On the occasion of Malta Arts Festival and Malta Jazz Festival a small delegation from Utrecht visited Malta, 14-17 July. Gertrud van Dam and Christa Stoop, both working for Department Public, International and Subsidy Affairs, since last October form a team cooperating in the connection with Malta. It was Christa's first visit to Malta, but she already met delegations from Malta. Jeanneke den Boer, music and festival consultant, joined them, investigating possibilities for music connections.
As usual a meeting with Robbert Gabriëlse, the Dutch Ambassador, was on the programme. Making connections between the Netherlands and Malta visible he shows himself happy with the efforts Utrecht is taking. And with pleasure – it's always nice to meet friends abroad! Therefore a meeting was scheduled with Davinia Galea, Malta Arts Council. One of the appointments made is that Utrecht invites the artistic directors of the Maltese festival over, for example to attend a Cultural Sunday, to get acquainted with Utrecht cultural life. Hopefully these visits can be scheduled this Autumn, but concrete exchanges were already subject for discussion with Peter Busuttil (Notte Bianca) and Sandro Zerafa (Jazz Festival).
One important subject was the Utrecht contribution to Notte Bianca 2010 (25 September) in cooperation with the Museum of Fine Arts. A ensemble of young, successful musicians based in Utrecht, Holland Barock Society, will perform a specially developed programme at the museum. The project is being done together with Sandro Debono and Russell Muscat (Heritage Malta). This is only one of the projects in which Heritage Malta is involved.
Unfortunately the planned visit of David Felice, chairman of the committee for Cultural Capital of Culture 2018 had to be cancelled in May. But, during a nice and informal meeting together with Marika Grech, new plans are being made for this Autumn.
Already being in Café Inspirations at St James Cavalier a meeting with Chris Gatt and Toni Attard was logical and as ever pleasant and efficient at the same time. Many ideas for cooperation were launched or made concrete, like with YO Opera (cultural education). Toni accompanied the ladies to the Jazz Festival were they ran into Adrian Mamo, Caldon Mercieca and Mario Frendo. That was really nice!
Back in Utrecht Gertrud and Christa set up a calendar with all the plans and suggestions for cooperation in the following months. This includes the cooperation between Heritage Malta and two museums in Utrecht: the Ste Catharine's Convent and the Cities Central Museum. More info? Ask Gertrud (g.van.dam@utrecht.nl) or Christa (c.stoop@utrecht.nl)
