The Malta Intellectual Property Awards announced a double win in its creative initiative category last week for new Maltese start-up Allura. The Commerce Department’s annual awards, which acknowledge an “excellent combination of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship”, awarded first prize to Allura in recognition of its work supporting and promoting local creative talent in the arts and cultural sectors.

 Allura’s founder, British artist and former art teacher Laura Swale, also re­ceived a Medal for Creativity from the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The WIPO medal recognises “outstanding authors, designers, performers and producers, including the creators of software… who have made a substantial contribution to cultural, social and economic development (or fostered) greater respect for the creative output of those working in the cultural, entertainment and software sectors”.

 The ceremony for the awards (formerly known as The Malta Innovation Awards) took place at Spazju Kreattiv(St James Cavalier) and was overseen by the Commerce Department’s Director General Godwin Warr. “Through these awards the government is encouraging the development of innovative ideas and products that have a degree of potential that is both unique and sustainable. The cultural and creative industries are significant to innovation because they are primarily based on innovative ideas, which produce a multitude of new pro­ducts and services. Creative individuals and enterprises are the heart of cultural and creative industries. Through talent, skill, entrepreneurship and intellectual property, they can generate new jobs and companies and can also help mature industries re-tool for the future.”

Besides the awards themselves, winners also took home cash prizes. Runners-up received €4,000 each and first place winners €8.000. Runner-up in the creative category was ‘Prodigy League’ by Guerrilla Ltd. First place in the scientific category and also winning the WIPO Medal for Inventors was the ‘MaltaHip’ project by professors from the University of Malta, Winning the technology category was ‘Speechie’, also from the University, additionally receiving a WIPO trophy for IP Enterprise, and finally, a €2,000 ‘Emerging Innovator’ prize was awarded to Martina Zammit for the ‘Gadgets Expo’.

Award for winner of the creative initiative category of the Malta Intellectual Property Awards 2019 and the WIPO Medal for Creativity.

For Allura’s founder, this year was the second time around as a recipient in the awards. In 2018, prior to founding Allura, Laura received an award in the same creative category for her open art studios concept for visual artists, which began last year with The Trail, a Valletta 2018-endorsed walking tour of pop-up artist studios across Sliema and St Julian’s, which saw 20 venues host more than 50 artists. A second edition of The Trail is being considered for Valletta next year.

This is so much more than just a day job for us. Everything Allura does has meaning and heart- Laura Swale

Following a series of visual arts events under the brand name of Allura, the company itself was officially established in early 2019 as Allura Limited. The two latest awards were for Allura’s most ambitious project to date: The Malta Arts and Culture Club, The MACC for short; an arts, entertainment and cultural website and progressive web app (PWA). The MACC combines elements of Time Out, Trip Advisor and The Stage. It is aimed at the average person who plans their leisure time around their cultural interests as well as the creative community itself. This includes not only the resident population but also cultural tourists, who make up almost 60% of Malta’s two million plus visitors per year.

The idea of a creative and cultural hub for Malta began in 2017 and has been two years in the research and development stages. The three main elements of the platform are a What’s On guide of event listings, a creative jobs board (for opportunities, internships and open calls), and a membership scheme offering preferential pricing on a range of arts and culture-related tickets, gifts, classes, art, crafts, electronics and services.

The MACC’s events listings are updated daily and include movies, concerts, festivals, musicals, pantomimes, theatre and shows, festas, book launches, art exhibitions, public lectures, comedy nights, and a range of historical, religious and cultural activities. Users can also upload their own events free of charge. The site also promotes cultural attractions, creative workshops, galleries and heritage sites.

The MACC’s tagline ‘Champions of the Arts’ reflects Allura’s expanded remit to promote not only visual artists, but also musicians, performers and creatives of all kinds. “This is so much more than just a day job for us. Everything Allura does has meaning and heart,” explains Laura.

The Malta Arts and Culture Club (The MACC). Cultural and creative hub website: www.themacc.mt

“Each member of the team has a crea­tive background outside of Allura, either as a visual artist, musician or maker of some kind. We can relate to other artists and we understand the importance of expanding the audience and market. But we designed The MACC to be a win-win for all parties, not just the artists and providers, so that customers get the best prices on the things they love.

“MACC membership also reduces the makers’ costs on the services, equipment, networking and advertising associated with their craft. By tackling it from both the customer and the supplier’s perspectives we hope to make art and culture more affordable for the consumer and more sustainable and rewarding for the producer. With The MACC we can not only shine a light on the emerging talent in Malta, so deserving of exposure, but provide much needed tools to support crea­tive production and consumption.”

The MACC not only works with creative producers, but also the local businesses that supply goods and services to these producers. Individuals or businesses can join The MACC as ‘merchants’ (currently free of charge) to benefit from free promotion within the niche market in ex­change for offering a discount or VIP offer of their choice to MACC members on what they sell. Existing merchants include Klikk, MVintage, Eden Cinemas, Mdina Glass, Deco Manufacturing, VeeGeeBee Art and a range of other artisans, designers, shops and schools. Allura welcomes interest from potential new merchants wishing to join, but recommends doing so within the present introductory period, since in future new merchants will be subject to registration fees.

The MACC has been supported by Malta Enterprise, the EU’s E-Commerce grant fund, the Malta Tourism Authority and corporate sponsors including Grant Thornton, Apcopay, Hydrolecric and Carob Tree.

A 2017 crowdfunding cam­paign also helped fund the software development, which was backed by tenor Joseph Calleja, who described it as “a great initiative”. Architect Professor Richard England also appeared on national TV with Laura to promote the campaign. When asked about the project he said: “The MACC supports the arts in Malta. It fills a gap and the country needs it.”

Prize-winners in all categories of the Malta Intellectual Property Awards

While The MACC is a free website, users can choose to subscribe as members to gain access to the various offers and deals. As an introductory offer, Allura has pledged to automatically upgrade any new user who logs in before the end of 2019, giving them a full 12-month membership free of charge for the duration of 2020.

While The MACC is a purely Maltese project for now, the vision going forward is to develop the existing provision into an international platform, creating a global audience and customer-base for businesses and individuals in Malta to promote their events, goods and services. As part of this future growth, feasibility studies on additional features are currently being carried out. These include an online art store to enable Malta’s artists to more easily access the global art market to sell their work, and a service to match creative talent with recruiters and clients to facili­tate the cross-border mobility of creative professionals.

With this expansion in mind, Allura currently invites contact from potential new interns, merchants and corporate sponsors for both The Trail and the MACC. It will also be recruiting new staff early next year and welcomes in­terest from parties within the creative industries and cultural sectors who see scope for col­la­boration on any of its projects.

Allura can be reached at info@allura.com.mt or +356 9958 3389. Allura and The MACC are both in Instagram and have Facebook pages. For information on The Trail go to www.allura.com.mt. To visit The MACC and for free MACC membership until December 31, log on to www.themacc.mt (New users are advised to check their junk e-mail folders to avoid the verification email being missed).