Spring of Freedoms 2026: culture as an act of resistance in Belleville!

The kickoff will be on April 1, at a press conference organized on Maronites Street, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, before a week of dense programming open to the public. Over the years, the event has established itself as a cultural and citizen rendezvous, combining artistic creation, memory, and commitment.

“Living memory, rooted in history”

The Printemps des Libertés is part of a broader history. It echoes the Berber mobilizations of 1980 and 2001, crucial moments when cultural issues emerged as major political challenges. The event not only commemorates this heritage but also extends it by engaging with contemporary issues.

In Belleville, a popular and multicultural neighborhood, this anchorage makes complete sense. Since its creation in 1979, the ACB has been developing grassroots work around transmission, social ties, and access to culture for all, with a particular focus on audiences distant from cultural offerings, reducing access inequalities, and creating open spaces of expression for all. Here, culture is seen as a practical tool for building society.

“What can culture do?”

The question permeates this edition. It refers to a reflection posed in the “Esprit” magazine: “What can culture do?” This question resonates particularly in a context marked by identity tensions and retreats.

The response offered by the Printemps des Libertés does not rely on abstract speeches. It is constructed through works, exchanges, and shared experiences. Defending arts and letters is also defending the possibility of a space for freedom and dialogue, where poetry and artistic creation become genuine acts of resistance, tools of vigilance and dignity against dominant discourses and withdrawals.

“Languages as heritage and as struggle”

At the heart of this edition are words and behind them, languages. The festival reminds us that each language carries a memory, a way of expressing the world and transmitting it, but also a fragility in the face of the risks of disappearance that threaten many minority languages.

Against standardization logics, the Printemps des Libertés highlights linguistic diversity as a richness to preserve, in a context of cultural urgency where certain languages struggle to survive and be transmitted.

To keep a language alive is to maintain a link with history and also to assert a presence in the present. A form of discreet but essential resistance.

“A program between cinema, poetry, and music”

For a week, the event offers a rich and accessible program. Cinema opens the cycle with the screening of “Fadhma N’Soumer,” dedicated to a major figure of Kabyle resistance. Poetic evenings, meetings, and exchange times will punctuate the following days, making poetry a central space of expression where words become engaged acts.

Central figure of this edition, Ben Mohamed will accompany several moments of the festival. Author and radio personality, known notably for the lyrics of “A Vava Inouva” interpreted by Idir, he embodies this common thread between memory and creation.

Other artists from different traditions – Kabyle, Breton, or Occitan – will enrich the program.

“Between heritage and contemporary creation”

The Printemps des Libertés looks as much towards the past as it does to the present. The closing concert, organized at Cabaret Sauvage, will illustrate this. On stage, Zahia Bel, Azal Belkadi, the Amzeri trio, and Ali Amran will propose a dialogue between traditions and contemporary expressions.

Music, poetry, and performance will blend in the same will: to circulate heritages without freezing them and to inscribe them in a living dynamic.

“An open and accessible event”

Beyond its artistic dimension, the Printemps des Libertés claims a social and citizen vocation. Numerous activities are free, affirming a commitment to make culture accessible to all.

“Another idea of culture”

Neither a classical festival nor a simple activist event, the Printemps des Libertés charts a unique path. Behind its programming, an idea persists: culture can still be a space of resistance, transmission, and dialogue.

In Belleville, for a week, this conviction takes shape. In words, in voices, in languages. And in this simple idea: to continue to speak is already to resist. A way of reminding that artistic creation, far from being accessory, remains a crucial lever for thinking about the world and asserting forms of freedom.