The former St Elmo Examinations Centre is to be transformed into a national centre for the performing arts and will be managed by the National Performing Arts Agency.

The building was officially allocated to NAPA through an agreement signed by Ramon Deguara, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Housing and Lands, and Mro Dominic Galea, on behalf of NAPA.

The signing took place in the presence of Housing and Lands Minister Owen Bonnici and Arts, Culture and National Heritage Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea.

The new NAPA Performing Arts Centre is intended to provide artists, national cultural companies and the wider cultural sector with professional spaces for creation, rehearsals, collaboration and development.

Minister Bonnici described the project as a strategic investment in Malta’s cultural infrastructure and an important step in NAPA’s vision to provide the sector with a professional environment for artistic creation, research, practice and innovation.

Minister Agius Galea said the project showed the government’s commitment to investing in creativity as one of Malta’s key national resources.

“This is not an investment in a building, but an investment in the cultural future of our country,” he said.

NAPA Chief Executive Officer Mro Dominic Galea said the centre would be more than an administrative headquarters, describing it as a permanent home for Malta’s performing arts.

He said the building would bring theatre, dance and music together under one roof and provide artists with facilities they had long needed.

Arts Council Malta Executive Chairperson Luke Dalli said the project followed the direction of the 2030 Strategy and addressed one of the sector’s main needs: adequate spaces for creation and rehearsals.

The planned facilities include professional rehearsal studios, dance, theatre and music spaces, meeting rooms, technical facilities, rehabilitation facilities, administrative offices, and areas for education, workshops and community engagement.

The project will also seek to conserve and give new life to the historic building while responding to the growing needs of Malta’s cultural sector.

The centre is expected to serve the resident national cultural companies Teatru Malta, KorMalta and ŻfinMalta, while strengthening collaboration between artists, cultural organisations, educational institutions and international partners.