The fourth annual Creative Minds festival, an educational event aimed at second-year primary school students, took place in Chomutov on Wednesday, May 19, 2026. The festival was organized by the Innovation Center of the Ústí nad Labem Region (ICUK) in cooperation with the Education Department of the Chomutov City Hall, which directly participated in the selection of current topics for this year. The event brought a total of 213 students from nine primary schools in the Chomutov region to Chomutov.
This year's program consisted of thirteen parallel workshops — from digital literacy, cybersecurity, and financial literacy to 3D printing, book creation, and presentation skills, to topics such as mental health, self-confidence, and social media content creation.
The festival works with a specific format: each workshop took place in a separate room and was repeated three times during the morning. The students registered for the individual workshops themselves via the application, and each put together a combination of three different programs according to their own interests. This approach strengthened the participants' independence and led to noticeably higher motivation and personal involvement.
The festival concluded with influencers Rex and Kate, who spoke about their journey and how to make it in today's online world. A separate program was available throughout the day for educational support.
Feedback from schools
„"Each student attended 3 workshops during the morning, where they listened to inspiring lectures and played motivational games. The workshop on video recording and Instagram magic was probably the most interesting.". The event was very successful, everyone learned something new, and they also met students from other Chomutov schools.“
Mgr. Ivana Schücková, Na Příkopech Elementary School
„"The students and teaching staff especially appreciated the interesting and topical focus of the workshops, the inspiring environment, and the opportunity to actively participate in the program. We evaluate the organization of the entire event as well-prepared and we would like to participate in similar activities in the future."“
Kamila Mejstříková, school psychologist, Zahradní Elementary School
„"I am very positive about the possibility that students could choose workshops according to their own interests, which led to greater motivation and personal involvement. Logging in via the app was a modern and user-friendly solution that allowed students greater independence in choosing activities."“
Miroslav Žalud, Pisecna Elementary School
WHAT THE STUDENTS LEARNED FROM THE FESTIVAL
Here, students learned to navigate the basics of digital literacy and financial literacy — from the question of where to put money and how to „tame” it, to practical skills, how to behave in crisis situations and what to say when the going gets tough. They tried out working with 3D printing, making their own book and creative skills from tablet magic to „Instagram magic”. Special attention was paid to safe and healthy movement in the online environment — students learned what lurks on the Internet, what risks endless scrolling brings and how to stay true to themselves. They also learned to present their ideas professionally and got a glimpse into the history of their own city. The program was complemented by inspiring lectures by influencers Rex and Kate, who told the students how they fulfilled their dream and how to make a name for themselves in the online world today.
The Creative Minds Festival is part of ICUK's educational activities, which aim to develop an innovative environment, support STEM education and connect schools with experts from practice in the region. So far, it has been implemented in Ústí nad Labem, Žatec, Litvínov and Chomutov. Next year, ICUK wants to expand this format to other cities in the Ústí nad Labem Region.
➡️ The activity was financed from the RUR project - Region to University, University of the Region, registration number CZ.10.02.01/00/22_002/0000210 within the framework of the Operational Program Just Transformation, sub-activity KA1 A.2.37.
