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 scheme 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.

Application Deadline: 23rd June at noon

Rank Order

Beneficiary: Adrian Buckle

Reference number: ARTS02-26-9123

Project Title: VINCENT RIVER – Addattament

Amount awarded: €40,000

This project presents a new Maltese-language translation and adaptation of Philip Ridley’s acclaimed play Vincent River, reimagined within a distinctly Maltese social and cultural context. Exploring themes of grief, violence, secrecy, masculinity, and queer identity, the production seeks to create a direct connection with local audiences through familiar language, social dynamics, and lived realities. In today’s context and realities, the project offers a timely space for reflection, empathy, and dialogue. It also addresses the underrepresentation of contemporary queer narratives in Maltese-language theatre, contributing to a more diverse and inclusive cultural landscape. Through a rigorous adaptation process, the production examines issues such as family silence, public morality, class tensions, and attitudes towards sexuality in Malta today. Led by director Bettina Paris and translator Simone Spiteri, with the involvement of playwright Philip Ridley, the project combines artistic excellence with social relevance, supported by audience engagement activities and post-show discussions.

 

 

Beneficiary: Toni Gialanze

Reference number: ARTS136-26-9496

Project Title: Presence (working title)

Amount awarded: €39,966

What happens when an environment begins to listen? This project proposes a space that perceives and responds to the conditions around it. Through a living system of light, the work reads movement, sound and atmosphere, translating them into a continuously evolving visual language. Its first iteration inhabits a thirty-metre passageway at Glitch Festival, a transitional space reimagined as an active participant in the journey. At its centre is a single idea: that light can be a presence with character, attentive to the bodies passing beneath it, speaking in colour, intensity and movement. It does not perform at the crowd; it relates to it. Developed by Late Interactive with Niels Plotard and CO-MA, the work builds a custom responsive lighting system, transforming a place of transit into awareness, curiosity and shared experience.

 

 

Beneficiary: Cliff Zammit Stevens

Reference number: ARTS12-26-9147

Project Title: Echoes of Solitude and Light

Amount awarded: €40,000

Echoes of Solitude and Light is a tenor-and-piano studio album built around French mélodies and German lieder with the majority rarely performed or recorded, tracing an emotional arc from solitude and longing through to hope and renewal. The programme will also include a world premiere Maltese-language art song composed by Analise Mifsud. Recorded with pianist Simon Lepper and produced by Grammy Award-winner Stephen Johns, the album is planned for release in late 2027, with discussions ongoing with Avie Records regarding the label release. The project returns to Malta through a public masterclass for emerging singers, an artist talk, and a public launch event. Accessible materials accompany the release throughout. The project champions overlooked repertoire, supports Maltese creative talent internationally, and aligns fully with ACM Strategy 2030 through co-creation, artistic excellence, documentation, and inclusive access. A live tour will be pursued separately.

 

 

 

Beneficiary: Christian Debono

Reference number: ARTS24-26-9208

Project Title: Lament Kuntent

Amount awarded: €20,836

My recent Maltese-language single Lament Kuntent was well received and encouraged me to further develop my artistic practice through the production of a debut album. I began writing these songs while living in Malta, and continued developing them after moving to Lisbon, where new cultural and musical encounters deeply shaped the project. The album explores themes of friendship, migration, displacement, return, and emotional belonging through original compositions written in Maltese and influenced by Brazilian, Portuguese, Mediterranean, Italian, and Arab musical traditions. My collaboration with producers/arrangers Aleandro Spiteri Monseigneur and Luís Figueiredo has been central to shaping the sonic identity of the project. Living within a community of Portuguese, Brazilian, Arab musicians and artists has also expanded my approach to songwriting, rhythm, and lyrical expression. Alongside original compositions, the project may include selected Portuguese-to-Maltese reinterpretations exploring musical and emotional connections across languages and places.

 

 

Beneficiary: Culture Venture

Reference Number: ARTS123-26-9483

Project Title: Ħekuba

Amount awarded: €40,000

Ħekuba is a new site-specific theatre work in Maltese, produced by Udjenza Productions, written by Simone Spiteri and directed by Chris Gatt. Adapted from Euripides, the production removes the source text’s single villain and replaces her with something harder to confront: a system. A social worker, a clerk, a doctor, an administrator, they are all doing their job, none intending harm, all contributing to the breaking of a person. At the centre stands a maternal figure expected to absorb everything without breaking, and judged for what she becomes when she can no longer do so. Staged at the old church in Siġġiewi, and performed in Maltese, the production places its audience inside that world rather than at a safe distance from it. It does not offer answers. It asks the audience to sit with a question most of us would rather avoid.

