Festival du Vivant: Reclaiming biodiversity through art and community

Festival du Vivant: Reclaiming biodiversity through art, science, and community

In May 2025, the Festival du Vivant, an initiative led by ER Group, brought together thousands of people around a shared purpose: see differently, feel deeply, and take action together to protect and restore biodiversity. Organised in collaboration with House of Digital Art (HoDA) and Odysseo, this event transformed HoDA in Port Louis into a living, immersive forum to explore the intersection of art, biodiversity, and civic engagement. 

Over the course of two days, an estimated 2,700 people attended the festival, including around 600 active participants, speakers, facilitators and team members. From school children and families to scientists, farmers and artists, a wide diversity of voices converged in the capital to celebrate biodiversity. Several activities reached full capacity well before the event, and actual turnout often exceeded pre-registrations, reflecting the community’s deep appetite for knowledge and ecological awareness. 

A landmark event for Mauritius

For ER Group, the Festival du Vivant was not just a call to awareness, it was a call to ignite impact. Held on 23 and 24 May 2025, this first-of-its-kind event in Mauritius brought more than 3000 visitors and 600 active participants, who joined 50 artists, researchers, NGOs, and local changemakers to explore and share perspectives on the importance of protecting the living world.

Timed to coincide with the International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May), the Festival du Vivant was supported by the VARUNA “Fonds Business Biodiversité Océan Indien” programme. Both ER Group and Odysseo are laureates of this regional initiative, funded by the  Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and implemented by Expertise France to promote private sector engagement in biodiversity protection across the Indian Ocean.

“The Festival du Vivant reflects our belief that protecting biodiversity starts with reimagining our relationship with life itself. By weaving art, science, and community into a shared experience, we hope to inspire a lasting shift in how we live on this planet,” says Mickaël Apaya, Head of Climate Resilience and Regeneration at ER Group.

A creative response to global reality

As six of the nine planetary boundaries essential to sustaining life on Earth have already been crossed, the need to protect and restore biodiversity is more urgent than ever. In this context, art becomes more than expression, it becomes activation. Through five creative pillars, the festival offered a distinct perspective to explore and reconnect with the living ecosystems:

1. Living Conversations

Thought-provoking discussions where artists, scientists, and citizens share insights on topics such as regenerative agriculture, food systems, biodiversity, and culture. 

2. Village of Life

An interactive space that highlights the work of NGOs, creatives, and citizen initiatives on biodiversity projects. 

3. Symposium of Life

A high-level forum bringing together researchers, civil society leaders, artists, and institutions to reflect on the ocean as a living ecosystem and explore new ways of relating to it. 

4. The Living Arts

A celebration of life through artistic performances, immersive screenings, visual installations, and musical experiences. 

5. Bio Lab

Hands-on, family-friendly workshops on eco-friendly living from DIY natural products and urban gardening to cooking with local ingredients and nature-inspired design.

More than an event, a living moment

Each space invited curiosity and encouraged deeper ecological awareness. Many participants shared meaningful exchanges and the emotional impact of artistic moments. Through moments like the projection of evocative films like “Pie Dan Lo” by artist Kim Yip Tong, urban sketching sessions with Brian Lamoureux, soil regeneration dialogues, and collaborative art workshops with school children, the Festival du Vivant offered a rich sensory experience that engaged both heart and mind.

A festival rooted in meaning and emotion 

The festival’s visual identity was inspired by the oldest known biological pigment found in the ancient Mauritanian ocean: a vibrant shade of pink symbolising the origin of life. It also resonates with a rare and awe-inspiring event that still takes place in Mauritius: the coral spawning, a moment that marks the beginning of a new life cycle in the ocean. By weaving together these global and local symbols, the festival honours the continuity of life, connecting ancestral origins with the fragile beauty of our ecosystems today.

From employee engagement to the wider community

The Festival du Vivant builds on Regenesis[AL1] , ER Group’s internal programme launched in 2024 as part of the VARUNA initiative, with the aim of integrating biodiversity into the group's strategy. Nearly 300 employees took part in the immersive workshop “La biodiversité dans nos assiettes”, designed to deepen understanding of biodiversity and our role in protecting it. The Festival du Vivant falls under the awareness pillar of Regenesis and marked a new step by extending the conversation beyond the Group and inviting the wider community to take part. 

Importantly, this first edition also drew support from partners such as the Institut Français de Maurice (IFM), MBC Radio, and regional collectives like La Route des Plantes and Le Chant des Forêts, laying the foundations for an Indian Ocean-wide cultural movement for biodiversity.

A cultural response to a global challenge

The Festival du Vivant was also part of a wider international effort. ER Group (formerly Rogers Group) was officially accredited to participate in the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in Nice from 9 to 13 June 2025. This global event brought together public and private stakeholders committed to protecting the ocean and accelerating collective action.

ER Group’s presence at UNOC3 recognises its growing contribution as a Mauritian private sector leader in biodiversity and ocean advocacy. By translating global sustainability goals into tangible, citizen-led experiences, the Festival du Vivant became a local mirror to global priorities, a bold cultural gesture grounded in urgency and hope.