Former Fort St Elmo exams centre to become national performing arts hub

The former examinations centre at Fort St Elmo has been handed over to the National Agency for the Performing Arts and will be transformed into a national centre for theatre, dance and music.

The building will become the NAPA Performing Arts Centre, a space intended for creation, collaboration, rehearsals, education and community engagement within Malta’s performing arts sector.

The agreement was signed by Ramon Deguara, permanent secretary at the Ministry for Lands and Housing, and NAPA chief executive Dominic Galea, in the presence of Lands Minister Owen Bonnici and Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea.

Bonnici said the project represented a strategic investment in the country’s cultural infrastructure and an important step in NAPA’s vision to provide artists, resident cultural companies and the wider sector with a professional environment for creation, research, practice and artistic innovation.

Agius Galea said culture needed more than talent to grow, saying artists also required the spaces, trust and opportunities they deserved.

“The NAPA Performing Arts Centre is a clear example of our commitment to invest in creativity as one of Malta’s greatest national resources. This is not an investment in a building, but an investment in the cultural future of our country,” he said.

Galea said the centre would be much more than an administrative headquarters.

“We are creating a permanent home for the performing arts in Malta – a space where theatre, dance and music meet under one roof, where artists will have the facilities they have long needed and where collaboration becomes a natural part of the creative process,” he said.

He thanked the government for its vote of confidence in NAPA and the performing arts sector.

From left to right, back to front: Lands Minister Owen Bonnici, Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Permanent Secretary Ramon Deguara, and NAPA CEO Dominic Galea. Photo: DOI

Malta Arts Council executive chairperson Luke Dalli said the project followed the direction set out in Strategy 2030.

Artists, he said, did not only need funding opportunities but also professional infrastructure that allowed them to create, experiment and grow.

The planned facilities include professional rehearsal studios, spaces for dance, theatre and music, meeting rooms, technical facilities, rehabilitation facilities, administrative offices and areas for education, workshops and community involvement.

The centre is intended to serve the national resident cultural companies Teatru Malta, KorMalta and ŻfinMalta, while strengthening collaboration between artists, cultural organisations, educational institutions and international partners.

The project is also aimed at conserving and giving new life to the historic building while addressing the growing needs of the cultural sector.