Funded projects for 2017
Project Support Grant
Applicant: Opening Doors Association – Joanne Butterworth
Reference number: PSG 18-17-FN 1787
Project Title: The Staging of ‘Aħdar id-Deżert’
Amount awarded: €14,000
Through this project, Opening Doors would like to bring together and build on the performances that emerged in May and December 2016 through collaboration with established artists. Its aim is also that of enabling the performers to assimilate and take ownership of the work being presented to a deeper level thus raising the performance’s quality of work by allowing more time for devising, as well as character and narrative development. Also a first for Opening Doors, the staging of this production takes place on a shared stage involving a trio of established companies and bands, made up of professional musicians and dancers.
Applicant: Christopher Gatt
Reference number: PSG 39-17-FN 1980
Project Title: International Outreach Program for the Genre of Contemporary Pop Music sung in the Maltese Language
Amount awarded: €12,000
The main aim of The Travellers’ project will be the production of contemporary and high-quality music in the Maltese language and also to making its music reach a wider audience both on a national and international level. The project focuses on professional song-writing and production as well as various collaborations followed by high-quality marketing campaigns.
Applicant: Jacob Piccinino
Reference Number: PSG 27-17-FN 1968
Project Title: Il-Manekkini
Amount awarded: €17,000
This project aims to bring to life one of the most prominent gardens in the capital city, and transform it into an immersive experience for the participating public. The notion of mutual participation between spectator and actor has always been a focal trajectory in Jacob’s work and through this project, he intends to create a work that is not only dependent on the former’s presence but also on their active involvement. Il-Manekkini invites the public to engage with the actors from the moment it sets foot into the village. For instance, the movement of the musicians’ hands are controlled by the audience’s actions, the dancers’ progression is also reliant on the public’s choice and the costumes of the last show are painted and donned on the actors by the spectators themselves. All these concrete activities serve as examples of how the actor-spectator relationship is envisioned - the target is to collaborate with different artists in order to enhance and better the possibilities of such a reciprocal rapport.
Applicant: Irene Biolchini
Reference Number: PSG 38-17-FN 1979
Project Title: Anamnesis - Art, Memory and Identity in Poland and Malta between 1989 and 2016
Amount awarded: €12,000
This is an exhibition featuring Malta and Poland - two countries that are very different in terms of size, but that have more than one similarity. This project, focusing on the themes of memory and artistic identity, will showcase paintings, sculptures, installations and videos by three generations of Maltese and Polish artists. An exhibition of a series of collateral events will also be organised, such as artist talks and projections of movies.
Applicant: Andrew Schembri
Reference number: PSG 34-17-FN 1975
Working Title: Light Pushes Stuff
Amount awarded: €15,000
This is a collaboration between Late Interactive, Science in the City Festival and quantum physics expert Dr André Xuereb. The project seeks to explore the scientific concept of radiation pressure, and express it through an interactive light and kinetic installation. The installation will allow up to 20 participants at a time to collaborate and create multiple varieties of patterns. This project is part-funded by HOT (Hybrid Optomechanical Technologies), a scientific project funded by the European Commission.
Applicant: Dario Vella Catalano
Reference number: PSG 67-17-3056
Project Title: Tuatara
Amount Awarded: €10 000
Through this project, ManaTapu will be launching their new album “Tuatara”. This will consist of 14 songs, 4 of which feature Maltese lyrics together with two music videos. Aiming to broaden their audience on an international scale, Manatapu intend to strengthen their relationship across new European markets through this project.
Applicant : Adrian Buckle
Organisation: Unifaun Theatre Production
Reference number: PSG 44-17-3030
Project Title: Tebut Isfar
Amount Awarded: €10 000
Clare Azzopardi’s theatrical work “Tebut Isfar” will be produced by Unifaun Theatre Production and later published by Merlin Publishers. The narrative starts off from a garage inspired by an actual garage situated in West Street Valletta that produces coffins. The drama follows the family which owns the coffin production business and the political events regarding the construction and selling of buildings found in Valletta.
