Culture & Health Platform Fund – Results Published

The aim of this fund is to support projects led by emerging artists with the goal of improving quality of life and cultural access in healthcare / social care settings. At the same time, it encourages collaboration between the arts, health, and social sectors to deliver creative initiatives that promote well-being. 

A short overview of selected beneficiaries and projects may be viewed below: 

Creative Health Malta
Project Title: Creative participatory pediatrics project at Mater Dei & SAMOC

This project aims to introduce creative participatory arts to young patients of Mater Dei and SAMOC that will offer support on their healing journeys. Creative Health Malta is working in collaboration with other creative practitioners who have different arts forms and backgrounds who will be able to bring different skills and perspectives to the project. During the preparatory phase through conversations with healthcare staff and on-site visits it became apparent that the project success will depend on strong communication and rapport built with healthcare staff with whom the project will be co-created, monitored and evaluated. The services of an international expert in the field will be sought to help set up the platform correctly. Focus will be given to setting up the platform and the framework together with a short pilot project, which aims to bring joy, hope and moments of meaningfulness to our young patients receiving care.

Marcon Borg Caruana
Project Title: Careful Matter: A sensory space for care

Careful Matter is a socially-engaged art and spatial project that brings together residents, caregivers, and staff of Casa Antonia and Imperial care homes, to explore material memory, traditional knowledge, and care practices through creative workshops. Led by artist-architect Alexine Sammut and Cultural Manager Marcon Borg Caruana, the project uses hands-on making and dialogue as tools for connection and co-creation. An intervention in Casa Antonia and/or Imperial care homes will be co-designed with staff and residents to reflect spatial and participant needs. The project investigates how everyday materials and gestures—often overlooked—can hold cultural and emotional value. It draws on Sammut’s research into the positive effects of spatial quality and biobased, regenerative materials on wellbeing. Through tactile encounters and collective storytelling, Careful Matter reimagines care not only as a service, but as an artistic, material, and intergenerational act—contributing to broader conversations around sustainability, memory, and health in care environments.

Pamela Abela
Project Title: MatriART

MatriART is a visionary, women-led community initiative that reimagines wellbeing through creativity. Rooted in Maltese culture and aligned with national health strategies, MatriART offers free, arts-based workshops designed by women, for women, supporting mental health and social connection across generations. Through visual art, movement, storytelling, sound, and ritual, participants explore creative expression as a path to healing, empowerment, and community. These soulful, inclusive spaces are guided by a diverse team of female artists, health professionals, and cultural facilitators. More than a programme, MatriART is a call to reconnect—with ourselves, each other, and our cultural roots. It honours feminine wisdom and positions the arts as a powerful force for resilience and collective wellbeing. Join us in weaving a living tapestry of colour, textures, story, voice, and movement—where every woman is seen, heard, and held.

Maika Ltd
Project Title: Art & Rest: Resilience through creative encounters

An interdisciplinary community art programme bringing together emerging artists from the art academy and individuals using services at the respite center. The project aims to co-create participatory, therapeutic, and aesthetically transformative experiences in the respite care environment, leading to improved well-being, reduced isolation, and stronger community ties. The project concludes with a public exhibition at the respite center, highlighting the value of creativity in care.

More information about the projects selected may be found here.

The CultureAndHealth platform fund for the Maltese Islands is part of a four-year international initiative co-funded by the European Union and led by Culture Action Europe, aimed at supporting emerging European artists working at the intersection of Culture, Health, Care, and the Social Sectors. For more information click here. 

The CultureAndHealth platform fund for the Maltese Islands is managed in collaboration with Arts Council Malta.