About
A European framework to structure urban cultures
For the first time, 27 countries gather their voices in Strasbourg to lay the foundations of a European structuring of urban cultures.
From 21 to 25 May 2026, Strasbourg hosts Meeting of Stars — The European Street Culture Conference, an unprecedented gathering bringing together 27 representatives of urban cultures from every EU country.
A public presentation will be held on Monday 25 May 2026, 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at La Grenze, Strasbourg.
A European initiative to structure a still-fragmented field
This initiative starts from a shared observation across the continent: urban cultures are developing strongly in many countries, but remain fragmented, poorly connected to each other and structured in very different ways.
Meeting of Stars aims to create a real European work space allowing field actors to:
- compare their realities,
- analyze their models,
- identify common stakes,
- spark cooperation dynamics.
This first edition, supported by the Triennial Contract Strasbourg European Capital 2024–2026, is a founding step toward setting up the European Street Culture Conference (Assises), planned for 2027 or 2028.
An autonomous project led by the Nouvelle Ligne association
Meeting of Stars is an initiative of the Nouvelle Ligne association, which has been developing projects around urban cultures for over twenty years.
The project rests on a clear logic: let a European vision emerge from the ground, carried by those who concretely build the local scenes.
It is an autonomous project, with its own goals, its own timeline and its own ambition. The future European Street Culture Conference (Assises) will be held in a dedicated time, independent of any existing event, so it can exist as a true structuring space at the scale of the continent.
Substantive, structured and demanding work
Meeting of Stars is designed as a structured collective work device over several days. The invited representatives will participate as ambassadors of their national scene, with concrete knowledge of field realities.
The sessions will allow in-depth exploration of scene structuring:
- history, organization models, governance
- human dynamics, territorial anchoring
- transmission and economic models
The exchanges will also address the obstacles encountered: institutional recognition, economic constraints, access to practice spaces and generational renewal.
Particular attention will be paid to European dynamics: circulation of practitioners, artists and athletes, existing cooperations, role of events, mobility barriers and structuring needs at continental scale.
Immersion at the service of reflection
In parallel, participants will benefit from an immersion in the NL Contest ecosystem, allowing them to observe a structured model, meet different actors and feed their reflections with hands-on experience.
This immersion is an observation and exchange tool at the service of the work, without being its core. NL Contest is not the subject of Meeting of Stars: it is its living backdrop.
Immersion windows:
- Friday 22 May: afternoon from 4:00 PM
- Saturday 23 May: afternoon
- Sunday 24 May: afternoon
The core question
At the heart of Meeting of Stars exchanges, a structuring question:
How to structure ourselves, develop and gain recognition without losing the spirit of freedom and independence at the foundation of urban cultures?
This question runs through every session of the five days and feeds into the drafting of the manifesto on Monday 25 May.