Artist Funding in Malta

Arts Council Malta is the national public agency for funding and supporting the cultural and creative sectors, including visual arts. It manages a portfolio of project grants, multi-annual support schemes, mobility funding, and sector development programmes for individual artists, collectives, and organisations, with typical project grants ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of euro. Visual artists can access support for production of new work, exhibitions, research, community projects, and international collaboration.

The Arts Support Scheme is a project-funding programme run by Arts Council Malta to support artists, cultural professionals and organisations across disciplines, including visual arts. It typically covers costs related to creation, production, presentation, outreach and, in some cases, research and development, with grants usually in the low-to-mid thousands of euro. Individual artists, collectives and entities can apply for support to develop new work, exhibitions, collaborations or audience-engagement activities.

Through grants.mt, Arts Council Malta channels several community-oriented schemes, including community arts and participation-focused programmes that often integrate visual arts. These schemes back collaborative projects with local councils, schools, NGOs and social organisations to increase cultural participation and creative expression at community level, particularly with youth and vulnerable groups. Typical awards are small to medium project grants supporting materials, facilitation fees, workshops, exhibitions and public interventions.

The Investment in Cultural Organisations fund, administered by Arts Council Malta, provides multi-year support to voluntary organisations in the cultural and creative sectors, including those focused on visual arts and cultural heritage. Between 2026 and 2028 the programme is investing €1.5 million to strengthen governance, planning, and operational sustainability, and to support recurring cultural initiatives that create professional opportunities for artists and sustained audience engagement. Funding is aimed at registered voluntary organisations rather than individual artists, but visual artists benefit through paid roles, commissions, and long-term programmes.

The Ministry’s Culture Directorate occasionally runs thematic calls, co-financing schemes and strategic initiatives that can support visual arts projects, exhibitions, festivals and heritage-related artistic interventions. While much of its budget flows through Arts Council Malta and national institutions, independent artists and organisations sometimes access funding via public calls tied to cultural seasons, anniversaries or national programmes. Support is generally project-based and may involve co-production or in-kind backing alongside financial grants.

Spazju Kreattiv, Malta’s national centre for creativity, offers an annual open call for artistic projects, residencies and exhibitions within its programme, which frequently features visual arts. Support is usually in the form of curated opportunities, exhibition space, production support, promotion and sometimes partial financial backing, rather than straightforward cash grants. Both local and international artists can propose projects, often in collaboration with Maltese partners or with strong relevance to the local context.

The President’s Fund for Creativity supports organisations and institutions that use culture and the arts to address social needs and well-being, particularly with disadvantaged and hardly-reached groups. Divided into an Organisational Development strand and a Projects/Programmes strand, it funds capacity-building and arts-driven initiatives that promote equity, diversity, inclusiveness and sustainability, often including visual-arts-based community projects. Grants are accessible to groups, consortia, schools, public institutions and registered voluntary organisations, typically at small to mid-range project levels.

The Valletta Cultural Agency, a public agency under the culture ministry, commissions and supports cultural projects within Valletta, often including visual arts, public art, and interdisciplinary events in the city’s historic spaces. It issues calls for artistic projects, collaborations and festivals, providing project-based funding, commissions and production support rather than open, general-purpose grants. Visual artists can benefit through site-specific commissions, curated programmes and partnerships with the agency’s events.

The Valletta Design Cluster supports designers, makers and visual artists working at the intersection of art, craft and design, offering co-working studios, labs and programme-based support. While it is more a resource hub than a pure funder, it periodically runs open calls, residencies and collaborative projects that provide production resources, mentorship and sometimes small project budgets. Opportunities are open primarily to practitioners working in Malta, with some international collaboration schemes.