Through this initiative, Arts Council Malta aims to create partnerships with a number of voluntary organisations in Malta focusing on—and active in—the cultural and creative sectors. The organisations will collaborate with Arts Council Malta to fulfil its vision, “we want the arts to be at the heart of Malta’s future” and to achieve its mission, “driven by our commitment to cultural rights, we invest in the arts to strengthen Malta’s creative and cultural ecology”.

The programme is intended to provide stable support for organisations to plan ahead, grow, develop, and deliver ACM’s strategic goals primarily addressing creative professionals and communities, particularly to:

1. Invest in and foster diverse artistic and cultural expression;
2. Support and promote the conditions in which Malta’s cultural and creative sectors can flourish;
3. Advocate and provide for community-led opportunities to engage in arts and culture;
4. Strengthen Malta’s international cultural relations to continue developing international artistic exchanges and collaborations;
5. Nurture cross-sectoral collaborations that contribute to Malta’s sustainable development;
6. Enable cultural partners, including Public Cultural Organisations, to build and strengthen organisational capacity.

The Programme is composed of two strands:

Strand 1 ‘Investing in Organisational Development’ that will address the professional development of new skills for cultural professionals and enhance conditions for such organisations to excel through sustainable models of management (kindly refer to the guidelines and regulations for Strand 1). 

Strand 2 ‘Investing in Regular Festivals, Programmes, and Events’ that will address artists’ development and the quality of artistic work (kindly refer to the guidelines and regulations for Strand 2). 

Who can apply?

The Investment in Cultural Organisations - Malta is open for Voluntary Organisations enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations and that have a registered address in Malta.

Deadline

The deadline to apply is Tuesday 18th October 2022 at noon. Late application cannot be accepted.

Guidelines

Click here to download guidelines for Strand 1 and click here to download application form template Strand 1. 

Click here to download guidelines for Strand 2 and click here to download application form template Strand 2.

Click here to download the modified guidelines for Strand 2 as applicable from the 18th November 2022.

Applicants are required to register a new profile as from January 2021. 

Apply here

Results 

Strand 2

Application Deadline: 18th October 2022

Ranking Order

Applicant: Opening Doors Association

Reference number: ICOM11-22-2178

Project Title: Opening Doors Association: Elevating, Evolving, Empowering

Amount awarded: €32,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

Opening Doors Association is an artistic NGO that offers creative sessions in dance, theatre and music for adults with intellectual disabilities. Opening Doors’ proposed programme aims at providing equal access to artistic development, performance opportunities and creative experiences for its members, placing inclusivity at the centre and at the heart of what it does. The organisation is committed to nurturing the talents of its performers, supporting members to thrive in their art form and removing barriers to the performing arts. The support offered by Art Council Malta will enable Opening Doors to implement its vision, that of creating pathways to immersive and meaningful experiences through art that nourishes the talents in members, whilst transforming audience’s perception of difference through a better representation of diversity. The three-year artistic proposal will enable it to have a longer-term commitment with members, allow deeper creative processes and further develop artistic works with potential collaborators.

Applicant: Inizjamed

Reference number: ICOM09-22-2166

Project Title: Il-Festival Mediterranju tal-Letteratura ta’ Malta

Amount awarded: €17,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

The Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival and translation workshop organised by Inizjamed aim to look back on the organisation’s achievements whilst enhancing its artistic programme for the future. It is a fluid space that consolidates tradition whilst looking at the latest advances in the field of literature and arts in general to open up to new possibilities. This symbiosis is coloured by the use of diverse languages, discourses and performances from different parts of the world. 


Applicant:
 Electronic Music Malta

Reference number: ICOM16-22-2209

Project Title: Circuits Programme 2023-2025

Amount awarded: €12,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

‘Circuits’ will evolve into a fully-fledged yearly programme of events in which Electronic Music Malta (EMM) will seek to organise more events, but this time also branching out into innovative new performance concepts. On one hand, it will feature a new multi-disciplinary improvisation concert in which electronic music artists will be improvising a performance along artists from other disciplines – such performances can also include the participation of the audience. Another new concept which will be introduced will be the humans+=machines in which humans and machines interact together in a performance; the part involving the machines can be artificial intelligence software or modular synthesizers programmed to self-generate melodies and sounds. This project will continue to feature international innovative electronic music artists or instrument builders to perform in Malta. This, together with a programme of documentary screenings, DIY building workshops, educational talks and expositions make the forthcoming programme more exciting than ever.


