Futuribili – Career Guidance Festival for Desirable Futures
The school-to-work guidance festival at the Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum in Palermo
About Futuribili
A festival to imagine the future in Palermo
Futuribili – Career Guidance Festival for Desirable Futures is an event held every May at the Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum in Palermo, located in the coastal Bandita district along Via Messina Marine. Promoted by the Send ETS association, the festival stems from the need to pause, reflect, and create a space where young people can question not only what they want to do in the future, but also what kind of world they wish to inhabit.
The LOL project and the changing face of guidance
Futuribili is the public highlight of the LOL – Lines for Orientation and Work project, selected by Con i Bambini as part of the Fund for Combating Educational Poverty in Minors and co-financed by J.P. Morgan Chase in collaboration with the Fondazione Con il Sud. The three-year program involves hundreds of students from Palermo aged 14 to 19, guiding them through an orientation process that moves beyond purely mercantile logic to focus on desires, talents, and imagination.
Talks, workshops, and counseling
The program weaves together different languages: speeches and panels on the world of school and work, group workshops dedicated to storytelling, reading the city, and photographing the future, as well as performances and informal exchange sessions. The heart of the experience lies in the career counseling desks, divided into three types:
- Information desks, to learn about post-diploma paths;
- Desire desks, to explore interests and reflect on possible futures;
- Action desks, to build your CV and a concrete plan.
The space dedicated to meetings between students and businesses allows for direct interviews with dozens of local companies and organizations, in a dialogue that connects schools with the Sicilian productive fabric.
A network of schools, businesses, and the city
Futuribili is produced by Send ETS in partnership with booq, Ecomuseo Mare Memoria Viva, CPIA Palermo 1, IPSSEOA Pietro Piazza, Liceo delle Scienze Umane e Linguistico Danilo Dolci, IM Regina Margherita, Confindustria Sicilia, and the University of Palermo. Each edition involves about ten high schools, fifty companies and productive entities, and over five hundred participants, transforming the Municipality of Palermo into a widespread laboratory for the future of work for a few days.
The Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum
The main venue is the Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum, a participatory museum that tells the story of the relationship between Palermo and its sea. Overlooking the city's southern coast in Sicily, it is a cultural space open to the neighborhood and the community, perfect for a festival that centers on participation and listening to the new generations.
Futuribili — edition 2026
Futuribili 2026: the second edition
From May 6 to 8, 2026, Palermo hosted the second edition of Futuribili at the Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum and the booq spaces in Kalsa. The first two days brought together ten local high schools and about fifty companies and organizations, with over five hundred participants.
Talks, workshops, and performances
Highlights included the meeting "Improbable Jobs – Stories of Professional Lives" coordinated by Cristina Alga, featuring storytellers, environmental engineers, music producers, pastry chefs, and dancers; the afternoon workshops "Port of Stories", "Reading the City", and "Photographs from the Future"; and the "Orienting with Rap" showcase with a freestyle contest. The information, desire, and action desks, along with the NICE space for individual interviews between students and companies, guided the youth in their choices.
Dialogue with the city
On May 8, at 6:00 PM in the booq spaces, the book presentation of "It Depends on the Class. Manifesto for an Anti-Classist School" by Michele Arena, with Giuliana Zaffuto and Alessio Parrino, was held with free admission.
Programme Futuribili 2026
2026 Program
- May 6 – Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum: "Improbable Jobs – Stories of Professional Lives" (10:30 AM, curated by Cristina Alga); "Port of Stories", "Reading the City", and "Photographs from the Future" workshops (3:00 PM-6:00 PM); orientation desks.
- May 7 – Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum: school-to-work meetings, NICE space for interviews with companies; "Orienting with Rap" – live showcase and freestyle contest (12:00 PM).
- May 8 – booq (Kalsa), 6:00 PM: book presentation of "It Depends on the Class. Manifesto for an Anti-Classist School" by Michele Arena, with Giuliana Zaffuto and Alessio Parrino. Free admission.
Highlights Futuribili 2026
- Over 500 participants, 10 high schools, and about 50 companies
- "Improbable Jobs" with professionals from atypical paths
- "Orienting with Rap": showcase and freestyle contest
- Workshops on storytelling, reading the city, and photographing the future
- Information, desire, and action desks
- Public event in Kalsa with the presentation of Michele Arena's book
Prices Futuribili 2026
Practical information — Futuribili
How to get there
The Mare Memoria Viva Ecomuseum is located at Via Messina Marine 14, along the southern coast of Palermo. It can be reached by car from the ring road and by urban bus lines connecting the city center to the Bandita district. From Falcone-Borsellino Airport in Punta Raisi, you can reach the city via the Trinacria Express train or shuttle buses.
Admission
School days are by registration through participating institutes; public events open to the city are free of charge.
Information
Updated program and details are available on the Send ETS website and the LOL project channels.
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Where does it take place — Futuribili
Ecomuseo Mare Memoria Viva
Via Messina Marine 14, 90133 Palermo