2 – 4 September 2025, Oslo

European festival of civic education: HOPE

The NECE Festival 2025 takes place from 2 to 4 September in Oslo. It will be centred on the theme of HOPE, as it provides a holistic framework for action grounded in both individual and collective agency.

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 Oslo. For more information on accommodation, please see our info sheet.

Join civic educators, policy makers, researchers, cultural actors and others from across Europe – and beyond – to:

  • Connect with key figures in the civic education field and exchange perspectives on the pressing issues of our time.

  • Take part in a diverse programme of sessions led by experienced professionals – including masterclasses, interactive workshops, lightning talks, keynote speeches and project presentations.

  • Help shape the conversation and co-create through open space sessions, where you can bring your own questions, ideas, and experiences into the heart of the festival.

  • Explore the festival venues and their cultural and historical contexts.

  • 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 three years (2023 – 2025). 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 focused on BORDERS. In 2025, we will explore HOPE. NECE Festival 2025 is taking place from 2 until 4 September in Oslo and is centred around the theme of hope.

We do not currently have dedicated funding available to reimburse tickets and accommodation. Thus, participants should bear these costs themselves.

Please let us know via nece-festival@thecivics.eu if your plans for the NECE Festival have changed.

Unfortunately, we are no longer in a position to issue further invitation letters for our event.

The main venue of the NECE Festival 2025: HOPE will be Sentralen. Additionally, the evening part of the festival programme on 3 September will take place in the Deichman library.

The accessibility of the festival venues varies:

Sentralen: The event rooms in Sentralen are largely barrier-free.

Deichman library: The event room in the Deichman library is on the lower ground floor and barrier-free.

For additional support or in case of special needs, please reach out to the festival organisers via nece-festival@thecivics.eu.

We will prepare a short “Explore Oslo” guide that provides practical information about the city, helping you navigate and make the most of your visit. Coming soon

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.