 

 

Beneficiary: Joseph M. Spiteri Audibert

Reference Number: ARTS36-26-9255

Project Title: Reviving French Hidden Baroque Heritage: The Transcription, Editing, and Publication of the D’Audibert de Lussan Sonatas

Amount awarded: €19,863

Reviving Hidden French Baroque Heritage: The Transcription, Editing, and Publication of Robineau’s Violin and Cello Sonatas is a cultural heritage and artistic research project focused on six previously unexplored French Baroque sonatas preserved at the Biblioteca in Valletta. Through archival research, manuscript transcription, critical editing, and historical investigation, the project will produce modern performable editions accompanied by scholarly commentary and an illustrated publication. The project combines heritage preservation with artistic practice by involving emerging musicians in the preparation, study, and performance of the repertoire. Young performers will participate in rehearsals, mentorship, and a public lecture-recital, gaining experience in historically informed performance, artistic research, and cultural heritage dissemination. Through publication, performance, and educational outreach, the project will make this rediscovered repertoire accessible to performers, researchers, students, educators, and wider audiences. In line with Arts Council Malta’s Strategy 2030, it promotes heritage preservation, artistic excellence, public participation, knowledge transfer, and professional development.

 

Beneficiary: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Reference Number: ARTS03-26-9125

Project Title: Stages in Time: A Photographic Archive of Teatru Manoel (1989–2026)

Amount awarded: €35,500

A digitally accessible photographic archive documenting more than three decades of productions at Teatru Manoel, preserving a major visual record of Maltese performing arts through the digitisation, cataloguing and contextualisation of over 100,000 images. Hosted through the University of Malta School of Performing Arts digital archive project, the project will create a sustainable research resource for students, researchers, theatre practitioners and the wider public. The project will culminate in a curated exhibition at Teatru Manoel and support the development of a publication extending the archive’s public accessibility and long-term cultural impact.

 

 

Beneficiary: Gilbert Calleja

Reference Number: ARTS139-26-9499

Project Title: LAMPARA

Amount awarded: €40,000

LAMPARA: Nights at Sea is a cross-disciplinary multimedia storytelling project led by artist-researcher Gilbert Calleja. Through collaborative and participatory artistic practice, the project explores maritime identities and the cultural heritage of Malta’s fishing communities. It is grounded in thirteen years of ethnographic research with the Abela fishing family and the wider Marsaxlokk community, drawing on personal archives, oral histories, audio-visual documentation, and lived experience to examine the connections between cultural heritage, social and economic change, and environmental sustainability.

Developed in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners, LAMPARA will culminate in a multimedia exhibition, a publication, a workshop and seminar programme, and a short poetic documentary film. Through immersive and accessible forms of non-fiction storytelling, the project seeks to foster meaningful engagement with Malta’s coastal communities while advancing innovative approaches to documentary practice, collaborative research, and the preservation and reinterpretation of maritime heritage.

 

 

Beneficiary: Revamp MT

Reference Number: ARTS126-26-9486

Project Title: Beyond the Spotlight: Identity, Belonging and Self-Expression Through Musical Theatre

Amount awarded: €40,000

Beyond the Spotlight: Identity, Belonging and Self-Expression Through Musical Theatre is an arts participation project built around Revamp MT’s production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Inspired by the musical’s themes of identity, belonging, authenticity and self-expression, the project brings together community participants, emerging theatre practitioners and professional artists in a shared creative process. Through a creative participation programme, professional development opportunities and a high-quality musical theatre production, the project seeks to foster artistic expression, support emerging talent and encourage meaningful cultural participation. The project culminates in a production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at Sir Temi Zammit Hall, accompanied by accessibility measures, audience engagement initiatives and the Beyond the Spotlight publication, which will showcase participant contributions and document the wider artistic journey. By connecting participation, practitioner development and professional production, the project aims to contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable performing arts ecosystem in Malta.

 

 

Beneficiary: GMR Concepts Ltd

Reference Number: ARTS44-26-9289

Project Title: PLAYCON 2026

Amount awarded: €40,000

“Symphonic Pixels” is an interdisciplinary cultural project presented as part of PLAYCON 2026. The project presents a live orchestral performance featuring symphonic interpretations of iconic video game music. By bringing together musicians, visual artists, curators and performers, the project creates new pathways for audience engagement. It explores the artistic value of contemporary gaming culture through music, visual storytelling and performance.

