Looking Ahead to 2030
The IBCPC Festival Bid Process Underway
IBCPC festivals are among the most meaningful events in our international calendar. Held every four years in a different part of the world, each festival is far more than a gathering—it is a celebration of participation, friendship, perseverance, and the shared spirit that unites our community across countries, cultures, and languages.
For many paddlers, supporters, and survivors, the festival is a milestone event: a chance to reconnect, to honour personal and collective journeys, and to experience the extraordinary sense of belonging that defines IBCPC.
The journey to hosting an IBCPC festival begins when a member team submits a formal bid, typically with the encouragement and backing of the relevant regional and national federations in its country.
Preparing a bid is in itself a major undertaking and reflects both commitment and vision. It asks a team to imagine not only the practical delivery of a large international event, but also the experience they hope to create for thousands of participants who travel from around the globe to take part. For the 2030 festival, we were delighted to receive four strong bids.
The Future Festival Committee has been carefully reviewing each proposal in detail, considering logistics, infrastructure, accessibility, organisational capacity, and, importantly, how well each bid reflects the ethos and values of IBCPC. This process is rigorous, thoughtful, and respectful of the considerable work each bidding team has contributed.
The next stage in the process is a programme of site visits, which allows committee members to engage more deeply with each proposal and to better understand the strengths of the proposed host locations. These visits are an important opportunity—not only for evaluation, but also for conversation, partnership, and shared learning.
Every festival leaves a legacy of experience, and the committee continues to reflect on lessons from previous events so that future festivals can be as inclusive, well-supported, and uplifting as possible for everyone involved. This ongoing work has also informed an updated Memorandum of Understanding, prepared by the Future Festival Committee, and externally reviewed, with particular attention to the experiences of team managers and participants at past festivals.
We remain hopeful that the host venue for the 2030 festival will be announced at the close of the festival in France. Until then, we acknowledge with gratitude the dedication of the bidding teams and the care being taken throughout this process.
Choosing a host for an IBCPC festival is not simply a practical decision—it is about entrusting the next chapter of a cherished global gathering to those who can hold both its scale and its heart.
With heartfelt thanks to all of those who have taken the time to place these bids and to share their hospitality and generosity of time with our various committee members.
The Future Festivals Committee
