Notte Bianca on Saturday
Another edition of the annual Notte Bianca event will be held in Valletta on Saturday.
Festival-goers can expect a variety of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, and literary events, as well as a continuation and expansion on last year’s shift into the emerging world of new and digital arts.
The festival will also continue to use Valletta’s streets and public spaces in innovative, creative ways thanks to a mix of roaming and site-specific projects.
Heritage Malta said its museums in Valletta will open for free till late. The museums are the National Museum of Archaeology, the Palace Armoury and the Palace State Rooms, and Fort St Elmo which houses the National War Museum.
Heritage Malta will also set up a small exhibition at Auberge de Castille, with a selection of Egyptian artefacts from the National Collection.
For this occasion Heritage Malta museums will open from 6pm till midnight, with last admission at 11.30pm. Admission is free of charge.
The national dance company ŻfinMalta Dance Ensemble is showcasing its first event, specifically created for Saturday’s Notte Bianca.
Openness is the name of this unique performance where ŻfinMalta is inviting the public into an open space — Pjazza Teatru Rjal, in Valletta — to get a glimpse of the company’s new artistic journey and witness how a dance is created and unfolds on stage.
On the night, the dancers, together with Paolo Mangiola, the company’s newly appointed artistic director, will lead the public through the process of three dance pieces and the audience will have the chance to interact during two Q&A sessions.
The event starts at 11pm and ŻfinMalta is promising to give a sneak preview of its next work, Qalbna, which in English has a double meaning: Our Heart/Among Us.
Qalbna is being commissioned for the official opening ceremony of Valletta’s nomination as European Capital of Culture 2018.
The Central Bank of Malta will also be participating and its main premises at Castille Place will be open to the public between 6pm and 11pm.
Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the bank’s currency museum with its splendid selection of coins and banknotes in circulation in Malta over the ages, including a special display of coins used in jewellery and for other purposes.
Moreover, Valletta-themed photos will be exhibited in the passageway between the entrance opposite Tritons Fountain and the path leading to Triq Ġlormu Cassar on the way to Castille Square, which will be open to the general public. Visitors will also be able to visit the Victor Pasmore Gallery and a bonsai exhibition organised in collaboration with the Bonsai Culture Group in the bank’s recently inaugurated gardens.
During the event, visitors can visit the Malta Coin Centre, where they can purchase a variety of numismatic and collector coins. There will also be information material on the changeover of Maltese Lira notes which can be converted into euros at the Central Bank of Malta in Valletta till 31 January 2018.
Notte Bianca is organised by the Festivals Directorate within Arts Council Malta under the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government, with the support of the Valletta 2018 Foundation, the Valletta Local Council, and other private entities.
www.nottebianca.org.mt