Conscious that a highly-competitive economy can only be achieved if public and private organisations join forces to attain the critical mass of resources needed, serval local leading players have set up FTZ as an inlcusive platform to undertake projects which build on the traditonal strengths of Malta’s workforce – a spirit of creativity, enterprise and a rich knowledge base. In practice, FTZ is establishing itself as the island’s premier multi-stakeholder partnership for regional development, providing lifelong education and training oppurtunities and promoting the formation of a strong research and innovation culture. It aims to create greater social cohesion and contribute to the moulding of tomorrow’s knowledge-based society – “an inclusive society without frontiers to knowledge”.
As part of its activities in support of the Strada Stretta creative cluster, FTZcom continues to assist artists and cultural entrepreneurs, nurturing their diverse art practices in order to stimulate the cross-fertilisation of ideas between the various creative forms. It intends to rehabilitate and convert a dilapidated lodging house (111, Strait Street) to serve as a facility for hosting artists in residence. The project will enhance the local cultural infrastructure and create new creative assets, adding another space for cultural exchanges, networking and displaying of artistic works and performances in Valletta. Moreover, it aims to strengthen values of identity and inclusiveness, and to enrich the cultural experience of those who visit this socially depressed but culturally significant part of the city.
The Foundation has implemented a number of other projects around the Grand Harbour region, where it organised plenty of activities with stakeholders and creative networks from the Three Cities.
In the build up to the Valletta 2018 ECoC programme, FTZcom offered logistical support and communication services to help fulfil the objectives of the Strada Stretta Concept. It also participated in the Malta Showcase, a curated portfolio launched by the main national players in the field of culture and the arts. The Showcase was distributed to international programmers interested in incorporating Maltese talent in international festivals, theatres, exhibitions and cultural organisations.
At present, the Foundation is developing further and higher study programmes, in collaboration with schools and institutes in the arts, to foster and cultivate artistically talented young people. Thanks to its partnership with the Arts Council and the Valletta Cultural Agency, the Foundation has recently drawn up an ambitious three-year programme of cultural and artistic events.
FTZcom was set up as a Voluntary Organisation following the enactment of legislation to regulate NGOs. Members wanted to build on the legacy and experience in the implementation of European projects acquired by the Fondazzjoni Temi Zammit, a public-equivalent body which had been established by the University of Malta and other national institutions. This enabled the Foundation to capitalise on the outputs of such projects, maximising their benefits for the community.
Recent successfully implemented European projects include two in the tourism sector, Heland and FOP – Future of Our Past, funded through the ENPI CBCMED programme and led by the University of Malta and the Società Geografica Italiana, respectively. To follow up on the latter, FTZcom was entrusted to manage the web platform and app of the FOP Euro-Mediterranean Collaborative Network for Sustainable Tourism, which established in Bethlehem the first example of a Community Hotel in the region (http://www.futureourpast.eu).
Other European projects, such as BOO-Games – Boosting the Digital Games Industry and EuroScreen, both coordinated by British partners and funded through the Interreg IVC programme, have led to national studies and degree courses in the digital media – film, animation, and video games.
Besides participating directly, FTZcom has also been involved in projects by assisting national agencies, local authorities, NGOs and SMEs. It strives to promote the mobility of young people, artists and researchers, having served as Malta’s bridgehead organisation for the Euraxess network of Research Mobility Centres for several years. The Foundation’s expertise in EU funding programmes has been acknowledged through requests for support by various public and private institutions, and its staff has delivered training courses on the subject even on behalf of the European Commission Representation in Malta.
The foundation came up with the project to revive the then rundown Strada Stretta neighbourhood in 2008, at a meeting it held for cultural organisations at Europe House, in Valletta. On that occasion, it transpired that upcoming artists lacked cultural spaces where to exhibit or perform their work. To address this, the Foundation designed the Strada Stretta initiative and financed its first years of operation through the EU-funded Interreg Med project I.C.E. – Incubators for Cultural Enterprises (http://www.ice-med.eu).
The campaign to rehabilitate Strait Street, launched by means of an exhibition of works by 16 artists at Splendid, in April 2011, generated a strong interest in the area. Since then, the venue provided a base for the performances and exhibitions, rehearsals, meetings and innovative cultural events of an emerging creative cluster. New start-ups, theatre groups, cultural operators and young artists and performers have relied on the services offered by the Foundation to organise hundreds of activities at this evocative venue.
Through its collaboration with the Strada Stretta Concept, FTZcom intensified its role in hosting Valletta 2018 activities – six years after its innovative project had been showcased to the international panel evaluating Malta’s European Capital of Culture (ECoC) bid.
Undoubtedly, the Splendid cultural incubator has strongly contributed to the regeneration of the once notorious alley and to the consolidation of this new cultural hub. Even economically and socially, the area has been significantly transformed over the past decade, with outdoor activities and street festivals regularly held there, as if to illustrate the new lease of life breathed into the former red light district at the heart of our capital.
