When art meets community: vulnerable families inspire major Venice art exhibition

VENICE- The Human Safety Net has announced a new collaboration with Italian artist Marinella Senatore for We Rise by Lifting Others, a participatory art project centred on refugee families with young children at risk of social exclusion. 

The initiative lies at the intersection of art, community engagement and early childhood support, culminating in a major exhibition in Venice.

At the centre of this project are families with children aged 0–6, who are supported by The Human Safety Net’s For Families programme. A global foundation dedicated to offering support to vulnerable families, the organisation operates through a network of 85 NGOs across 25 countries

The programme focuses on the crucial developmental years of early childhood, when cognitive learning is most sensitive to environmental influences. It offers support to participating parents through resources, guidance and access to community support networks whilst fostering children’s cognitive, emotional and social development.

This event has been launched with the support of artist Marinella Senatore, whose works represent a hybrid blend of community, movement and social activism. In her previous work with the We Rise by Lifting Others initiative, Senatore has led a number of creative workshops in writing, reading and movement with families in Warsaw, Mestre and Palermo, in partnership with various local NGOs. 

The workshops provide the foundation for an exhibition of Senatore’s creative works, set to open on May 7th 2026, at The Home of The Human Safety Net in the Procuratie on St. Mark’s Square, Venice, alongside the 61st Venice Art Biennale. 

This will be an exhibition shaped by community participation and social engagement, as the phrases, ideas and images generated throughout the workshops will shape Senatore’s creative works. 

Running until March 22, 2027, the exhibition will contribute to the Home’s permanent interactive exhibition, A World of Potential, whilst reinforcing the Foundation’s belief in art as a universal language for inclusion, integration and social transformation.