In the first ten years of its existence, Arts Council Malta shaped Malta’s cultural landscape. It was set up with the intention of giving culture and the arts a professional structure and drive them forward. In ten years, it grew into the leading organisation that has managed to redefine how culture and the arts operate within Maltese society, socially, economically, and even internationally.
I am proud of what ACM has managed to achieve, and I am deeply grateful to its people. Today, the Council is at par with its counterparts in leading European countries that have had such organisations way before we did.
Albert Marshall, one of Malta’s leading literary giants, was its first executive chairperson. He masterminded the Council’s impressive rise from a small organisation to a fully fledged professional one. Today, it is led by the charismatic and dynamic lawyer Luke Dalli, who gave ACM gave a new meaning to ‘supporting the arts’
The Council is known for funding local artists and organisations, but it does more than funding. This brilliant organisation has given culture and the arts a sense of purpose, and to the local artists and creatives, a much-needed breath of fresh air.
There was a time, not so long ago, when a career in these sectors was considered to be a no-go area unless one wanted to land themselves in financial jeopardy. ACM changed that. Today, an increasing number of artists and creatives have turned their passion and talent into their full-time job. To this effect, ACM is strongly contributing to Malta’s economic success.
The Council has become the backbone of the creative sector. This year, it has a generous €700,000 innovation fund for creative start-ups; to strengthen film strategy through international co-production frameworks – membership in Eurimages now opens unprecedented opportunities for Maltese filmmakers, and introduce the Arts Export Office and launch Strategy 2030.
One of the most visible pillars of ACM’s work remains its extensive funding programmes. The scale of investment alone is striking. In 2025, the Council launched an action plan including 23 funding schemes with a total investment of €7 million, aimed at strengthening the creative and cultural sectors. These schemes are carefully segmented to address different needs across the sector. For instance, the Malta Arts Fund supports both research-driven artistic exploration and the development of concrete projects, ensuring that artists are supported at both conceptual and production stages.
Â
ACM invests heavily in research, and in doing so, it acknowledges that artistic innovation requires experimentation, time, substantial effort, and intellectual groundwork. Project grants ensure that research translates into tangible cultural products that can reach audiences locally and abroad.
The Council is also investing strongly in Malta’s rich tradition of the Maltese festa culture, today of a UNESCO world heritage status. Through schemes such as the Artistic Heritage Scheme, hundreds of thousands of euros have been allocated to band clubs and feast organisations, supporting restoration projects, infrastructure, and cultural activities.
This investment demonstrates ACM’s awareness that cultural policy goes much beyond elite art forms to include community-based and traditional practices that form the backbone of Maltese identity.
ACM also provides considerable support to cultural organisations through initiatives such as the Cultural Organisations Fund.
Internationalisation is one of the ACM’s most successful areas. It is giving local artists the platform of the global stage where they, unfailingly, shine. Only last year, Malta placed first at the prestigious London Design Biennale. This year, Malta is once again taking part in the world-famous Venice Art Biennale, and for the first time in the Gwangju, South Korea, Art Biennale. These platforms provide Maltese artists with access to global networks that are vital for the success of the local artist.
Last year, I was particularly impressed by “Retold,” an initiative that the Council took to celebrate its tenth anniversary. By bringing back works previously exhibited abroad, at the Venice Art Biennale, and at the London Design Biennale, and presenting them, in an abridged version, to local audiences, the Council created a feedback loop between global exposure and national engagement. Other initiatives taken by the Council’s internationalisation unit are the EUNIC (the European Union National Institutes for Culture) Malta Film Festival, which highlights cultural diversity, accessibility, and collaboration across Europe EUNIC positions Malta as a country that invests in its creative industries not only for their economic potential but also for their role in shaping identity and fostering dialogue.
Â
Education and accessibility form another key dimension of the Council’s work. Programmes like the Culture Pass aim to integrate artistic experiences into the educational journey of students, from early childhood through to post-secondary levels. This is not merely about audience development but also about embedding cultural participation as a fundamental right and everyday practice.
Recently, ACM has also ventured into sports by bringing together sports and arts, a perfect combination. The “SportArti” initiative seeks to introduce arts and culture into football nurseries, blending creative expression with sports development. This excellent initiative reflects a growing recognition that creativity is not confined to traditional artistic spaces.
Together with Arts Council Malta, we shall soon launch the ACM Strategy 2030. It is a strategy built around the needs of the industry and in line with the government’s long-term vision, Strategy 2050. Strategy 2030 has been drafted based on a thorough assessment of Strategy 2025, in-depth discussions and analyses of the current arts and cultural sectors, whilst looking ahead to identify future challenges and opportunities.
This year, too, will be another year of investments, initiatives, and programmes by the Arts Council Malta. The strategic success enjoyed by ACM is the result of the hard work, vision, and dedication of its employees and the unconditional support of the government.Â
Its dynamism, creativity, and innovation have enriched the arts and cultural sector over the past few years and shall continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Â