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The President’s Fund for Creativity

Invalid deadline format: July 7, 2026 12:00 pm

Deadline

The deadline to apply is July 7, 2026 at

12:00 pm.

Late applications will not be accepted.

apply now

The President’s Fund for Creativity is one of a series of initiatives aimed at strengthening inclusivity, community development, and well-being through cultural engagement and creative expression. This fund is linked to the implementation of Arts Council Malta’s Strategy 2030.

The President’s Fund for Creativity champions the sharing of lesser-known stories that bind us together, ensuring no one is left behind. It supports participatory creative practices with hardly reached and marginalised groups, fostering safe and trustworthy spaces where people feel empowered to come together and explore their creativity to express their ideas and feelings.

The President’s Fund for Creativity invests specifically in collaborative creative processes that strengthen communal connection, encourage critical thinking, and enable collective creation – finding meaning in small, meaningful moments that inspire hope and positive social change. Applications may seek support for a pilot initiative, or for the development of an initiative that the organisation has already tried and tested.

Throughout this journey, the fund enables creatives to build deeper relationships with communities and facilitate cultural engagement as a pathway to holistic well-being.  It supports initiatives that challenge creative stagnation and actively advocate for the inclusion and celebration of diversity by expanding how people envision themselves, others, and the world around them.

At its core, the President’s Fund for Creativity serves as a vital recognition, at the highest level of the state, of the power of arts and culture in addressing a pressing need for social sensitivity and authentic voices. It promotes an inclusive society that fosters creativity, confronts difficult issues, and collaboratively seeks solutions together, one shared experience at a time.

The fund forms part of our funding programmes for community exchange, which aim at investing in:

  • Increased cultural participation across Malta and Gozo;
  • Better understanding and engagement between artists and communities;
  • More diversity in cultural programming;
  • More importance devoted to a culture that is much more representative of Maltese society in general;
  • Sustainable development.

The President’s Fund for Creativity aims at:

  • Bringing together creative practitioners, on the one hand, and hardly-reached and marginalised groups, on the other hand, and to foster safe and trustworthy spaces where people feel empowered to engage and explore their creativity to express ideas and feelings;
  • Supporting practices designed to foster diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, well-being, and regeneration through cultural engagement and creative expression;
  • Providing hardly reached and marginalised groups with accessibility to a wide range of arts experiences and  cultural engagement opportunities;
  • Incentivising the contribution of organisations, entities, and institutions towards community development and well-being through cultural engagement and creative expression.

The application shall clearly demonstrate the benefits of the project/programme/practice to hardly reached and marginalised groups.

The lead partner may collaborate with one or more other organisations and/or with one or more individual practitioners to develop a community arts project/programme/practice that combines the highest standards of quality and good practice, both from the artistic perspective and from the social perspective.

Consistent with Strategy 2030, and with Arts Council Malta’s commitment to supporting the arts through a sustainable and accountable approach to public investment, with particular attention to the strategic areas of fair practices, community, and inclusion, applicants are encouraged to give due consideration, where appropriate, to the principles outlined in the requirements.

Moreover, ACM draws applicants’ attention to the following pursuant with ACM’s strategic priorities:

Right to Culture – Resource Pack, with particular regard to community engagement and the adoption of a rights-based approach to their work. This resource pack is aimed at increasing awareness regarding inclusivity and supporting the implementation of cultural rights in our day-to-day practice.  

Applicants are also expected to give due consideration, as appropriate, to the principles outlined in the Charter for the Status of the Artist, to ensure fair and just working conditions for artists, embracing artistic freedom, accessibility, formal/informal/non-formal skill recognition, appropriate socio-economic conditions, non-discrimination and equity, due ethical considerations and upholding intellectual property rights and international labour law. The Charter for the Status of the Artist provides a dynamic frame of reference for legislation, policies, and initiatives which directly or indirectly impact artists and cultural and creative sectors, ensuring that actions are aligned with the ultimate long-term vision of elevating the status of artists and cultural workers in Malta in line with their value in society. 

The President’s Fund for Creativity is managed jointly by the Office of the President of the Republic and Arts Council Malta.

To support prospective applicants, an online information session will be held on Monday, 8 June 2026 at noon. During the session, practical guidance will be provided on the aims of the scheme, the eligibility criteria, and the application process, and there will also be a questions-and-answers session.

Participants can join here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81632162805?pwd=Z854ESowe2UUMyVnGUvznO0BDBhMae.1

Applicants must be working in the field of social and community development, or active in any cultural and creative field to be eligible. The project/programme/practice must target the needs of disadvantaged groups through arts, creative expression, and cultural participation.

 

The fund offers 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/programmes/practices that would not involve such an economic activity. Kindly refer to Section 9 of these guidelines and regulations for additional information.

Furthermore, applicants must qualify as one of the following:

  • Creative practitioners / Individual artists
  • Entities registered with the Malta Business Registry (including companies, partnerships, foundations, and organisations/associations);
  • Groups, collectives, and consortia;
  • Registered cooperatives;
  • Educational institutions offering formal and informal education;
  • Public institutions;
  • Voluntary organisations enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.

The representatives of the applicant must be a Maltese citizen; or be in possession of a Malta residence permit; or of a Maltese citizenship certificate; or of a Maltese passport.

The fund supports organisational development and collaboration between organisations active in the field of arts and culture and organisations active in the field of social and community development.

The applicant shall collaborate with another organisation or with an individual to develop a community arts project/programme/practice and ensure that its professional delivery is maintained both from the artistic quality perspective as well as in terms of the care and attention needed by the identified participants. The application shall clearly demonstrate the benefits of the project/programme/practice to the community.

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

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