This scheme supports proposals aimed at boosting artistic development, nurturing experimentation and innovation, engaging, developing audiences as well as attracting new audiences, while creating experiences based on principles of excellence. This support mechanism also encourages community-based projects.

The scheme has two options: a State aid option and a non-State aid option. The State aid option is available to undertakings that carry out an economic activity within the meaning of Article 107 TFEU, for which assistance will be granted in line with the de minimis Regulation. The non-State aid option is available to those applicants that do not carry out an economic activity within the meaning of Article 107 TFEU as well as to proposed projects that would not involve such an economic activity. Kindly refer to Section 9 of these guidelines for additional information.

Furthermore, applicants must qualify as one of the following:

• Creative professionals/individual artists
• Entities registered with the Malta Business Registry (including companies, partnerships, foundations and organisations/associations)
• Groups, collectives and consortia
• Registered cooperatives
• Voluntary organisations enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

Click here to download the guidelines and click here to download the application template.

Rank Order

Application Deadline: 17th March at noon

Beneficiary: Pamela Bezzina

Reference Number: ARD16-26-7805
Project Title: Djamont: Id-Djalett Għawdxi fil-Mużika Kontemporanja

Amount Rewarded: €9958
Project Summary Description: Djamont: Id-Djalett Għawdxi fil-Mużika Kontemporanja” is an artistic research project investigating the contemporary musicality of the Gozitan dialect. Moving beyond folkloric tropes, I employ a ‘Comparative Sonic Lab’ methodology to test how regional phonetic markers—specifically Gozitan vowel shifts and prosody—interact with modern sound design.

Collaborating with a music producer, co-composer, and dual-specialist linguist, I will develop two high-fidelity prototypes: a Standard Maltese ‘control’ track and a Gozitan ‘experimental’ track. This process deconstructs vocal diction to expand my artistic vocabulary and establish a scientifically-informed, multi-dimensional sonic identity. The project culminates in a curated workshop and listening party for industry peers to validate the findings. This R&D phase is essential for establishing a robust foundation for my future creative output, ensuring the preservation of Gozo’s intangible cultural heritage through a viable, contemporary lens.

Beneficiary: Stefan Spiteri

Reference Number: ARD28-26-7982
Project Title: PARKAN

Amount Rewarded: €12062
Project Summary Description: PARKAN: Practicing Ancestral Rituals and Knowledge in the Absence of Nature is a year-long artistic research project exploring Malta’s ancestral weaving traditions as a form of ecological and cultural knowledge. Through collaboration with weaver Alda Bugeja and experimentation at B&T Textilia in Belgium, the project combines traditional craft and digital innovation. Using repair as a research method, it aims to establish a weaving studio fostering artistic development, and community engagement, that continues to grow beyond this research project.

Beneficiary: Luke Saydon

Reference Number: ARD17-26-7811
Project Title: It-Tfajjel tal-Injam – Research Project

Amount Rewarded: €15000
Project Summary Description: How can we responsibly represent LGBTQI+ families and values in work created for children?

This project develops a new Maltese queer adaptation of Pinocchio through a research-led process culminating in a week-long R&D intensive co-created with underrepresented young communities and families. Structured across six strands—community outreach, creative internships, concept and writing, open auditions, theatrecraft, and production strategy—the project integrates artistic development with social inquiry. The work reimagines Pinocchio as a wooden boy symbolising “otherness,” addressing humanity, identity, and belonging. Set within the framework of Maltese cultural roots the project will celebrate queer parenthood, family diversity, and contemporary Maltese progress in LGBTQ+ rights.

Beneficiary: Ella Marie Fleri Soler

Reference Number: ARD40-26-8172
Project Title: Archive to Atelier: Activating the Fashion Legacy of Maria Fleri Soler

Amount Rewarded: €15000
Project Summary Description: Archive to Atelier: Activating the Fashion Legacy of Maria Fleri Soler is a research project exploring how a private fashion archive can become a catalyst for contemporary creative practice and cultural dialogue. Centring the largely undocumented archive of Maltese designer Maria Fleri Soler (b.1935), it treats heritage as a living resource for experimentation, intergenerational exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Led by architect and researcher Ella Fleri Soler, the project brings together collaborators Clarissa Fleri Soler (narrative mediation + writing), Tamara Fenech (archive strategy), Saz Mifsud (contemporary fashion practice), Julian Vassallo (photography + visual research), and Max Darmanin (design + coordination).

