Over the past two years, during both editions of the Malta Biennale, it has become customary for MEIA (Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association) to repeatedly disparage everything related to the Malta Biennale. MEIA has never found anything positive to say about the Malta Biennale. While the Biennale serves as another international platform for Maltese artists, MEIA chooses - instead of offering constructive criticism - to publicly tarnish the Biennale through a vague list of alleged shortcomings that are never substantiated. In fact, all the evidence clearly demonstrates the opposite of what MEIA claims about the Malta Biennale.
The second edition of the Malta Biennale, held between March and May of this year, was an even greater success than the inaugural edition held in 2024. The success of the second edition has laid solid foundations for the third Malta Biennale, which will be held in 2028. The establishment, last May, of the Malta Biennale Foundation within Heritage Malta is another step towards ensuring the permanence of this distinctive contemporary art festival, which has placed Malta at the heart of the global contemporary art calendar. MEIA has now also spoken out against the establishment of this Foundation. Whatever happens within the Malta Biennale, MEIA appears determined to oppose it.
Facts show that the Malta Biennale is attracting artists from every corner of the world. Artistic proposals to participate in the Biennale continue to increase rather than decline. Many curators, some of them internationally renowned, apply to lead the Malta Biennale. Applications to host pavilions during the Biennale have increased substantially, and this year even works from other biennales participated in the Malta Biennale. The number of visitors, in their thousands, to the Malta Biennale was significantly higher than two years ago. On more than one occasion, international sources identified Malta as one of the world's most desirable destinations during the Malta Biennale.
The Malta Biennale strives to improve itself continuously, and therefore independent studies and surveys are carried out at the end of each edition to identify what worked well so that it can be built upon, and what could have been done better so that it can be addressed. The Malta Biennale places great importance on accountability in its processes and therefore has no difficulty with scrutiny by oversight entities regarding what took place during the Biennale. The Malta Biennale considers itself a national initiative and effort, and therefore seeks to remain open to ideas and to constructive criticism intended to strengthen and improve this Maltese international contemporary art festival.
The Malta Biennale thanks all those who continue to support it: the various entities that partner with Heritage Malta in delivering the Biennale, the hundreds of individuals who participate in it in one way or another; and above all, Her Excellency the President of Malta and UNESCO, who once again granted their patronage to the Biennale. The Malta Biennale is the only biennale, among approximately 350 biennales worldwide, to have been selected by UNESCO to receive its patronage.