30 band clubs get €150,000 in funding

Thirty band clubs will receive €150,000 from a fund managed by Għaqda Każini tal-Banda and Arts Council Malta, part of the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government.

The fund, which is now in its second year, aims to strengthen the work done by band clubs, which play an important part in our communities and are cultural centres of activities.

Minister Owen Bonnici highlighted the importance of such initiatives: “Band clubs play an intrinsic role as vibrant cultural hubs in our localities. They organise cultural activities throughout the year and uphold local traditions, which form an inherent part of our country’s social and cultural fabric.

“Apart from all of this, they also play an important community role, providing a gateway to culture and the arts. We are fully committed to keep on supporting such initiatives as they are a platform on which we strengthen our traditions as well as our culture sector, while making it more accessible to our communities.”

This fund was open to all band clubs registered as voluntary organisations and compliant with the Voluntary Organisations Act by the closing date of applications.

Arts Council Malta’s Executive Chairman Albert Marshall said: “True to its aggressive inclusion programme and democratization of the outreach policy in the way public funds are disbursed, Arts Council Malta reaches out to local communities, band clubs and voluntary organisations to participate actively in funding procedures for the implementa- tion of cultural projects.”

The main aim of this project is the launch of a funding scheme that provides the respective band clubs with support for their initiatives and proposals.

These included the restoration of objects/works of art in the band club premises such as musical archives and old instruments and improve the teaching of music within the organisation by assisting musical conductors and teachers through musiclearning and training programmes at renowned tertiary level education institutions.

Band clubs could also restore and renovate infrastructure by transforming a music-learning environment into a more professional one, strengthen the internal administrative systems principally related to musicians and implement innovative projects through which band clubs could expand their music activity in Malta and beyond.

Each band club can apply for a project that cost €5,000 or €10,000; grants cover 85 per cent or 75 per cent of the project expenses respectively. Profit-making projects are not eligible.