Structured through three interconnected layers, the research combines archival excavation, oral histories, public outreach for “garment memories”, and co-created participatory workshops, with archive open days offering insight into the evolving process. The project culminates in a dual site-specific pop-up showcase, repositioning fashion heritage as an active contributor to Malta’s cultural landscape.

Beneficiary: Fondazzjoni ghall-Patrimonju Kulturali tal-Arcidjocesi ta’ Malta

Reference Number: ARD51-26-8261
Project Title: Small Epiphanies — Research on Well-being and Care

Amount Rewarded: €15000
Project Summary Description: Small Epiphanies (working title) is a research and development project by the Archbishop’s Delegate for Culture, which will culminate in an exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv at the beginning of 2027. The project takes the present condition of our local community as a point of departure for a radical reassessment of well-being. With the project culminating close to the Feast of the Epiphany, the starting point of this research investigates the symbolic weight and historic reverence of this date. The Greek word epiphany means “to reveal” or “to make manifest.” This project aims to explore and highlight the factors shaping quality of life in Malta and across the globe. The project emerges from a period of global crisis to demand a new constellation of care. Local and international artists have been brought together across geographies and generations to research and engage with the curatorial intentions to create new work.

Beneficiary: Toni Gialanze

Reference Number: ARD26-26-7904
Project Title: How can a hands-on, gesture-led workstation expand human expression in live music beyond computer-style interaction and preset-led performance? (working title)

Amount Rewarded: €14666
Project Summary Description: This collaboration between Toni Gialanze and Malcolm Abdilla develops a hands-on live music workstation: a connected set of custom electronic and electro-acoustic instruments built for direct physical play. The project shifts live music-making away from computer screens and preset recall, and back toward gesture, touch, and material response — where what the hands do is immediately heard. Designed for fast improvisation, the workstation lets performers capture, loop, process, and reshape sound in the moment, building structure through movement and interaction. A central control layer links the different devices so the setup behaves as one coherent instrument rather than a collection of separate tools. The research will unfold through rapid prototyping and guided play-tests with musicians and sound-makers using a “play first, explain later” approach. It concludes with a public sharing session combining a short demonstration and guided try-outs.

Beneficiary: Adrian Buckle

Reference Number: ARD43-26-8205
Project Title: EDEN – A New Musical

Amount Rewarded: €15000
Project Summary Description: This project brings together nine Maltese and international artists to research and develop the first draft of a new musical theatre work that reimagines the biblical myth of Adam and Eve. Through collaborative dramaturgical, musical, and movement-based research, the team will critically examine the patriarchal and binary assumptions embedded in the traditional narrative.

The project reframes Eve’s act of eating the apple as a conscious and radical choice—an assertion of agency, knowledge, and resistance—positioning the myth as a vehicle for exploring feminism, power, and self-determination in a contemporary context.

The interdisciplinary creative team combines established and emerging voices across playwriting, composition, lyric writing, choreography, and performance, and actively incorporates neurodivergent perspectives while committing to broader inclusivity through research and consultation.

The funded phase will result in a complete draft musical theatre script and score, laying the groundwork for a future Maltese production and international development.

Beneficiary: Soċjetà Mużikali San Ġużepp Ħal Kirkop A.D. 1886

Reference Number: ARD47-26-8237
Project Title: Faith, Tradition, and Community: The Legacy of the Brotherhood of St Joseph in Kirkop

Amount Rewarded:
Project Summary Description: This project focuses on researching, documenting, and publishing the 150‑year history of the Brotherhood of St Joseph, established in Kirkop in 1878. Through archival study, oral history collection, and analysis of community heritage, the project aims to trace the Brotherhood’s cultural, social, and spiritual impact on the Kirkop community across generations. The publication will present this research in an accessible format, ensuring that the Brotherhood’s legacy is preserved and made available to current and future audiences.

Aligned with the Artistic Research and Development Scheme, the project strengthens artistic practice by contributing to the documentation of Malta’s cultural communities in an open, inclusive, and sustainable manner. It also supports community and audience engagement by improving access to historical information and promoting inclusive participation through dissemination activities.

Ultimately, the book will serve as a valuable cultural resource that enhances awareness, understanding, and appreciation of Kirkop’s heritage.