Arts Support Scheme in Malta

Deadline: 5-May-23

The Arts Council Malta is currently seeking applications for the Arts Support Scheme that provides support to artists, cultural and creative practitioners, and communities throughout the development and implementation phases, and covers the time and resources needed for creative professionals and their collaborators to develop their projects.

The Arts Support Scheme forms part of Arts Council Malta’s support portfolio that invests in diverse artistic and cultural expression and in the development of Malta’s cultural and creative sectors. The scheme enables individuals, groups, and organisations to plan, develop, be represented in, and deliver artistic projects in line with ACM’s Strategy2025, primarily addressing communities and creative practitioners.

Schemes

• The scheme pursues Strategy2025 by actively seeking to:
  • Nurture creative potential and support its development, encouraging co-creation, collaboration, and experimentation;
  • Invest in artistic excellence by encouraging creative risk-taking, experimentation, and active engagement of communities while supporting quality projects as well as identifying talent and encouraging its development;
  • Document and explore Malta’s past and present artistic and cultural communities, as well as Malta’s cultural and artistic legacy;
  • Promote and support diversity, inclusivity, and community development by enabling collaborative arts projects, knowledge development, and dissemination of good practice;
  • Provide disadvantaged groups with accessibility to a wide range of artistic and cultural experiences and opportunities for meaningful engagement with art and culture
  • Facilitate the creation of platforms for young promising talent, intergenerational engagement, as well as intercultural engagement.
• In line with ACM’s overarching commitment to cultural rights, this scheme recognises the central role of artists and cultural and creative practitioners in the creation and production of diverse artistic and cultural expressions. The scheme encourages applicants to address specific community needs, such as cultural participation, solidarity, social justice, environmental responsibility, sustainability, community development, and increased holistic well-being. The Arts Support Scheme supports artists, cultural and creative practitioners, and communities to:
  • Take creative risks to discover new opportunities, develop their knowledge, and develop new work through experimentation and collaboration;
  • Carry out exploratory research projects that allow them to test new work, engage, be duly represented, collaborate, and develop their ideas further.
• Submitted applications may:
  • Form part of the initial phase of a wider project/body of work;
  • Be self-contained projects;
  • Consist of a series of projects within a programme of activities.

Areas

• This scheme comprises of two main areas of focus each subdivided into three types of activities. Applicants may choose to focus on one or more of these areas or types of activities within their projects:
  • Artistic practice and/or research, namely:
    • Artistic projects – including the production and programming of quality-driven creative work – which push the boundaries of engaging creative experience for the artists, cultural and creative practitioners, the relevant sectors, and the communities;
    • Research into artistic concepts, techniques, and subjects adopting innovative or untested approaches to the conception, creation and development of artistic work;
    • Production and/or research relating to Malta’s artistic communities, designed to document Malta’s cultural and artistic legacy in an open and sustainable manner.
  • Community and audience engagement, namely:
    • Artistic production and/or programming which enable and promote cultural participation, creative expression, and/or awareness and appreciation relating to the collective memory, and the cultural and artistic legacy of the community;
    • Exploration of participatory and innovative approaches to audience engagement set to deepen engagement with existing and new audiences through artistic practice and/or research;
    • Exploration of ways to improve access to the arts and to promote inclusive participation and greater diversity within the arts.

Funding Information

• Maximum Eligible Amount Per Project: EUR 30,000.
• Maximum eligible timeframe to implement the project: 18 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• This scheme supports proposals aimed at boosting artistic development, nurturing experimentation and innovation, engaging, developing audiences as well as attracting new audiences while creating experiences based on principles of excellence. This scheme also encourages community-based projects. The grant is open to undertakings (for which assistance will be granted in line with the de minimis Regulation), as well as to those applicants that do not carry out an economic activity within the meaning of Article 107 TFEU.
• Furthermore, applicants must qualify as one of the following:
  • Creative professionals/individual artists;
  • Entities registered with the Malta Business Registry (including companies, partnerships, foundations, and organisations/associations);
  • Groups, collectives and consortia;
  • Registered cooperatives;
  • Voluntary organisations enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations

Who cannot apply?

• The following are not eligible to apply for the Arts Support Scheme:
• Applicants/activities receiving local public funds through established government line-votes;
• Applicants whose profile is not verified due to it being an incomplete profile for not having the below mandatory documents:
  • a copy of your Maltese ID card (including the front and back side) or your Maltese residence permit or your Maltese citizenship certificate or your Maltese passport;
  • a signed statute in the case of a voluntary organisation.
• Applicants who do not qualify under the definition of applicant for this specific scheme.
• Beneficiaries who have not honoured previous funding commitments.
• In the case of registered entities, entities who have not presented the required annual documentation to the Malta Business Registry;
• In the case of voluntary organisations, voluntary organisations which are:
  • not enrolled with the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations;
  • who have not presented their updated accounts to the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations;
  • which do not have a registered address in the Maltese islands.

For more information, visit Arts Council Malta.