The Jorge García Usta School Festival opened its 20th-anniversary celebration on November 5, 2026, with 36 artistic groups from Cartagena’s public schools. The first day included students from Locality 1 and the city’s rural and island areas, with performances of music, dance and other cultural expressions.
A showcase of artistic work in schools
The gathering was scheduled for November 5 and 6. The official Independence Festivities program listed the festival at the Bernardo Caraballo Coliseum, as part of the district’s cultural activities.
The 36 groups took part in the opening day, according to the report on the start of the gathering. Participation brought together expressions from urban, rural and island school communities within the same school festival program.
The festival provides a space for artistic work developed within schools. In this edition, the celebration of two decades placed the emphasis on student creativity, cultural identity and the traditions of Cartagena’s communities.
A gathering that remembers a poet and chronicler
The festival’s name pays tribute to the poet and chronicler Jorge García Usta. The Education Secretariat has described it as an initiative to strengthen cultural identity in schools.
In its account of the 2025 edition, dated November 8 of that year, the Mayor’s Office reported 84 folk groups from as many public schools. That background illustrates the gathering’s connection with the district’s schools; those participants belonged to a different edition, separate from the 36 groups reported for the opening of the 2026 festival.
