MAF ...

Last year 95 projects received financial support through the Malta Arts Fund, with a total investment of over €410,000. With a broad spectrum ranging from music and dance to literature, theatre and the visual arts, the fund aims to support quality and excellence in the arts.

The majority of the funds were allocated to the Performing Arts with 38 projects, followed by the Visual Arts (23 projects), Multidisciplinary (27 projects) and Literature (seven projects).

As the funding mechanism of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (MCCA), the Malta Arts Fund (MAF) aims to support artists and arts and culture organisations in fulfilling and realising their potential and in improving their skills and level of professionalism.

The Malta Arts Fund is composed of four main strands: the Project Support Grant, the Organisation Support Grant, the Mobility Grant and Spreading Words – the literary translation grant. The Project Support Grant is divided into two strands: large and small projects. Projects with requests for funding up to €5,000 qualify as small projects; applications for this strand are open every three months. Proposals requiring up to €20,000 qualify for the Large Project Support Grant; calls for this strand are open every six months.

The Organisation Support Grant caters for organisations seeking funds to support their operation in the arts sector in Malta and/or to operate an artistic programme. It provides organisations whose aims are in line with the goals and priorities of the National Cultural Policy with funds towards both programming and organisational costs. The Mobility Grant caters for outgoing artistic/cultural mobility.

“Spreading Words” is the most recent strand which was added to the MAF programme, bringing the current number of strands to four. With an annual allocation of €20,000, Spreading Words was devised to offer support to authors, translators and publishers for the translation of works written in Maltese. The aim of this fund is to make Maltese literature accessible to new reading communities, which will in turn expand and strengthen the Maltese literary scene.