Back for the sixth year running, Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages will engage, empower and enlighten children and young people. With free activities for schools and community schools, they will learn about diverse languages and cultures and be inspired to take up or progress with languages, gain insights into other cultures, build their skills and confidence and help prepare them for life in our multicultural, globally connected society.
With support from the North East Combined Authority and 50 partners from the region, UK and internationally, the Festival returns in 2026 with a raft of free events, activities and resources for schools and community schools. The 2026 programme and website will be live and open for advance registrations from mid-November 2025.
In 2026, the Festival will include:
- creative multilingual projects running from 6th January to 31st March
- a wide range of world languages and cultures events and activities (live in person and online, as well as pre-recorded workshops with teaching resources)
- language and culture focussed competitions
- language taster sessions and masterclasses, including on campus experiences with Universities
- languages and careers webinars and activities
- freely available resources and activities to support language learning and teaching
Schools, community schools and groups will be encouraged to select a range of activities across the three months of Express Yourself to maximise the benefits for the region’s children and young people. There will also be a programme of activities open to UK schools and international schools.
In 2025, around 94,000 children and young people took part in 428 schools across Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland, and Durham, as well as schools nationwide and 10 European countries. You can find out more about the impact of the 2025 Festival here.
Declan Baharini, Chief Executive Officer of International Newcastle and Festival Coordinator, explains:
“Registration for 2026’s North East Festival of Languages opens in November!
We’re excited to be running the Festival again and promoting the value of languages and understanding other cultures – inspiring a future generation of linguists.
Our packed three-month programme encourages children across the North East to build their skills and confidence and we aim to nurture curiosity about the wider world.
Beyond that our Festival is about broadening horizons and widening the opportunities and career choices for our young people. We’ve been able to build some fantastic connections between schools and universities and local, regional and national organisations to support languages and intercultural awareness.
This is the biggest festival of its type in the UK and we’re very proud of what Express Yourself adds to our region’s rich cultural mix.“
Sarah Edgar, Education Consultant, Newcastle City Council says:
“The Festival of Languages is a unique opportunity for schools to instil a love of language learning.
It gives children and young people a reason and inspiration for studying languages at school while celebrating the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of our region.
At Newcastle City Council, we aim to foster this passion and the Festival is a key initiative in achieving this goal.
It provides a vibrant platform for promoting cultural understanding and enhancing language education in our schools.
We are fortunate to have International Newcastle running the Festival, which is nationally recognised as an exemplar event, showcasing best practices in these areas. We are grateful to the North East Combined Authority, who has supported Newcastle City Council with funding to commission the Festival this year and provide wonderful opportunities for schools in the region.”
Keep up to date with the latest news by following the Festival on social media (Instagram | Facebook | X), signing up to the Festival newsletter and visiting the What’s On page from mid-November.