The Magna Żmien Foundation, a grassroots movement established in 2017 dedicated to preserving and actively using Malta's audiovisual heritage, is proud to announce an exciting new collaboration with the Maltese-Canadian museum in Toronto happening between 16-24 November. This initiative, titled Kartolini mill-Kanada: Digitising Maltese diaspora memories, will play a pivotal role in ensuring that the history and memories of the Maltese diaspora in Canada are preserved and accessible to researchers, artists and future generations.

This important partnership seeks to establish a community archive at the Maltese-Canadian museum, empowering Maltese communities and researchers to engage with their heritage. By helping to set up the necessary infrastructure and sharing expertise in running such a project, the programme of Kartolini Mill-Kanada aims to encourage Maltese-Canadians to source and digitise their own collections and contribute to an ever-growing archive that captures the collective memory of Maltese migration.

When asked about the programme, Magna Żmien's artistic director and co-founder stated that: "This is a unique opportunity to encounter and collaborate with the Maltese diaspora in Toronto. Magna Żmien is happy to provide its expertise in setting up a digital archive for the ongoing preservation and access of Maltese memories."

Programme overview: Public engagements

Taking place over two weekends, the project will introduce Magna Żmien's archival collections, stories and methods to the volunteers of the Maltese-Canadian Museum and to the Maltese-Canadian Community in Toronto. The aim of these preliminary meetings is to establish contact with the community, develop and advocate for a community spirit around archiving family collections, encouraging artists and creatives to develop projects with the material and establishing the needs of the museum to preserve its audiovisual collections in the long term.

A workshop with Maltese-Canadian artist and educator Sarah Meli, and discussions with Shawn Micallef and Lou Fenech about celebrated Maltese-Canadians Johnny Catania and Alfred Fenech, will explore archival materials through hands-on activities and presentations, giving space for Maltese-Canadians to share their memories and stories with each other.

As part of its long-term goals, this partnership will support the Maltese-Canadian museum to develop its own digitisation hub, capable of independently preserving and cataloguing audio-visual collections. The vision is to create a sustainable, community-driven archive that not only preserves the past but also inspires future creative and research projects. At the end of the two-week visit a clear path forward will have been forged, establishing the Maltese-Canadian museum as a host for community archiving activities.

This collaboration marks a significant step towards the preservation of Maltese migrant history. Together, Magna Żmien and the Maltese-Canadian museum are ensuring that these important narratives are not lost to time, but instead cherished, shared and celebrated by future generations on both sides of the Atlantic.

This project is in collaboration with the Maltese-Canadian museum in Toronto and is supported by Arts Council Malta International Cultural Exchange Scheme and the High Commission of Malta in Canada.

For more information visit www.magnazmien.com/events/kartolini