Youth Wellbeing & Belonging: Policy, Practice and Presence
WellSpaces Network for Youth — Annual Gathering - Florence, Italy · 19–22 November 2026
WellSpaces Annual Gathering 2026
What conditions make wise agency possible, and who has the power to create them?
Florence · 19–22 November 2026 · In presence and online
Four days with educators, artists, practitioners and researchers from across Europe, asking one question in three registers: within the network, with policy, and in practice.
Come for one part or all four days. The Policy Dialogue on Friday is free and open to everyone, in the room or online.
What this is for
Florence, 19–22 November 2026
A four-day gathering on the conditions that make wise youth agency possible — asked in three registers: from the network, to policy, and through practice.
Thursday–Friday free and open. Weekend Lab on sliding scale. Register by 30 October.
Young people cannot act with real agency in their communities if they have not first experienced what it is to be safe, to belong somewhere, to sense that their presence matters. WellSpaces Network for Youth brings together member organisations across Europe — educators, artists, practitioners, researchers and youth workers — who build those conditions and want to understand what makes them possible at a scale beyond any single organisation.
The Gathering is held around one question, asked in three registers across four days:
What conditions make wise agency possible, and who has the power to create them?
On Thursday the network asks it from the inside. On Friday it is put to policy. Across the weekend it is answered by being practised rather than described.
What is co-created here
Three things, and they are deliberately modest — 2026 is a year for building and testing hypotheses, not for announcing results.
A shared reading of where policy is moving and where it fails to meet what organisations can actually do. Built by members on Friday morning, tested against invited guests in the afternoon, and carried into the network's planning for the following year.
A 2027 plan grounded in what member organisations are living, rather than written centrally and circulated for comment.
A practised experience of the pedagogy the network argues for — not a description of relational work, but two and a half days inside it, with the capacity to bring it back into your own context.
The four days
Thursday 19 November · Collective Visioning
10:00–17:00 · In presence, Florence · Member organisations, core team and Forma Mentis Lab · Free
A day of reflection and planning within the network. What is being noticed in your communities, what is working, what is being asked of you — and what this network can create that no member organisation can create alone.
Attendance is optional. RSVP by 30 October.
Friday 20 November · Policy Dialogue and Roundtable
10:00–17:00 · Hybrid — in presence in Florence and online · Open to everyone · In English · Free
A public conversation with researchers, policymakers, educators and practitioners from across Europe and the Global South, on what would have to change — in evidence, narrative or governance — for young people to be positioned as co-creators of policy rather than recipients of provision.
The afternoon begins from a map built that morning by member organisations: where they see policy moving, and where the gap sits between those shifts and what organisations can actually do. Invited guests respond to that map rather than presenting alongside it, and the day closes with what it changes for the network's next phase.
Join in the room or online. Registration required.
Voices in the dialogue
Claudio Araya Veliz — Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile. Psychologist, working on humanidad compartida and relational mindfulness.
Suzanne Culshaw and Philip Woods — University of Hertfordshire. Their research on Aesthetic and Embodied Learning for Democracy asks how responsive pedagogies and democracy-as-becoming reshape what education is for.
Gianni Scotto — Forma Mentis Lab, University of Florence. Closing the day with a reading of it from outside the network.
Alongside voices from member organisations and young people across Europe and the Global South.
Friday evening to Sunday 22 November · Being Together Lab
Opens Friday 18:00 · Full days Saturday and Sunday · In presence, Florence · Members and external participants · Paid
A two-and-a-half-day practice-based training rooted in Pedagogies of Togetherness, an approach developed by Arawana Hayashi and Ricardo Dutra. It began in Los Angeles public schools in 2017 and evolved through Studio Atelierista research residencies in Paris and Helsinki in 2025.
Three capacities are cultivated: embodied presence, relational awareness, and relational creativity.
Facilitated by Agathe Peltereau-Villeneuve (Génération Présence) and Anne-Sophie Dubanton, with pedagogical supervision and advice from Ricardo Dutra (Studio Atelierista).
Practical information
Cost
Thursday 19 November — free. For member organisations.
Friday 20 November, Policy Dialogue — free, in presence or online, for everyone.
Friday evening to Sunday 22 November, Being Together Lab — sliding scale. You choose the rate that fits your situation. No justification is asked for and no one is told which rate anyone else has chosen.
€200 — if your circumstances require a reduced rateÂ
€350 — standard rate, covering essential costsÂ
€500 — if you are able to contribute more, sustaining participation for others
If the reduced rate is still out of reach, write before registration closes rather than deciding not to come. Say so plainly and something will be found.
Included: all sessions, materials, coffee breaks and workspace. Not included: travel, accommodation and meals.
Funding
Some member organisations are able to support a colleague's participation from their own budgets — ask internally first. If you are applying elsewhere for support and need a letter confirming your place and the nature of the training, Associazione Antigóna can provide one. Write when you register rather than after, so it can be issued in time.
Language
English throughout, in all four days, including the Being Together Lab. Guest inputs on Friday are in English.
Much of the Lab is embodied and practised rather than spoken, which lowers the language demand considerably. If English is not a language you work in comfortably, say so at registration — you will not be the only one, and it can be held.
Travel and accommodation
Both are arranged by participants. Florence is well served by rail and by Amerigo Vespucci, Pisa and Bologna airports.
If you would like help finding somewhere to stay, or advice on getting to Florence, write and it will be given. Hospitality within a local collective may also be possible for a limited number of people — if cost is what stands between you and coming, say so and it will be looked into.
Ask by 20 September if you need hospitality arranged. After that there is not enough time to place people well.
Access and pacing
The programme is published in full so that you can plan your energy across the days rather than discovering the shape of them on arrival.
Each component is separable. You can attend Thursday alone, Friday alone, or the Lab alone. Friday can be attended online from home. Nothing assumes you are present for all four days.
Coming with children
Childcare is not provided. Sessions run within the hours given above and evenings are free apart from the Friday opening, so the days are plannable around family arrangements. If bringing a child to Florence would make the difference between coming and not, write before registration closes — it is worth a conversation, and you will not be the first to ask.
Registration
Registration closes 30 October 2026.Â
Registration link:
For any questions, write to hello@wellspaces.network.