Owen Bonnici, Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, inaugurated a striking exhibition of paintings by renowned artist Mark Mallia and organised by Caffe Cordina on Friday 30 June. The event successfully raised funds for ALS Malta, which will go towards finishing the ALS Community Home that is currently in development.
The exhibition was organised as part of Caffe Cordina’s active and on-going Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. In the past five years, ithas also raised €35,000 for Puttinu Cares and other causes through corporate donations, as well as donations made by its team members.
“We became aware of the work that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis sufferer and ALS Malta founder Bjorn Formosa has been doing, and were keen to lend our support,” says Caffe Cordina CEO Cilio Bugeja. “Bjorn is working so hard to help reduce the suffering of other ALS sufferers and to give them a better life, and we want to help him achieve that. His dream for the completion of this community home is now our dream.
“Thus, we proudly worked on creating an event that brought art and philanthropic pursuits to Pjazza Regina. It was a successful collaboration between several of our partners – whoprovided everything from the flowers to the lighting –andour own team, which prepared all the refreshments for our guests. The result was a beautiful exhibition held in this stunning square and against the backdrop of the Bibliotheca. It was exactly what we hoped for,” Mr Bugeja added.
Artist Mark Mallia, who created 21 paintings specifically for the exhibition, remarked that this was a first for Malta. “There has never been an artistic exhibition of this kind in this pjazza before, so this was a special occasion for many reasons,” he said. “Not least because we have managed to raise more much-needed funds for ALS.”
The paintings sold were all in Mallia’s trademark styles – including nine ‘psychological’ paintings that representeda very specific period of the artist’s life, as well as a selection of gothic and abstract pieces. This is not the first time that Mr Mallia has worked with Mr Formosa to raise funds for ALS – already previous exhibitions and artwork sales have generated substantial sums for this cause. “It’s been a very successful collaboration and one I am keen to continue,” Mr Mallia said.
Echoing those sentiments, Mr Formosa said that he was very pleased with the way the business and artistic communities had donated time and money to helping forward his dream for the ALS Community Home. “We have made great progress,” he says. “We have now identified a location for the home, and are looking forward to conclude talks with the Government. We hope that, once open, the home will be able to accommodate 25 people living with severe neurological conditions including ALS and multiple sclerosis. I have no doubt that it will have a very positive impact on their lives,” he said.
This exhibition is open to the public on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd July.
To support ALS Malta, please visit http://alsmalta.org/