Centre for (Promotional) Creativity

My girlfriend and I yesterday decided to devote our time to discover the beauty of Valletta. We met next to the bus terminus and were soon on our way to St. James Cavalier, Malta’s Centre for Creativity.

Interest in what is happening at Malta’s premiere cultural venue was rekindled after I read reports declaring how the administration of St. James’ Cavalier is struggling to make ends meet. On my way to the centre, which was opened in 2000, I remembered how in London, tourists and locals alike flocked to museums on that particular Saturday morning when I was in the British city. A desolate staircase greeted us as we entered the building.

There are currently three exhibitions going on at the building which was renovated by Architect Richard England. Pat, that is, my girlfriend and I opted to visit the photo exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the Department of Information. Five hundred photos bear witness to the development of Malta and the Maltese over a period of more than a century. The exhibition also features a significant number of machines and photographic equipment that was used by the same Department, previously known as the Central Office of Information.

The photos and films taken by the generations of workers that worked for the Department managed to immortalise the change, sometimes radical, Malta has undergone throughout the years especially after it gained independence in 1964. Anyone who visits the exhibition which runs on to the third of October has the possibility to understand in a better way the labour all Maltese citizens took to build a presently stable nation, able to look into the future with determination to succeed. At least, this is the effect that the visit had on me.

The adventure through different sized and coloured photographs which lasted more than two-hours can be compared to a solitary voyage in space and time. In fact, the presence of very few other people, I would dare say not more than fifteen, accompanied my girlfriend and me throughout the exhibition.

I think that time is ripe to start adopting creative techniques for the promotion of events at St. James’ Cavalier. The failure of conventional marketing techniques making use of traditional slots like cultural TV programmes is evident to all. It is time to think and act differently, possibly with a little more funding from the Government.