The NECE Festival 2026 takes place from 14 to 16 October in Lisbon. Together, we will explore the role of trust in civic education and how it can foster resilient, ethical, and sustainable transformation in communities across Europe and beyond.
Participation in the NECE Festival is free of charge. Lunch, dinner, and refreshments during breaks will be provided. Please note that participants are expected to organise and cover their own travel and accommodation in Lisbon. Please find our information sheet with a list of recommended accommodation options here.
Join civic educators, policy makers, researchers, cultural actors and others from across Europe – and beyond – to:
Connect with key stakeholders in civic education from all over Europe and beyond, and exchange ideas and perspectives on important issues facing civic education today.
Learn from a diverse set of MASTERCLASSES spread across three cities from experts on TRUST in connection with civic education.
Experience DISCOVERIES with local NGOs and gain practical knowledge from Portuguese stakeholders and the civic ecosystem in the region.
Explore the ACTION HUB showcasing best practice examples and individuals’ stories.
Enjoy moments of connection, conversation and creativity with like-minded peers.
FAQ
NECE, which stands for Networking European Civic Education, has long been a familiar platform and annual conference for civic educators to connect, learn, and grow. To stay relevant and effective, NECE needs to evolve with the changing times. THE CIVICS is thrilled to have emerged as the winner of a Europe-wide idea challenge with its concepts to make NECE future-proof in the next four years (2023 – 2026). The transformation of NECE into a multi-stakeholder network is a crucial step towards achieving this goal.
The NECE Festival is an annual European gathering that brings together stakeholders from civil society, politics, academia, media, and culture for an interactive and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and actions. The festival is held in various European cities and focuses on a specific topic that is highly relevant to civic education. In 2023, it was all about FUTURES! In 2024, we dealt with BORDERS, and in 2025, we explored HOPE. In 2026, we are focusing on TRUST. NECE Festival 2026 takes place from 14-16 October 2026 in Lisbon, Sintra, and Cascais, the European Capital of Democracy 2026.
We do not currently have dedicated funding available to reimburse tickets and accommodation. Thus, participants should bear these costs themselves.
We have curated a selection of hotels around the festival venue that may be useful when planning your accommodation.
Please let us know via nece-festival@thecivics.eu if your plans for the NECE Festival have changed.
If you need a visa to visit Lisbon, please let us know at nece-festival@thecivics.eu.
The main venue of the NECE Festival 2026: TRUST will be the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
In the evening of 16 October, the festival will be hosted at the Teatro Thalia.
Information on further venues will be published soon.
We are in the process of preparing the Explore Lisbon guide, so stay tuned!
The NECE Festival fosters mutual understanding and respect among diverse communities. Participants are encouraged to be mindful of cultural differences, embrace inclusivity, and engage in open, respectful dialogue to promote learning and collaboration. It’s essential to listen, respect each other’s perspectives, and uphold values of equality and empathy throughout the event.
We are trying our best to make the NECE Festival as sustainable as possible. For this, we provide regional food as well as guarantee the minimum use of paper.
In addition, we make a compensation for CO2 via atmosfair. In this way, we would like to compensate for the CO2 emissions of our participants who travel by plane.
In addition to an evaluation survey after the event, collecting detailed feedback on the experience of the festival participants, THE CIVICS implements on-site observation, short surveys, and interviews with participants and stakeholders. This approach helps to understand how formats foster perspective shifts, participation, and resilience, as well as which topics are of transnational relevance.