 

 

Beneficiary: Malta Chamber of Scientists

Reference Number: ARTS10-26-9147

Project Title: Research, Resist, Reimagine Festival

Amount awarded: €40,000

Research, Resist, Reimagine is a transdisciplinary programme of performances, workshops and participatory artworks that brings together artists, scientists, educators and communities to engage with contemporary social, environmental and cultural themes. Through theatre, music, dance, comedy, digital arts, public installations and heritage-based storytelling, the programme transforms research and lived experience into accessible artistic encounters for diverse audiences. The programme explores biodiversity loss, animal cognition, mental health, gender, cultural heritage, environmental sustainability, creative technology and public engagement with science. Audience participation, co-creation and interdisciplinary collaboration are central to all activities, encouraging dialogue, critical thinking and creative expression. Targeted outreach to schools, neurodiverse participants and underserved communities supports equitable access to culture and meaningful participation. Through partnerships with cultural institutions, researchers, NGOs and educators, the project promotes artistic excellence, experimentation and audience development while strengthening connections across Malta’s cultural and creative sectors. The programme supports inclusion, collaboration, innovation and wider cultural participation.

 

 

Beneficiary: Jean Paul Mifsud

Reference Number: ARTS116-26-9476

Project Title: The Republic of Shadows

Amount awarded: €40,000

The Republic of Shadows is an interdisciplinary immersive installation with live puppet-performance activations, inspired by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and reimagined for the age of screens, algorithms, propaganda, media overload and contested truth. Audiences enter a cave-like environment where chained Watchers face a wall of shadows, while visible puppeteers and a sculptural Fire Machine generate symbolic images of contemporary life: the smartphone, drone, ballot box, oil barrel, microphone, surveillance eye, shopping cart and refugee boat. As the spectacle intensifies, one figure turns away from the wall and reveals the machinery behind what is seen. Premiering as a standalone artistic work within Gozo Puppet Festival 2027, the project combines shadow puppetry, kinetic sculpture, projection, sound, audience movement and reflective participation to ask: What shapes what we believe, and what does freedom require when reality is constantly mediated?

 

 

Beneficiary: Inclusive Limited

Reference Number: ARTS26-26-9216

Project Title: Brokeback Mountain

Amount awarded: €40,000

This project presents a new Maltese-language translation of Brokeback Mountain, based on the stage adaptation by Ashley Robinson and originally inspired by Annie Proulx’s acclaimed short story. Translated by acclaimed Maltese writer Carlos Debattista and directed by Brandon Terribile, the production offers a new interpretation of the work for Maltese audiences.Through an innovative directorial vision, the production places the societies of 1960 and 2026 in continuous dialogue on stage, allowing both to coexist simultaneously. By presenting parallel experiences, emotions, and social expectations side by side, the production invites audiences to question what has changed—and what has remained the same, regarding masculinity, emotional vulnerability, mental health in men, identity, and LGBTQ+ visibility. Brandon Terribile’s interpretation further questions whether, despite significant social progress, societal expectations surrounding masculinity continue to discourage men from expressing vulnerability, seeking support, and speaking openly about their emotional wellbeing.

 

 

Beneficiary: Beacon Media Group Limited

Reference Number: ARTS76-26-9389

Project Title: Kre-attivita’

Amount awarded: €23,339

Each episode explores the journey from idea to execution, revealing the creative process, challenges, impact and legacy of funded artistic projects. Through engaging interviews and audience-friendly discussion, the programme demonstrates how public investment in culture translates into tangible artistic, educational and community outcomes, for a sustainable future for the country. The programme will be recorded in at RTK103 studios and simultaneously filmed for Newsbook TV. Every episode will also generate a written feature article for Newsbook, extending audience reach across multiple platforms.

 

 

Beneficiary: Ghaqda Armar Vittoriosa

Reference Number: ARTS53-26-9316

Project Title: L-Armar: The Living Art of the Birgu Festa

Amount awarded: €40,000

L-Armar is an immersive exhibition and heritage documentation project centred on Birgu’s festa decorative art: the damask drapery, gilded pedestals, carved statuary and street ornamentation known as armar. Dispersed across the town’s churches, parish hall and storage spaces, this extraordinary body of anonymous decorative art has never been documented as a whole. The project mounts parts of the complete collection inside the Birgu parish hall across eight immersive stations. Festa volunteers install the armar as they would for the feast itself, while a commissioned soundscape from field recordings of the actual festa envelops the space. As the collection is assembled, every item across all storage spaces is photographed, scanned, measured and catalogued for the first time. The result: a multi-sensory exhibition letting anyone experience a Maltese festa from the inside, and a lasting, openly accessible digital heritage archive.

