Amics de la Bressola

The Associació d'Amics de La Bressola (Association of Friends of La Bressola) is a non-profit support entity dedicated to sustaining and publicising La Bressola, the network of associative schools that practise Catalan-language immersion in Northern Catalonia (the Pyrénées-Orientales department of France). Its official website describes it as "an entity that gives support to and disseminates the work of La Bressola, associative schools of Northern Catalonia." It solicits memberships and donations from both Northern Catalonia and Southern Catalonia, and it runs a small online shop selling merchandise such as T-shirts, books and CDs whose proceeds help the schools. The association is closely tied to La Bressola itself, a cultural association founded in Perpignan in 1976 that opened its first Catalan-language school, Sant Galdric in Perpignan, on 16 September 1976 with seven pupils. Over the following decades La Bressola grew into a network of nine centres (seven primary schools and two secondary collèges) serving around 1,100 children across seven municipalities of Northern Catalonia. Because the French state only takes over teachers' salaries after a school has operated for five years, and because public subsidies have historically been uncertain, private solidarity — organised largely through the Amics de la Bressola — has been essential to the network's survival and expansion. The Amics de la Bressola organises and participates in cultural and commemorative events, including the National Day of Catalonia (Diada) and anniversary celebrations. In 2026 it took part in the events marking the 50th anniversary of La Bressola, including a commemorative concert at the Teatre Municipal de Girona and a central anniversary act. Its leadership has included Geoffroy (identified on the website as president of Amics de La Bressola), working alongside La Bressola president Guillem Nivet. The association also accepts donations of artworks and cultural items, such as a work by the Olot painter Virgili Vallmajor donated by the collector Joan-Artur Roura i Comas. As a membership-and-donation body rather than a commercial enterprise, the Amics de la Bressola functions as a civil-society brand: it raises funds, recruits socis (members), publishes news and a newsletter, and sells branded merchandise. Its mission is inseparable from the broader movement for the defence and recovery of the Catalan language and identity in Northern Catalonia, a cause for which La Bressola was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2007.

The Amics de la Bressola exists to support La Bressola, and its history is therefore intertwined with that of the school network. La Bressola was created in Perpignan in 1976 as a cultural association to promote a network of associative schools practising Catalan-language immersion in the comarques of Northern Catalonia. The first school, Sant Galdric in Perpignan, opened on 16 September 1976 with seven pupils, inspired by the SEASKA schools of the Northern Basque Country. A second school followed at Nils, the first to be housed in a municipal building — an old school abandoned by the French education system. Maintaining and growing two schools proved costly. La Bressola had few resources and departmental institutions refused to subsidise it, leading to years of serious financial difficulty. It survived thanks to solidarity and the help of many people — Lluís Llach, Jordi Barre and Pere Figueres among them — who organised concerts, festivals and stalls. It was in this context of precarious finances that the support of the Amics de la Bressola became decisive. In 1981 La Bressola suffered an internal division with the resignation of its board, opening a period of negotiations with the state. In 1982 the Conseil Général refused to revise its subsidy, prompting founding member Miquel Mayol and others to launch a public hunger strike beginning at the Castellet de Perpignan on 12 January; within a few years the Conseil granted a subsidy. In 1986 the French government proposed integrating La Bressola into the public education system, but a change of government meant the new Chirac executive did not honour the commitments and instead proposed that La Bressola teach 50% in French. In 1987, having lost subsidies, La Bressola announced it was obliged to dismiss teachers; they continued teaching while drawing unemployment benefit. The network survived thanks to the growing solidarity of the Amics de la Bressola. In 1988, with another change of government, subsidies returned. In 1990 the Prada school opened, and between then and 1995 agreements were signed with the government. The year 1995 was a key date: an agreement still in force was signed with the state accepting Catalan as the vehicular language, with the state taking over teachers' salaries after a school had operated for five years; for the first five years La Bressola had to finance itself autonomously. This agreement triggered growth. From 1996 four schools were opened (El Soler 1996, Sant Esteve del Monestir 1998, El Vernet 1999 and Càldegues 2001, closed in 2012) and a secondary centre at El Soler from 2003. In 2006 La Bressola celebrated its 30th anniversary, coinciding with the completion of the first stage of secondary education, and in 2008 it inaugurated the Col·legi Pompeu Fabra secondary centre at El Soler. In 2022 it inaugurated a second secondary centre, Col·legi Mas Rosselló at Canet de Rosselló, its ninth centre, and it continues to work on the project of the monastery of Santa Clara de Perpignan, bought in 2023, which will be its first collège-lycée. Today La Bressola presents nine school centres (seven schools and two collèges) with around 1,100 children in seven municipalities of Northern Catalonia. Demand for places has risen in recent years, and owing to the crisis this demand has had to be absorbed with the same human and material resources. Throughout this history the Amics de la Bressola has served as the organised expression of civil solidarity — recruiting members, collecting donations, running a shop and newsletter, and participating in commemorative and cultural events such as the Diada and the network's anniversaries.

• 2026

  La Bressola celebrates its 50th anniversary; Amics de la Bressola participates in the Diada and anniversary events.

• 2023

  La Bressola buys the monastery of Santa Clara de Perpignan for a future collège-lycée.

• 2022

  A second secondary centre, Col·legi Mas Rosselló, is inaugurated at Canet de Rosselló, the ninth centre of La Bressola.

• 2008

  The Col·legi Pompeu Fabra secondary centre is inaugurated at El Soler.

• 2007

  La Bressola is awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi.

• 1995

  An agreement still in force is signed with the French state accepting Catalan as the vehicular language.

• 1987

  La Bressola announces it must dismiss teachers after losing subsidies; it survives thanks to the growing solidarity of the Amics de la Bressola.

• 1982

  Founding member Miquel Mayol and others launch a public hunger strike at the Castellet de Perpignan on 12 January after the Conseil Général refuses to revise the subsidy.

• 1976

  La Bressola is created in Perpignan; first Catalan-language school Sant Galdric opens on 16 September with 7 pupils.

A civil-society support association and fundraising brand for Catalan-immersion education in Northern Catalonia.

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1. 1Inicio - Associació Amics de la Bressolaamicsbressola.cat
2. 2Amics de la Bressolawikidata.org
3. 3La Bressolaca.wikipedia.org