Applicant : Kenneth Calleja
Reference number : PSG 60-17-3049
Project Title : Living in a song
Amount Awarded : €10 000
“Living in a song” features the song writing and production of a Rock Solo EP which will showcase four original compositions. A music video will be created to complement one of the tracks. The aim of this project is to experiment and compose rock music whilst incorporating it with different song types and sounds within the rock genre.
Applicant: Dorian Mallia
Organisation: Moveo Dance Company
Reference number: PSG 68-17-3057
Project Title: Pandora’s Box
Amount Awarded: €6 000
For this project, Moveo has teamed up with Interactive Architecture Lab Malta to develop an innovative end product. Where Moveo is responsible to develop the narrative as well as the overall performance and choreography, Interactive Architecture Lab Malta will be designing and building the kinetic props with which the dancers will interact with during the performance. Moveo will be also collaborating with choreographer Erik Kaiel from Austria. The box will be left as an interactive installation to be used by the audience members. This project will also be part of the Żigużajg Festival.
Applicant: Julian Mallia
Project Title: Julinu’s Radioactive Ravioli
Reference number: PSG 81-17-3070
Amount Awarded: €11 000
“Julinu’s Radioactive Ravioli” is a debut, solo, visual art exhibition. Designed to challenge and entertain the public audience, the project’s aim is to provide a platform where the artist can communicate his artistic statement to a wider audience. The exhibition will primary consist of around 15 to 20 oil paintings that make use of graphic wit accompanied by a quirky public sculpture. Three interdisciplinary workshops will also take place in which they will be conducted by a local linguist who will delve into the relationship between Visual and Verbal Puns. The whole process will be documented in a short format. Julian Mallia and his team will consist of a Curator, Project Manager, Videographer, Linguist and Sculptor.
Applicant : Niki Young
Reference number : PSG 42-17-3027
Project Title : (met)afourisms
Amount Awarded : €13 000
“(met)afourisms” creates a dynamic exchange between four artists (Klitsa Antoniou, Trevor Borg, Vince Briffa and Silvia Camporesi) and their own curator (Irene Biolchini, Marinella Paderni, Niki Young and Clive Zammit). Every artist shall respond by means of an artwork/s to four aphoristic texts written by Niki Young, the main curator. The written texts correspond to the artworks produced. A publication that is related to the project will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition to be held at Spazju Kreattiv.
Applicant: Kane Cali
Reference number : PSG 58-17-3047
Project Title : HUMAN_CONSTRUCT
Amount Awarded : €10 000
A research project and exhibition which explores the notion of identity. The work engages the audience to reflect on our identity as social creatures. The aim of this project is that along with Esplora, students will be able to experience art along with science. Other collaborators include the Malta Arts Fund, Fab Lab, Kane Cali Studio, MCAST and Blitz.
Applicant: Zvezdan Reljić
Reference number: PSG 97-17-3172
Project Title: WIĊĊNA / OUR FACE
Amount Awarded: €19,000
WIĊĊNA / OUR FACE is a collective compendium of lith printed photographic portraits celebrating the variety of faces that inhabit or pass through the Maltese islands. The book will feature around 200 photographic portraits accompanied by a short caption taken from the individuals' answer to the often complicated question "Where are you from?". Furthermore, it will include aesthetical, anthropological and literary essays on aspects of physiognomy, identity and photography, written in Arabic (Walid Nabhan), English (Alexandra Pace), French (Philippe Parizot), Italian (Virginia Monteforte), Maltese (Leanne Ellul), and Spanish (Antoine Cassar).