 

 

Beneficiary: BORED PEACH CLUB LTD.

Reference Number: ARTS102-26-9455

Project Title: Counterspace

Amount awarded: €37,255

Counterspace is a public art intervention developed by Bored Peach Club that transforms advertising infrastructure across Gozo into a temporary exhibition platform for contemporary visual art, literary interventions, and selected moving-image works. Emerging from the organisation’s experience operating within a small-island cultural context, the project explores how contemporary culture can be encountered beyond traditional institutional settings. Through an open call, eight visual artists and eight writers will be selected to participate in a dispersed exhibition occupying billboards, bus shelters, and selected digital display platforms across Gozo. By reclaiming spaces traditionally associated with commercial messaging, Counterspace introduces contemporary artistic practice directly into everyday public life. The project will also produce a digital archive and a professionally designed exhibition publication documenting the intervention, culminating in a public launch at Bored Peach Club and free distribution to contributors, libraries, educational institutions, and community organisations.

 

 

Beneficiary: Nicole Zammit

Reference Number: ARTS25-26-9215

Project Title: Fragments of Us

Amount awarded: €28,265

Fragments of Us is an interdisciplinary performance exploring the concept of human and emotional burden, the weight of trauma, guilt, shame, and stress that people carry throughout their lives, often in silence. Through the integration of contemporary dance and aerial silks as a unified movement language, the work gives physical form to the internal and invisible experiences that shape who we are and how we move through the world. Developed through interviews with psychotherapists and dance therapists, and through workshops with dancers and the community, the piece is rooted in genuine human experience which comes from real lives, real stories, and real weight. Presented in a theatre setting, this work creates a shared space where the audience can sit with their own experiences and feel that support is available and they are not alone to carry their burden.

 

 

Beneficiary: Fużjett

Reference Number: ARTS84-26-9421

Project Title: ĠaMaR; l-1 Vol.

Amount awarded: €31,877

ĠaMaR; l-1 Vol. is the first release in ĠaMaR (Repertorju ta’ Ġazz bil-Malti), an initiative dedicated to developing and documenting a repertoire of jazz in the Maltese language. The album combines Maltese adaptations of internationally recognized jazz songs with newly arranged works by Maltese jazz composers, with particular emphasis on the legacy of Lee “Budella” Spiteri. Through archival research, musical interpretation, lyrical adaptation, and collaborative arrangement, the project seeks to create a dialogue between international jazz traditions and Malta’s musical heritage. Led by Fużjett (Stefan Borg & Dylan Farrugia) in collaboration with a collective of jazz musicians under the artistic direction of Ġuże Camilleri, the project will culminate in a professionally recorded album released digitally and on vinyl, accompanied by a research booklet and launched through a public event. ĠaMaR; l-1 Vol. aims to preserve, promote, and reimagine Maltese jazz heritage for contemporary audiences.

 

 

Beneficiary: Karl Fiorini

Reference Number: ARTS20-26-9185

Project Title: Beyond the Shoreline: Celebrating 175 Years of the Malta Society of Arts

Amount awarded: €40,000

A series of nine concerts celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Malta Society of Arts through artistic partnerships between Maltese and international musicians. Taking place throughout 2027 at Palazzo de La Salle, the programme will pair nine Maltese musicians with nine international soloists in performances featuring newly commissioned works by Maltese and European composers alongside chamber and contemporary repertoire shaped around artistic exchange and cross-cultural dialogue. The project aims to create lasting creative relationships between Maltese musicians and European counterparts while encouraging artistic exploration, shared experiences, and the development of new repertoire. Through concerts, artist talks, and public engagement activities, the series intends to expand Malta’s cultural connections beyond its shores while encouraging wider public engagement with contemporary music and intercultural artistic exchange.