Applicant:
 Medina Foundation for Music

Reference number: ICOM17-22-2228

Project Title: Contrasting Concepts

Amount awarded: €25,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

This project’ is a programme of three events showing the diversity and versatility of the orchestra in portraying three completely different music genres. ‘Għalik’ will be revolutionary experience featuring an innovative and unique way to present a musical drama including the participation of 200 artists including singers, actors, dancers and people with special needs. ‘ROCK IT X-perience’ is an imaginative fusion of classical masterpieces with rock, created purposely to pay tribute to the world’s most popular classical tunes, celebrating over 200 years of timeless music, whilst giving them a rather more contemporary sound. ‘Dancing with Scrooge’ is a dance spectacular in two acts interspersed with visual effects, illusions, orchestral music, SATB choir and dance.


Applicant:
 Kinemastik

Reference number: ICOM13-22-2203

Project Title: Kinemastik International Short Film Festival

Amount awarded: €15,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

The Kinemastik International Short Film Festival takes place annually over the final weekend in July and attracts a diverse audience over two nights, with children's films showing on the final night (Little Rock People children’s film festival.) Kinemastik has cultivated a strong audience relationship, with more than 1,000 people attending the festival each year. Filmmakers and producers as well as an international jury will be present at the event. The festival weekend will continue to bring resident and international musicians and live performances to the audience. The venue is the Msida Bastion Historic Garden which is maintained by Din L-Art Ħelwa.


Applicant:
L-Għanja tal-Poplu

Reference number: ICOM02-22-2001

Project Title: L-Għanja tal-Poplu – Festival tal-Kanzunetta Maltija

Amount Awarded: €23,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

‘L-Għanja tal-Poplu - Festival tal-Kanzunetta Maltija’ is organised annually on a national basis. The festival involves a year-long artistic process – starting from reaching out to potential artists, song selection, live auditions of songs that culminate during the final evening where songs are presented at Pjazza Teatru Rjal accompanied by the Malta Concert Orchestra. The event is broadcast live on Television Malta (TVM). The mission of the organisation is to encourage and mentor song writers and composers to create quality songs in the Maltese language, whilst awarding and promoting songs in Maltese to generate appreciation among the Maltese population.


Applicant:
Għaqda Nazzjonali Każini tal-Banda

Reference number: ICOM08-22-2148

Project Title: Maltese Band Music Festival

Amount Awarded: €17,700 per year for 3 consecutive years

Music composed for wind bands by Maltese composers has been the Cinderella of the local artistic sector, shunned also by the local wind bands in favour of contemporary foreign works. The initiative involves the organisation of a yearly festival where local wind bands will perform works, composed specifically for wind bands by Maltese composers. The objective of this festival is to act as a showcase for such works. These musical performances will be recorded, and each piece will be uploaded on a freeware digital platform, thus creating the first digital archive of Maltese works for wind-bands.


Applicant:
Għaqda Mużikali San Ġużepp Ħal Għaxaq

Reference number: ICOM12-22-2197

Project Title: Summer Lust Music festival

Amount Awarded: €20,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

Summer Lust Music Festival is widely considered as the music event that opens the summer season in Malta. It has been organized for the past 23 years by Saint Joseph Band Club of Għaxaq and has featured top local artists together with international artists. The organisation also tried to give space to upcoming talent whereby it offered them a platform to start their careers. From a logistics point of view, apart from the collaborators that are needed to organise such an event, all the work is carried out by volunteers who are also given the opportunity to be exposed to such an event.


Applicant:
Għaqda tal-Mużika San Gejtanu - Ħamrun

Reference number: ICOM04-22-2016

Project Title: Insaħħu l-kultura bandistika, l-ilsien Malti u l-irwol tal-każini f’Malta u Għawdex

Amount Awarded: €25,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

The project is a celebration of what defines us as Maltese and of what defines our culture and lifestyle. The organisers believe that the best expression to define our identity is music & celebration! The Maltese are an easy-going nation that loves to have fun. The organisation will not forget its own community and what it truly represents, especially in these challenging times that Ħamrun is facing particularly because of an ageing population. The beneficiaries would love to go a step-further and export the best they can offer to others as well.

