La Biennale -
17th International Kids’ Carnival from 7-15 February 2026
The programme is focused on the theme of challenge in sports. Workshops with olympic and paralympic athletes of the Olympic Museum are featured at Ca’ Giustinian.
International Kids’ Carnival
The 17th International Kids' Carnival of La Biennale di Venezia will take place from Saturday, February 7th to Sunday, February 15th, 2026, at Ca' Giustinian, Venice. For the occasion, the venue will be transformed into the House of Creativity, and this year's edition will focus on the themes of sporting challenge and the Venetian tradition. The programme is open to schools, families, and the public. All activities are free, with reservations required.
A new feature this year—on the occasion of the XXV Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026—is the presence of the IOC's official Olympic Museum, based in Lausanne. For the first time, it will bring to Venice three Olympian Artists, Olympic and Paralympic athletes practicing a recognized artistic practice and belonging to the museum's eponymous artistic program. A series of workshops for families and schools will be offered, with the aim of raising awareness among young people, through creativity, of the themes and values of Olympic and Paralympic sports.
The Human Safety Net has joined the Kids' Carnival programme with two workshops inspired by play and sport as tools to develop individual strengths. The workshops are inspired by the interactive exhibition A World of Potential, c/o The Human Safety Net in St. Mark's Square. This immersive experience, with free admission for all, allows children to discover and develop their potential and learn how, together, we can make a difference.
The Associazione Arzanà, with Venti di Cultura, will present a series of workshops titled Carnevale in Barca (Carnival in a Boat), where children will have the opportunity to see and touch various original models of historic Venetian boats. This initiative was created by Hesperia Iliadou-Suppiej of the European Institute of Design in Florence for the Faro Laguna Network Community Laboratory within the Faro Italia Platform, co-financed by the Fondazione Venezia.
The Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare Adriatico Settentrionale, chaired by Matteo Gasparato, will offer an activity as part of the Port Educational project. Through the adventurous stories of the most famous Venetian explorers—Marco Polo, Pietro Querini, and Giovanni Caboto—children will be guided on a creative and immersive journey to discover the great voyages of the Serenissima. Older children will have the opportunity to participate in a Happiness 2.0 experiential workshop, created by the IBSA Foundation for scientific research, to understand how social media and artificial intelligence influence emotions and well-being.
Programme for the public and families
Participations, Educational activities, collaborations
In addition to the new projects, the International Kids' Carnival will benefit from numerous other local, national, and international partnerships, including the established Štěpán Zavřel Foundation, the University of Milan, the UNESCO Chair in Generative Pedagogy and Educational Systems to Tackle Inequality (Prof. Emiliana Mannese), the National Institute of Statistics with Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the German Center for Venetian Studies with a narrative workshop and a philosophical story for children, and new partners such as the Associazione San Donà Opportunity APS with workshops on the language of cinema for children.
The programme, curated by Biennale Educational, will be rich and diverse, and in addition to the usual artistic, musical, and performance workshops related to dance for children, there will also be yoga and dance workshops for adults. The small tailoring workshop returns with the Tessere graffiti workshop, enriching the Carnival experience with the production of creative mandalas and the creation of a collective weaving project.
We would like to thank the Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF) for its educational support and the materials provided on the topic of sustainability and its concrete applications in the Venetian context, as part of a collaboration that also involves other entities within the Foundation's network.
Further enriching the event are the Silver Lion for Creativity contest, aimed at Italian state and private schools—primary and secondary, first and second grade—the activation of school-to-work training programs aimed at developing applied creativity in the arts and engaging students in the role of creators and leaders of workshop initiatives with the Marco Polo High School in Venice and the Tito Livio High School in Milan, and the fourth edition of Cinema for Schools, with free screenings for middle schools (third grade) and second grade at the Giorgione Cinema (Venice) and the Dante Cinema (Mestre), starting February 24th.
The initiative is part of the Milano Cortina 2026 Cultural Olympiad, the multidisciplinary, diverse, and widespread program that will animate Italy to promote Olympic values through culture, heritage, and sport, in preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games that Italy will host from February 6 to 22 and March 6 to 15, 2026, respectively.
Info
How to get to Ca’ Giustinian, from Piazzale Roma (bus station) and S.Lucia train station:
ACTV vaporetto line 1, stop: San Marco Vallaresso / from Tronchetto, ACTV line 2, stop: San Zaccaria.
Reservations required:
Tel. +39 041 5218828 / promozione@labiennale.org
The International Kids’ Carneval is a project by La Biennale di Venezia that since 2010 has been offered to school children, schools, teachers, and families. The aim is to stimulate creativity and participation in the youth while keeping a constant interaction (straightforward, practical and active) with participants.
