 | Partnerships for Cultural Democracy

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

This panel will delve into the concept of cultural democracy and examine the critical role that foundations and funders play in supporting more inclusive, participatory cultural ecosystems.

Moderator: Beatrice Dema, Club Silencio

Speakers:

Alessandra Bianco, Lavazza Group

Matteo Bagnasco, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo (video message)

Raffaella Scalisi, Torino Social Impact

Matteo Pessione, Fondazione CRT

Franco Bianchini, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

11:00 - 11:30 | Coffee Break

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

11:30 - 13:00 | Talking Politics

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

This panel explores the status quo and future of cultural policies in Europe and aims at advocacy in action: creating shared narratives shaped and owned by the cultural ecosystem. With the cultural sector and EU institutions together, this conversation will take culture for what it is: hard politics.

Moderator: Lars Ebert, Secretary General, Culture Action Europe

Speakers:

Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport (video message)

Emma Rafowicz, Member of European Parliament, France

Benedetta Scuderi, Member of European Parliament, Italy

Zsuzsanna Zsuró, Researcher and Curator, Hungary

Mateja Lazar, Creative Europe Desk Slovenia

13:00 - 15:00 | Lunch Break - On your own in the city!

See the Welcome Pack for suggestions.

15:00 - 17:00 | City Sessions, Day 1

Different Locations - All guests

City Sessions are intimate group discussions taking place all across the city. BEYOND has invited contributors to share their experiences and expertise to deepen the conversations. At the beginning of each day, participants should head to the registration desk to sign up for the session they'd like to attend. Read the full descriptions of all City Sessions here.

Democracy: Next Generation Governance

Dorado - All guests

Democracy: Memory and Representation

La Centrale Nuvola Lavazza - All guests

Words for a collective advocacy

San Pietro in Vincoli - All guests

Youth Culture and Mental Health: towards caring and empowering ecosystems

Borealis - All guests

Democracy: Radical Accessibility

Bagni Pubblici di Via Agliè - All guests

Workshop: Foresteen - Roots and Relationships

Salotto di Miranda - All guests

Female Gazes

Off Topic - All guests

19:00 - onwards | Una notte al Museo della Montagna
Museo della Montagna - All guests

The National Mountain Museum of Turin opens its doors to the public with an evening event organised together with Club Silencio. Enjoy an evening of art and culture on Monte dei Cappuccini, one of the most famous panoramic spots in the city. Please note that a dedicated shuttle will be available to take participants from Via Vittorio Amedeo Gioanetti, 3A up to the hills for the event. With your BEYOND badge, you will receive free entry and a drink ticket. Guests can choose from a number of local food trucks (at their own cost) all evening.

Friday 6 June

09:00 - 10:00 | Dance Well Practice

Sermig - All guests

This participatory session offers an embodied encounter with Dance Well, an artistic practice originally developed with and for people living with Parkinson’s, and now expanded to a wider community during BEYOND. Through guided improvisation and collective movement, participants will experience dance as a space of agency, interdependence, and community-building. Read more here.

10:00 - 11:00 | Registrations and transition to City Sessions

Sermig - All guests

Make sure to sign up for the City Session you would like to attend today! Head there to begin at 11.00.

11:00 - 13:00 | City Sessions, Day 2

Different Locations - All guests

Democracy: Plural Governance

Cecchi - All guests

Democracy: Digital Governance

Sermig - All guests

Re-searching culture: Jointly imagining research for culture and the arts

Sermig Garden - All guests

Beyond Care

Borealis - All guests

Workshop: Female Leadership and Gender Equality in the Cultural Sector

Sermig - All guests

Workshop: Effective and Equitable Organising: Introduction to Sociocracy

Via Baltea - All guests

Workshop: Towards Braver Spaces

Spazio BAC - All guests

13:00 - 14:30 | Lunch Break - On your own in the city!

See the Welcome Pack for suggestions.

14:30 - 16:15 | Parallel Play
Sermig - All guests

Inspiration sparked or a need for deeper dialogue? We provide the space and materials for you to organise your own sessions with other participants during this time slot.

