The eighth edition of The Venice Glass Week, the international festival dedicated to the art of glass that took place from 14th to 22nd September, was a resounding success: #AWorldofGlass attracted 160,000 visitors and featured 260 events held in 135 different venues around Venice, Murano and Mestre. #AWorldOfGlass involved 230 participants who organised a wide variety of initiatives including 132 exhibitions and installations, 25 guided tours, 21 workshops and demonstrations, 27 inaugurations and special openings, 25 conferences and talks, 12 recreational activities and 2 performances and film screenings.

On the strength of these results, the festival’s Organising Committee, made up of Comune di Venezia, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, LE STANZE DEL VETRO – Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti and Consorzio Promovetro Murano, has announced that the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week will take place from 13th to 21st September 2025.

The eighth edition of the festival featured a number of notable new aspects and projects such the Glass Bateo, conceived by Consorzio Promovetro Murano, in collaboration with Comune di Venezia, Vela Spa and Actv, and realised with the support of Regione del Veneto and Camera di Commercio di Venezia Rovigo. Especially for The Venice Glass Week, an ACTV waterbus (vaporetto) was refitted and transformed into a floating exhibition venue that also hosted conferences, seminars and networking events during the festival, with the aim of promoting the history and contemporary appeal of Murano’s artistic glass to the widest possible public. Moored on the Grand Canal at Erbaria, a few steps from the Rialto Bridge, the boat welcomed over 3,000 visitors from 14th to 22nd September.

Once again this year, The Venice Glass Week HUB and The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35 were hosted at Palazzo Loredan, headquarters of Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Campo Santo Stefano: the heart of the festival. Over the course of the week, the exhibitions were visited by over 19,000 people (an increase from 2023, when around 16,000 people visited the HUBs). On the first floor of the palazzo, The Venice Glass Week HUB presented works by 25 Italian and international artists aged over 36, while on the ground floor, The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35 showcased works by 18 young artists and designers aged 35 and under.

As per tradition, the festival also featured an Award Ceremony with the presentation of two important prizes. The fourth edition of the Premio Fondazione di Venezia Prize per The Venice Glass Week was awarded to the exhibition Fior di Tabasso. Le stagioni al Florian. An additional Special Jury Prize was awarded to the exhibition 61.5°N, and six Special Recognitions were presented to the projects Fratelli Toso 170th | 1854 – 2024, Ceremony by Alexander Kirkeby, Convito di Vetro, Vetro inciso della Laguna, Nature/Al and Simone Crestani & Ioannis Michalou(di)S. S.O.S-Save Our Sky.

The young Chinese artist Yue Wu was awarded the fifth edition of the Autonoma Residency Prize for his installation The Nine Dragons Plate, exhibited within The Venice Glass Week HUB Under35. The prize enables him to undertake an artistic residency at Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle (USA) in 2025.

The Organising Committee is already working towards the ninth edition of The Venice Glass Week: the application procedure will soon be announced on the festival’s official website www.theveniceglassweek.com and via its social media profiles: Facebook, X and Instagram