Art for Tomorrow 

The Art for Tomorrow conference, organized every year by the Democracy & Culture Foundation, will take place in Milan, Italy from May 12-14, 2025.
The 2025 conference will coincide with the Triennale Milano international exhibition. Following the success of Art for Tomorrow Venice in 2024, which brought together artists, activists, cultural leaders, musicians and journalists to explore how the arts can help us face today’s challenges, we are continuing our edition in Italy with an inspirational event in Milan. Art for Tomorrow will look at the interplay between the arts and society, focusing on culture’s social and economic impact. We will convene practitioners, experts and activists to explore the social impact of art while also experiencing Milan’s vibrant artistic landscape, venturing into museums, galleries, performance spaces and artist studios to see the arts in action. Join us as a partner or sponsor of Art for Tomorrow 2025 and align your organization with our influential audience. 

Art for Tomorrow 2024

Imperfect Beauty

Art for Tomorrow took place in Venice from June 5-7, 2024 at the Palazzo Grassi for the opening evening and at the Palazzo Diedo, owned and newly renovated by the Berggruen Institute. The “floating city” was an appropriate setting to consider the complex problems that beauty can bring: How can cities and cultural sites  celebrate their heritage without becoming victims of their own success through overtourism? How can museums and monuments protect themselves from the inevitable impact of the climate crisis? How should institutions and artists think about and reflect the concerns of their changing populations? 

These are just a few of the questions that we discussed at Art for Tomorrow, in a rich program with sessions moderated by New York Times journalists. Underpinning it all was the central question of how the arts can unite and heal.

The plenary sessions were complemented by exclusive cultural visits to iconic landmarks and some of the city’s best-kept secrets, such as guided tours of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to view the exhibition “Jean Cocteau: The Juggler’s Revenge“, the Orsoni furnace and Giardini and Arsenale at the 60th Venice Biennale titled “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.”

Topics highlights:

• The Arts as the Ultimate Mediator
• Architecture for Good: Can Transformation Be Designed?
• AI and Creativity: Revolution or Disruption?
• Sustainability and the Pitfalls of Beauty
• Identity Crisis: Museums and Social Change

2024 Program

Art for Tomorrow 2024 Speakers

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