Space 1: Culture, Health and Well-being Initiatives in Italy: Arts on prescription: a new opportunity

Moderated by Annalisa Cicerchia, Cultural Welfare Centre

A session to learn more about arts-based social prescribing in Italy. Read more here.

Space 2: Action Headquarters: Zine and banner-making Sessions

Coordinated by Maya Weisinger, Luisella Carnelli

Haven't had a chance to submit to the BEYOND Zine? You can head to the Action Headquarters to create your submission. Also in this space, we will have the opportunity to create signs and banners to hold during the Actionable Hope walk later in the afternoon.

Space 3: Project Presentations

Facilitated by Lucrezia Ponzano

Learn about what others are working on! Sign-ups for this session are officially closed, but everyone is welcome to come and see the selected presentations.

Space 4: Lost in Innovation: Reconnecting policy and practice in Cultural Heritage innovation

Facilitated by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision

(Accessibility note: This space is located upstairs with no lift access)

“Keep It Going” invites participants to reflect, play, and build together. Working in small groups, we’ll draw on real-world innovation practices across Europe, co-create fictional institutions (like a museum or a library), and explore how those institutions might navigate real barriers and enablers drawn from current policy contexts.

Need a space for a spontaneous meetup? Find us at the registration desk to sign up!

16:15 - 16:30 | Coffee Break

Sermig - All guests

16:30 - 18:00 | Closing panel: Actionable Hope Through Collective Practice
Sermig - All guests

By exploring three threads vital to cultural democracy: amplifying youth voices, reimagining community leadership, and spreading ideas collectively, this panel will explore how we can move from BEYOND conversations into action.

Moderator: Maya Weisinger, Head of Communications and Community Development, Culture Action Europe

Speakers:

Marco Fiore, Policy Officer, Michael Culture Association
Sara Brighenti, Deputy Commissioner, Plano Nacional das Artes
Luís Correia, Gulbenkian Foundation/Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts
Juana Tatay, Culture Action Europe, BEYOND Zine

18:00 - 18:30 | Actionable Hope Walk

As BEYOND draws to a close, we invite all participants to join us in a silent, reflective procession through the city, leading us from the final panel to the Closing Event at Club Silencio. As a performative act, this Actionable Hope Walk reclaims public space as a gesture for cultural rights, shared imagination, and the future we are co-creating. Quiet yet powerful, it is an invitation to move together with intention, embodying the values and visions seeded during the days we’ve spent together. You can prepare for the walk by creating signs and banners during the Action Headquarters Parallel Play session earlier in the day.

18:30 - 21:30 | Closing Event at Casa Silencio

Club Silencio - All Guests + local public

Join us for food, performances and other special activities hosted by Club Silencio and the local Torino Changemakers.

22:30 - onwards | Aurora Borealis - ARE U A PARTYST? Closing Party
Borealis - All Guests + local public

This is more than just a party. It’s a shared ritual of transition: a joyful moment to honour what we’ve built and toast to the power of cultural democracy in practice. Throughout the night, you’ll meet the Aurora Borealis residency artists, selected by the local community and curated by Kaninchen-Haus. Expect the unexpected! Find out more about the program here.

Entrance to this event requires the purchase of a 6 EUR Tessera AICS card. The Tessera AICS (Associazione Italiana Cultura Sport) is a national network that legally protects independent cultural spaces across Italy, allowing them to exist outside the commercial mainstream. With this card, you’re supporting the survival of grassroots clubs, DIY art spaces, radical bookstores, and community hubs that would otherwise be shut down or priced out. It’s what enables local spaces to serve drinks, host gigs, screen films, or hold activist meetings without becoming a corporate venue.
The membership is valid for one year and gives you access to all AICS-affiliated spaces and events across Italy. You can make your card here.

Saturday 7 June

09:00 - 09:30 | Coffee

09:30 - 14:30 | Members Forum | Part 2

Sermig - CAE Members Only