In line with its Strategy 2025 plan on stakeholder engagement which places participatory cultural governance at the core of its decision-making, Arts Council Malta (ACM) sought expressions of interest to form the new Sectoral Representative Working Group (SRWG).
ACM invited representatives of Malta’s Cultural and Creative Sectors to become members of a SRWG to be primarily responsible for providing expert advice on the development and implementation of Arts Council Malta’s strategic goals and actions for a 2-year period. This was done by means of a call for expression of interest between July and August 2024.
The participants of the Group are members of sector representative organisations for Malta’s Cultural and Creative Sectors and individuals whose experience and expertise would be considered representative of specific sectors within Malta’s Cultural and Creative Sectors. The members of the SRWG are to:
- act as influential community members who would be able to give valuable advice about specific matters that concern the development and advancement of the Cultural and Creative Sectors in Malta in relation to Arts Council Malta’s remits
- engage in knowledge-sharing and contribute towards discussions based on the experience and expertise as well as relationship with communities within the Cultural and Creative Sectors;
- contribute to understanding both specific and thematic issues as well as the bigger picture in cultural and creative sectors in order to provide depth, context and suggestions for reflective action;
- support the implementation and actualisation of SRWG reflections and discussions.
The role of the SRWG involves addressing knowledge gaps at Arts Council Malta related to specific cultural and creative sectors. Responsibilities include conducting research, collaborating within the SRWG, and communicating with ACM’s Funding and Strategy team. Regular meetings are attended to provide critical feedback and report on sectoral developments. Members offer insights into funding, policy, and governance, and identify trends that can enhance ACM’s strategy. Additionally, the role fosters connections between ACM and community stakeholders within the various sectors represented by the Working Group.
Below are the non-governmental members of the group, together with details on the Public Cultural Organisations. Further details are found in the minutes at the end of the page.
Members:
Alex Bezzina is an accomplished musician, music director, and educator. He holds a BMus (Hons) from the London Centre of Contemporary Music and an MA in Music from Middlesex University. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with renowned artists and ensembles, excelling in performance, arranging, and music direction across the UK and Malta. A former Deputy Head of Education at LCCM, Alex is a dedicated educator and currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta, MCAST, the Malta School of Music, and the Malta Visual and Performing Arts School. His expertise enables him to contribute meaningfully to Arts Council Malta’s cultural strategy, advocating for sustainable music development, education, and artistic innovation.
Diane Portelli started dancing at age three at Tanya Bayona Princess Poutiatine Academy of Ballet, encompassing classical ballet, modern, contemporary, and flamenco. She honed her skills at The Dance Workshop, later becoming a part-time teacher and choreographer. She expanded her expertise in Pavia for a year and undertook workshops with prestigious companies. Winning gold at the World Championships for Performing Arts, Diane’s performances spanned international festivals. Apart from her Hons Degree in Commerce, she holds DDE qualifications in modern theatre. Her affiliation with Moveo Dance Company commenced in 2013, where she assumed roles as a dancer, choreographer, and in 2016 director, gracing stages in Malta and beyond. In 2018, Diane and Dorian Mallia clinched the “Artist of the Year” accolade at Malta’s Premju Ghall-Arti Awards. Her performance Diversely Typical won the Best Steam Project award and as director of Moveo with Dorian Mallia, won the prestigious ’Best Creative Enterprise’ award.
Kristina Borg is a freelance visual and socially engaged artist-researcher, a spacemaker and an art educator/lecturer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education (Malta, 2009) and a Master’s degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies (Milan, 2015). In her transdisciplinary research-practice she spends time integrating into specific multispecies communities and devotes her attention to the relationships and dialogue between such communities – human and more-than-human – and the place. Her work focuses on the co-creation of projects that are situation and context-specific, and involves alternative, experiential processes that relate to socio-political, economic, feminist and environmental issues in urban-collective spaces – spaces that range from the city to the supermarket, from the walkway to the sea or the field. Her work has been commissioned and presented both in Malta and abroad. She is also the recipient of various awards and nominations, and most recently she was selected as a finalist for the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023 with her project You Are What You Buy – Reap what you sow. Kristina is also a fellow of the Salzburg Global Forum for Cultural Innovators and a member of the international Community Economies Research Network.
Lisa Gwen Chetcuti is a curator of words and an editor of spaces. Her work and projects are the outcomes of these often overlapping and interchangeable roles which deal with space and its distribution; with aesthetics and design; interpretation and experience. One focuses on words and type, the other on artworks and installations. Both create images and visuals; both deal with narratives. Besides an innate passion related to all fields of visual art, Lisa loves playing local tourist. She explores sites and spaces, scrutinising the natural, the built and the ‘other landscape’, through a camera lens. Lisa has a background in Art History and Cultural Management. She is a full-time freelancer, collaborating and consulting with several Malta-based, as well as international organisations. She has been an independent writer and curator, for the past 18 years.
The Malta Producers Association (MPA) is a non-profit organisation representing private-sector film and TV producers and experienced production crew in Malta. The Association aims to contribute to the development, promotion, and improvement of the audiovisual industry and its resources in Malta, safeguard and represent the interests and rights of Malta’s audiovisual producers and service providers and ensure that professionals in the sector enjoy a competitive and advantageous environment. The MPA is run by an Executive Committee of 3 or 5 persons who its members elect during the Association’s AGM. The MPA is managed by an Executive Committee of 3 to 5 members elected during the Association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). The current board includes: Charlie Cauchi, Chair; Rebecca Anastasi, Secretary; Ryan Gatt, Treasurer; Rebecca Cremona, Executive Member; and Elaine Bonello, Executive Member.
Charlie Cauchi / Rebecca Anastasi
Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) established in 2020, the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) is a prominent non-profit organization dedicated to championing the development of Malta’s entertainment and arts industry. Representing a wide array of disciplines, MEIA is structured with an Executive Committee and 12 specialized Subcommittees covering Music, Dance, Visual Arts, Theatre, Design, Literature, Events, Film & TV, Technical Suppliers, Venues, Arts Education, and Youth. This framework ensures that all stakeholders in the industry are united under one mission: to foster collaboration, raise awareness of industry challenges, and promote the sector’s development through robust advocacy, lobbying, consultation, and outreach. MEIA’s commitment to its members is reflected in its efforts to protect their autonomy and rights, while creating opportunities for growth and sustainability within Malta’s creative industries. Through strategic partnerships and public engagement initiatives, the association works tirelessly to address the sector’s needs, cultivate public interest in Malta’s creative industries, and advocate for policies that support their progression. By championing equity, collaboration, and innovation, MEIA continues to play a vital role in shaping a sustainable future for Malta’s entertainment and arts industry.
Maria Galea
Moira Scicluna Zahra is an award-winning Maltese illustrator and children’s book author whose work is typically influenced by people, their surroundings and the many in betweens. Her visual style is versatile, ranging from playful compositions to more expressive artworks with elements of visual storytelling. Moira holds the position of senior lecturer and researcher at MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts and she is the founder of the Malta Community of Illustrators, a project that aims to document local illustration, to push the use of illustration as an effective communicational tool, and to provide education on the subject.
Moira Scicluna Zahra
Public Cultural Organisations (PCOs) are part of the SRWG in order to represent this category. Every semester two PCOs are invited to express their interest in joining the group. In the first semester, Spazju Kreattiv and the National Agency for the Performing Arts (NAPA) were represented. In the second semester, Festival Malta and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra have joined the group.
Reports: