Rise of Ukraine at IT Arena 2026: ART4MENTAL Meets the Tech Community

From 25 to 27 September, the Rise of Ukraine team was in Lviv for IT Arena 2026. At the conference, we presented ART4MENTAL — an international project that brings together art, immersive technologies, and mental well-being.

IT Arena brought together technology companies, startups, investors, developers, business representatives, and members of the international community. Against this backdrop, the ART4MENTAL stand had a very different rhythm.

At the heart of our space was a patch of grass where visitors could simply sit down. After hours of presentations, meetings, and moving between different venues, people stopped by to take a break, try on VR headsets, take part in a wellness activity, and learn more about the project.

One of the strategic decisions behind the ART4MENTAL stand was to invite visitors to simply sit down on the grass. After spending several hours on their feet, our stand became a place where people could pause, catch their breath, and switch off for a moment. People would sit down and relax — and the conversation would immediately become more open and meaningful, says Yuliia from the Rise of Ukraine team.

That was exactly how we wanted to introduce ART4MENTAL. Not simply to tell people about the idea behind the project, but to give them a few minutes to experience the state of mind that lies at its core.

VR, Students, and Plenty of Questions

The VR experience attracted the most attention at the stand.

International visitors, in particular, responded very emotionally. They tended to stay in the VR environment longer and were eager to share their impressions afterwards.

Students came with plenty of questions: How will the project work? What exactly will be created? Where will VR be used? And how can they get involved?

Some questions were completely unexpected. For example, one visitor asked why the VR experience was designed to be experienced while sitting rather than lying down.

Conversations like these often started with ART4MENTAL and then naturally expanded into discussions about the work of Rise as a whole.

A Charity at a Tech Conference

One thing that particularly stood out to the team was people’s reaction when they learned that ART4MENTAL is an initiative of a charitable foundation.

I don’t remember seeing stands from charitable foundations there, so it was great to see us represented as an innovative organisation at a conference like this. Many people were genuinely surprised to learn that ART4MENTAL is an initiative of a charitable foundation rather than a standalone startup. And that was an important moment for me as well: seeing that our idea can spark interest far beyond the traditional humanitarian sector, says Kate from the Rise of Ukraine team.

At the stand, conversations soon expanded to Rise’s education, youth, and veteran-focused projects, our international partnerships, and our work at the intersection of mental well-being and technology.

Over the three days, we met people from the IT sector, business, creative industries, and international organisations. Some of those conversations continued after the conference.

Why It Matters for Rise to Be at Events Like This

Technology has long been part of our projects. This includes VR and immersive formats within ART4MENTAL, digital tools in our education programmes, and new approaches to working with young people and mental well-being.

That is why Rise’s presence at IT Arena felt like a natural fit.

For our team, it was an opportunity to present our work beyond the traditional humanitarian space, hear how a new audience responded to our ideas, and meet people who could become partners in future projects.

Kate described the atmosphere at IT Arena as “successful success” — and there is genuinely something to that. There was always something being presented, launched, tested, or discussed.

For Rise, these three days were another confirmation that social impact projects can be a natural part of this environment.

And ART4MENTAL demonstrated that particularly well.