Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government Owen Bonnici attended for the celebration of the 5th anniversary since the establishing of Festivals Malta, and launched the agency’s Cultural Calendar for 2023.
Minister Bonnici underlined the success of Festivals Malta which is responsible for 11 festivals and 5 national events and organises over 260 events throughout the year.
“Throughout the years, Festivals Malta earned the respect of thousands of local and international artists and has become a household name for high-calibre festivals and events in Malta. We will continue to invest in our culture; we will also continue to support the creative and cultural sectors where more artists are being given the opportunity to enhance their talents,” stated Minister Bonnici.
Festivals Malta Chairman Aaron Zahra stated; “Celebrating the Past, Creating the Future is the theme we chose to commemorate the Agency’s fifth anniversary. Five years that were not always plain sailing. The pandemic threw a lot of hurdles our way, and we could not do what we were set up for and we could not produce events for obvious reasons. However, we still felt the need to be of service to the people and our amazing team of hard-working people kept coming up with innovative ideas that kept us going. Today, we celebrate our past with great pride, and we look forward to the future that we will create together with keen optimism.”
Festivals Malta Chief Executive Officer Annabelle Stivala spoke of the agency’s numerous achievements throughout the year. She also highlighted that following last year’s strategy launch, Festivals Malta is currently focusing on three main goals, namely sustainability, audience development, and collaboration.
“These five years have taken us on an extraordinary journey where we have established ourselves as market leaders. Festivals Malta has shown what it is made of and what the agency can achieve. We have a very clear picture of where we would like to be in five years’ time, and we have already started working on achieving the goals we set out in our strategy last year. In light of the current socio-economic climate, we feel that sustainability, audience development, and collaboration are our key areas of focus at the moment,” said Ms Stivala.
In 2023, Festivals Malta will start off its calendar of events with the Valletta Baroque Festival in January, Carnival in February, Mużika Mużika in March, Ritmu and The Malta International Arts Festival in June, The Malta Jazz Festival and Dance Festival Malta in July, Notte Bianca in October, The Three Palaces Festival and a new festival The Early Opera and Music Festival in November. Also under Festivals Malta’s remit are five national events and Rock ‘N Malta, a fund through which the agency supports the rock community in Malta.
For more information about Festivals Malta’s upcoming events, visit www.festivals.mt.