 

 

Beneficiary: Kristian Spiteri

Reference Number: ARTS43-26-9287

Project Title: Ħudni Miegħek

Amount awarded: €40,000

Ħudni Miegħek is a large-scale collaborative Maltese-language songwriting project conceived and composed by Kris Spiteri, bringing together twenty-three singers and performers across twenty-two original songs. Through five thematic pillars—cultural heritage, mental wellbeing, love and grief, poetic expression, and civic consciousness—the project explores a wide range of human experiences rooted in contemporary Maltese life. Produced by Kris Spiteri and Peter Borg and recorded at Railway Studios, the project brings together singers, musicians, writers and visual artists in a collaborative creative process. Rather than being written for specific performers, the songs are developed independently before being matched with the artists whose voices and personalities best serve the material. The completed work will be released digitally, creating a substantial new body of original Maltese-language repertoire while celebrating collaboration, contemporary songwriting and the richness of Maltese cultural expression.

 

 

Beneficiary: AISO Academy Limited

Reference Number: ARTS103-26-9458

Project Title: AISO Academy : NEXT WAVE MALTA

Amount awarded: €40,000

NEXT WAVE MALTA is a 9-month tailored artist development and cultural participation programme delivered by AISO Academy in Malta. The project supports up to 12 emerging and underrepresented artists through personalised mentorship, professional development, artistic creation, and public engagement activities. Participants are selected through portfolio submissions and interviews before receiving individual development pathways based on their artistic goals, strengths, and professional needs. Pathways may include artistic mentorship, music production, performance development, artist identity, branding, career sustainability, and audience engagement. The programme combines one-to-one mentoring, workshops, technical labs, Open Studio events, community outreach activities, and a final public showcase festival. Delivered primarily from AISO Academy premises, the project strengthens Malta’s cultural ecosystem by supporting sustainable artistic careers, increasing cultural participation, and creating meaningful connections between artists, audiences, and communities while promoting accessibility, inclusion, and artistic excellence.

 

 

Beneficiary: Marie Claire Gatt

Reference Number: ARTS13-26-9150

Project Title: Storm Petrelle – Il-Ħurrieq

Amount awarded: €27,278

‘Il-Ħurrieq’ huwa l-proġett tal-album tat-tnedija ta’ Storm Petrelle, proġett mużikali tal-kantawtriċi Marie Claire Gatt (vuċi, kitarra), bil-parteċipazzjoni ta’ Ġużè Camilleri (tnabar) u Noah Fabri (baxx, pjanu). Lil hinn mill-ġabra ta’ kanzunetti, ‘Il-Ħurrieq’ huwa maħsub li jkun esplorazzjoni personali tal-kunċett tal-identità fid-diversità tagħha, għaldaqstant espressa f’diversi forom ta’ midja. Dan il-fond ser idaħħal lil Storm Petrelle ġewwa l-istudjo sabiex jirrekordjaw 10 kanzunetti li jippreżentaw riflessjonijiet intimi dwar imħabbiet u relazzjonijiet ma’ persuni u l-ambjent, b’siltiet miktubin bil-Malti kif ukoll bl-Ingliż. Il-produzzjoni tal-album ser tkun akkompanjata mill-aspett tal-arti viżwali, f’forom fotografiċi, performattivi, u vidjografiċi/ċinematografiċi, li jinkludu film narrativ li jinkorpora tliet music videos ta’ kanzunetti mill-album. Dawn ser ikunu qed jgħidu storja parallela ta’ natura reżiljenti u natura mhedda fil-pajjiz urbanizzat Mediterranju tagħna, u l-interdipendenzi ekoloġiċi tal-bniedem. L-istorja tingħadd mill-għajn tal-kantawtriċi, li hija wkoll ornitologa u attivista ambjentali, f’kollaborazzjoni ma’ artisti oħrajn.

 

 

Beneficiary: Joy Gospel Singers

Reference Number: ARTS09-26-9144

Project Title: JGS 25th Anniversary Gospel Music Concert

This community-centred musical project unfolds in two phases. The first consists of a series of mini-concerts /workshops held across several Maltese parishes, bringing choral music directly into local communities and opening the experience of singing to participants of all ages and backgrounds. This includes a dedicated event at SVDP, bringing live music and joy to its elderly residents. Each community event doubles as a talent platform, identifying performers who will be invited to join the choir on stage at the grand finale.

The second phase is a unique celebratory anniversary concert at a concert hall, featuring traditional and newly commissioned music and marking 25 years of community music-making. Talent from the visited communities will perform alongside the choir in selected pieces, creating a powerful inter-generational, cross-community performance. The project aligns with Strategy 2030 by democratising access to the performing arts, nurturing emerging local talent, and fostering community well-being through music.