Languages, Arts and Cultures Festival: Celebrating Planet Earth
The 2026 edition of the ‘Languages, Arts and Cultures’ Festival will open on 27 April in Saint-Barthélemy. Until 10 May, a series of events, activities and highlights will take place across all venues in the Northern Islands. Following on from the ocean theme in 2025, this fifth edition will focus on the theme of the earth, “at the crossroads of global citizens”, with the slogan “let’s cultivate our UNIversality”.
Organised since 2022 by the French Ministry of Education, this wonderful festival showcases cultural and linguistic diversity through projects and initiatives by pupils from all schools in the communities of Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, from nursery school to BTS level. It also provides an opportunity for pupils and teachers to come together around a shared theme that promotes diversity. This year’s theme, the earth—a precious resource that must be safeguarded for future generations—opens the door to numerous applications. Beyond that, it is also a unique opportunity to promote the values of respect, fraternity, equality and fairness: values that ensure we can live together harmoniously.
A packed programme
The event will kick off in Saint-Barthélemy, which, for this launch day on Monday 27 April, has funded the trip for around fifty students from tourism classes in Saint-Martin. They will explore Gustavia, the Heritage Museum, the making of the St-Barth galette and the many unique features of the sister island. The event in Saint Martin will kick off on Tuesday 28 April at the West Indies Mall with the presentation of the ‘In and Out’ exhibition (we still remember last year’s magnificent exhibition on the ocean).
And then, the programme will continue without a break. 5 May will be dedicated to Citizenship Day at the Grand Case Beach Club for secondary school pupils, who will have the chance to discuss citizens’ rights and duties with the Deputy Public Prosecutor, the Gendarmerie Commander or the Prefect, as well as France’s place in the European Union, given that the festival takes place during European Month. Climate
change, respect for the environment, food security… the theme of the planet is a vast subject that can be explored in many ways and helps raise young people’s awareness of the issues facing their generation. The Collectivité’s Environment Department, alongside the Tourist Office with its ‘land, sea, ponds’ initiative, the Nature Reserve and the Bellevue Gardens, will be developing this aspect, which is essential for the Earth’s survival.
Among the new features of this year’s event are meetings between pupils from after-school clubs in Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin, a chess tournament at the CCISM, and a magic competition organised by Tom Toussaint… which may well hold a few surprises.
Competitions and values to bring pupils together
As in every edition, the Festival will centre on poetry, dictation and public speaking competitions in all languages. The aim is to celebrate all pupils, as well as all communities, and to bring them together so that they may enrich one another through their differences. The theme of ‘sport and citizenship’, in partnership with the CEES, UNSS, USEP and CTOS, will help young people learn to speak in front of an audience to champion their sport and explain what it can offer them.
Integration and inclusion are naturally part of the values championed during this festival and will be highlighted during the HandySplash event organised on Saturday 2 May at Friar’s Bay.
The festival’s closing ceremony will take place at Robert Weinum High School on Friday 8 May at 7pm… also marking the end of the Neighbourhood Olympics, as the two events are closely linked this year and were requested by the Vice-Rector. Harry Christophe notes, “the festival has grown considerably, demonstrating solidarity between the Northern Islands, in the spirit of educational continuity, with shared themes. The theme chosen each year generates numerous developments and shows how the school serves the community.”
