On May 18, 2026, Belize’s capital city, Belize City, opened its doors to a week-long celebration of youth creativity at the Bliss Center, as the annual Primary School Festival of Arts officially gets underway. This year’s event shines a spotlight on young artistic voices from every corner of the country, bringing together diverse creative disciplines from live performance to visual and literary work that have been missing from the national festival for decades.
The opening day celebrations were led by dynamic back-to-back performances from young artists based in the Belize District, alongside the debut of a national student visual arts exhibition. Hosted at the Belisle Gallery, the exhibit features 50 original pieces selected from an open call that drew submissions from primary and secondary students across Belize. According to Kim Vasquez, Director of Belize’s Institute of Creative Arts, the festival’s core mission is to embrace inclusivity and full representation of all artistic disciplines, going beyond traditional performing arts to elevate underrepresented creative forms.
A landmark milestone for this year’s festival is the revival of the literary arts segment, which was absent from the national event for nearly 30 years. Following a successful restart last year, 2026 marks the release of the festival’s second annual student literary publication, collecting original short stories and poetry written by young contributors from across the country. The publication was produced in partnership with Simon Moore and the Art Shack based in Belmopan, which provided layout design and support for the project. While only a limited number of printed copies have been produced, organizers have made the full collection available for free download via the 501 Academy digital platform, allowing audiences across the country to access the young writers’ work.
In the coming days, the festival will travel to coastal communities, with scheduled performances planned for San Pedro and Caye Caulker. The week-long celebration will conclude with the highly anticipated return of Golden Nights, a series of evening showcases that bring together the most standout acts and artwork from every district to cap off the national event.
This news transcript is adapted from an original evening television broadcast, with Kriol language portions transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accessibility.