 

Strand 1

Application Deadline: 18th October 2022

Ranking Order

Applicant: Teatru Salesjan

Reference number: ICOM07-22-2170

Project Title: Capacity Building – Building on the Past whilst looking ahead. The re-opening of Teatru Salesjan

Amount awarded: €23,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

The Investment in Cultural Organisations funding provides the imperative backbone to Teatru Salesjan, that of a full-time member of staff for the next 3 years, who can help implement the theatre’s artistic programme as well as oversee its educational and community strands. Hit hard by Covid, this theatre is refocusing its energy to truly serve the public and rekindle the relationship between audience and creatives. A community of directors, tutors, creative practitioners, volunteers, interns and students come together in this theatre’s rich tapestry of experiences and opportunities.

 

Applicant: Magna Żmien Foundation

Reference number: ICOM05-22-2104

Project Title: Magna Żmien

Amount awarded: €20,800 per year for 3 consecutive years

Since 2018, Magna Żmien has digitised over 13,000 images, 450 films and videos, and 250 audio recordings from a range of consumer audiovisual formats shared with the foundation by over 100 members of the public. These unique items document lived experiences in Malta and across the diaspora from very personal perspectives, capturing family occasions, conversations, private celebrations, music, sporting events, political rallies and national events in unprecedented detail. Magna Żmien has collected, researched, and shared this material with artists and researchers for creative reapplication and interpretation. Now, Magna Żmien is realigning its activities more as a community archive, refocusing attention inward, to develop its collections through volunteer participation, collaboration with local NGOs and community groups, more in-depth research, thus enabling greater creative reapplication of audiovisual archival content to the broader creative community in Malta and abroad.

 

Applicant: Soċjetà Mużikali Beland

Reference number: ICOM09-22-2208

Project Title: Beland Band Club – Future Proofing

Amount awarded: €23,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

Beland is engaging in a future proofing exercise. The organisation will strengthen its management structures by engaging the services of professionals to provide direct assistance to its management team. This will alleviate stress from its volunteers and enable it to focus more on its artistic work. The organisation will provide regular training to its volunteers in subjects related to the management of a cultural organisation. It will also ensure that its current management team is kept up to scratch with the current standards, whilst giving it the confidence that younger volunteers within the team are well trained and ready to take over the leadership of the organisation in the near future. It will also provide musical training by means of master classes for its musicians. In this way, the organisation aims to continue to improve the quality of its band and to incentivise musicians to keep studying and make good use of their talents.

 

Applicant: Moveo Dance Foundation

Reference number: ICOM10-22-2210

Project Title: Moveo – Aiding Sustainability

Amount awarded: €20,800 per year for 3 consecutive years

Moveo would like to consolidate its position as one of Malta’s leading contemporary performance companies, whilst ensuring that its second strand (Education and Outreach) is given the same importance and focus. The organisation believes in investing in tomorrow’s generation, as the sustainability of the arts and the world is in its hands, so education through art must start now. This financial support will aid the sustainability of the Foundation given that it will cater for the engagement of an Outreach and Education officer and a small part of the ongoing employees’ salaries and fixed costs. Such aid will allow the organisation’s employees to continue producing contemporary work of the highest artistic quality keeping in mind the greater community.

 

Applicant: Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA)

Reference number: ICOM11-22-2213

Project Title: Capacity building to improve sectoral representation

Amount awarded: €23,000 per year for 3 consecutive years

The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association will develop a three-year programme to build the capacity of the organisation to deliver professional support to its members and address its mission to improve, promote and protect the status of the artist and the cultural professional. The project will consist of several initiatives ranging from establishing a MEIA minimum payment schedule to a MEIA industry expo, from workshops to meetups for young creatives and export opportunities in international industry markets.

 

Applicant: Għaqda Mużikali Immakulata Kunċizzjoni

Reference number: ICOM04-22-2038

Project Title: Reboot – Post Covid – Team Building Event for Members

Amount Awarded: €2,700 per year for 3 consecutive years

The Committee would like to organize a team building event followed by a social gathering function to create stronger bonds between the members through different kinds of activities and events, with the final objective of making a cohesive team out of a group of people. The band club believes that its members are its greatest asset, and that focusing on team building will enable its members to work better together. The project will consist of activities that add value and that have a purpose, always aimed at motivating members and investing in the team. The band club is of the opinion that happy members will make a better dynamic, enthusiastic and healthy organisation, ready to face any future challenges.