Applicant: Alexandra Alden
Reference number: PSG 95-17-3170
Project Title: Wild Honey & Thyme' first full-length album by Alexandra Alden VINYL Printing and Release Performance in Malta
Amount Awarded: €5,253.60
Together with a team of experts from the Netherlands the artist will complete and release his first full-length album 'Wild Honey & Thyme’. The release will include an official launch in Malta with the album being printed on VINYL. The title track and the lyrical content of the rest of the album features notions of a bittersweet longing for pristine lands and the Maltese countryside - ultimately a nearly indescribable sense of homesickness, but also hope.
Applicant: Julian Vassallo
Reference number: PSG 118-17-3193
Project Title: Uncommon Spaces
Amount Awarded: €7,000
This project acts as a documentation and exploration of  the rapid transformation undergone by Malta’s urban and natural landscape. This will culminate into a photographic exhibition and photography book, showing strong black and white imagery that depicts Malta on different scales. This photographic study acts as an attempt to ground Malta, and its society’s, identity.
Applicant: Jess Rymer
Reference number: PSG 112-17-3187
Project Title: Malta Sound Women Network hit Action Planet
Amount Awarded: €4,500
The Malta Sound Women Network is a new organisation, affiliated with the Yorkshire Sound Women Network (UK). The education initiative offers free workshops exclusively to teenage girls and women (age 12+) of any level interested in sound. Workshops feature local and foreign female electronic artists and material created in the winter workshops will be featured in the Action Planet exhibition alongside work of professional female artists. Action Planet helps raise awareness about environmental issues affecting sustainability both in Malta and the world. The end result will be an exhibition at St James Cavalier in Valletta from February 16th - March 18th 2018, forming part of the Spazju Kreattiv seasonal programme during the V18 celebrations.
Applicant: James Spiteri (Teatru Salesjan)
Reference number:PSG 103-17-3178
Project Title: Macbeth performed by The Teatru Salesjan Young People's Shakespeare Company, Roaring Voices
Amount Awarded: €10,000
Teatru Salesjan will transform itself into a candle-lit Jacobean theatre for The Roaring Voices production of Macbeth. Teatru Salesjan is poised to produce fast-paced accessible Shakespeare and lift the words off of the page, setting them to a Daft Punk soundtrack. The project involves months of preparatory training for the young people in Shakespeare’s verse and Early Modern speech; training them in rhythm, cadence, caesura so that they instinctively come to know how to speak the words in performance. The performance will also travel to schools across Malta, following the National Curriculum. The performance will be part of a full educational day with talks and workshops for the young people given in large part BY the young people of the cast. The day will conclude with the performance itself and each tutor and student will be sent home with a full-colour education pack written by the academics and practitioners at Teatru Salesjan packed with follow-up ideas for the classroom and the drama-studio at school.
Applicant: Adrian Buckle (Unifaun Theatre Productions)
Reference number:PSG 88-17-3135
Project Title:The Acrobat
Amount Awarded: €20,000
THE ACROBAT is a play adapted from a novel by the same title, written by Agnes Moon. The adaptation is by Adrian Buckle. It is a Gay Romantic Comedy about vampires. A sort of Buffy/Oliver Twist/Twilight mash up that should appeal to the gay community and young people alike because of its Fantasy themes. It is a rags to riches play with positive LGBTIQ role models and with a centre arguing that everyone is entitled to Love and Happiness. The production will also kick off a collaboration between Adrian Buckle and Italian author Agnes Moon, with the intention of making the most of this partnership both locally and abroad.
Applicant: Giulia Privitelli
Reference number:PSG 105-17-3180
Project Title:Walking in Circles
Amount Awarded: €4,2000
Walking in Circles is a creative as much as it is a personal journey of discovery. The project will essentially build on a collection of crude poems written daily over the past year in order to contest the idea, or excuse rather, of the “muse” – to prove that each passing day holds unique insight into the manner in which we view and navigate through the world, through our daily encounters and struggles to understand our place in the world. The idea is to take this journey a step further – to confront a selected 52 poems with the illustrated image so as to add yet another interpretative layer as the result of the illustrator’s interpretation of the poems, and then proceed onwards to present this artistic project in the form of a literary-visual publication.
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