New Caledonia confirmed as host of the 2028 Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture
by Patrick Decloitre · RNZNew Caledonia has been officially endorsed as the host of the 14th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC14) in 2028.
This follows back-to-back meetings in Nouméa, the headquarters of the Pacific Community (SPC), of the Council of Pacific Art and Culture and the Pacific Ministers for Culture last week.
New Caledonia's bid to host the FestPAC14 was lodged in 2023.
As part of its assessment process, Pacific culture ministers, under the SPC (which is organising the regional event), several visits have taken place since.
The previous FestPAC was held in Hawaiiin June 2024.
New Caledonia did not send any delegation as it was gripped by destructive civil unrest.
The last time the French territory hosted a FestPAC was in 2000.
As part of the endorsement process, a traditional handover ceremony took 4 September 2025 in Nouméa, officially passing the Festival's emblem, an elaborated paddle, to New Caledonia's culture minister Mickaël Forrest.
He also signed an official memorandum of agreement with SPC Director General Stuart Minchin to clearly define the specific roles and responsibilities of the host and of the regional organisation, which has been in charge of the event (held every four years) since its inception in 1972.
Forrest said this 2028 FestPAC will be an opportunity to celebrate "New Caledonia's shared Pacific identity".
He told local public broadcaster NC la 1ère arrangements were being made to identify all the potential sites to host the Festival, while involving all of New Caledonia's traditional chiefs and their respective areas of responsibility.
"This will be much more than just an artistic event. It will be a celebration of our shared Pacific identity, a platform for our young talents, a venue for intergenerational transmission and a showcase to tell the world the vitality and the strength of our cultures", he said.
The Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture is regarded as the Pacific region's main venue in terms of celebration and gathering of the region's immense variety of cultures from Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia.