The term [IN]VIŻIBBLI is both a warning and an invitation. Every day, more young people fade into invisibility. When a voice is silenced, when a body is disempowered, when a mind is blocked - potential turns into nothingness. As youth workers the work with young people exists in that fragile space between being seen and being erased.

From World Suicide Prevention Day to World Mental Health Day and Pride, we are in a month dedicated to visibility. In Malta, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ has partnered with a number of stakeholders to create a platform that speaks louder, clearer, and bolder about this urgent reality.

We strive for a society where visibility is not an afterthought but a natural state - where young people can claim their space, raise their voices, and refuse to disappear.

But invisibility is convenient. It can be convenient for those in authority like Aġenzija Żgħażagħ who can decide not be questioned or ask questions. Convenient even for young people themselves, who sometimes retreat into silence rather than face judgment, stigma, or shame. As invisibility does not challenge, it does not provoke, it does not change. However this festival - [IN]VIŻIBBLI - is the contrary.  It is an invitation. When inner strength falters, community must step in to lift, support, and empower. It is a call to confront and dismantle the forces that push people into the shadows, and to imagine a society where everyone is unmissably seen.

Our urgency is simple: we cannot afford to leave young people behind. Young people are our soul.  Like batteries they arrive charged - full of resilience, creativity, and fearless energy. But sometimes that charge is depleted, whether through isolation, stigma, or despair and the whole community dims. And in that darkness, visibility becomes almost impossible.

Malta cannot speak about democratic resilience, economic growth, or cultural vibrancy if it ignores the wellbeing of its young people. Their voices are not a side note to policymaking; they are central to the health of our democracy.

[IN]VIŻIBBLI will give young people space to creatively challenge stigma and shame, to explore resilience not as a lecture but as lived experience. It is about wellbeing in its broadest and most human sense. The festival is providing a programme of events that interrogates, questions, and celebrates wellbeing. Workshops for different age groups within Aġenzija Żgħażagħ's reach, are being organised to create spaces where conversations about mental health can happen without fear and where young people can demonstrate how artistic expression nurtures their wellbeing.

And let me be clear about what this festival is not. We are not pretending to be mental health experts. We are not offering a clinical approach. What we do best - and what this festival will showcase - is youth work and creative expression. We will not preach resilience as a formula; we will create the conditions for young people to discover resilience through connection, imagination, and community.

Too often, conversations about mental health are boxed into clinical settings. They are necessary, yes, but not sufficient. Young people process their realities through music, theatre, film, dance, spoken word, and street culture. Creativity is not just entertainment - it is survival.

When young people tell their story, they reclaim visibility. When a group collaborates on a mural, they literally paint themselves back into the public space. When a shy voice finds courage in poetry, society begins to hear what was once invisible.This is why the festival matters. It celebrates creativity not as decoration, but as lifeline.

Wellbeing is not the responsibility of one ministry, one agency, or one sector. It is a collective duty. Families, schools, policymakers, civil society, and the young people themselves all carry part of the weight. But too often, young people are expected to carry it alone - silently, invisibly.

As Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, I oversee Aġenzija Żgħażagħ's sterling work were I see daily how young people navigate this fragile line between being visible and being erased. I also see how powerful it is when they are given space to speak, act, create, and lead. The difference between invisibility and visibility is, at times, the difference between despair and hope.

[IN]VIŻIBBLI is not a one-off. It is part of a wider commitment to keep youth issues at the centre of  all policies. It is a reminder that visibility is not seasonal, not symbolic, and not optional.

So I end where I began. [IN]VIŻIBBLI is both a warning and an invitation.

A warning: if we allow young people to fade into invisibility, we lose more than individuals - we lose the energy that keeps our society alive.

An invitation: to listen, to engage, and to ensure that young people are not just seen, but truly recognised as equal actors in shaping our shared future. For more information about [IN]VIŻIBBLI and upcoming activities, I invite you to visit Aġenzija Żgħażagħ's social media profiles.

Visibility is not charity. It is justice.

Keith Azzopardi Tanti is Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Research and Innovation