FOREWORDS
Annabelle Stivala
FM CEO Foreword
Jason Busuttil
Artistic Director Foreword
Welcome to this extraordinary version of Carnival.
Last year proved to be a challenging one not only for Festivals Malta, but for the entire cultural sector. While Carnival 2020 went on to be a success on a grand scale, the Summer Carnival had to be cancelled due to the Covid situation. Throughout the year, we learned to adapt our festivals to ensure proper safety procedures while still going on with what was planned, albeit adapted to a much smaller scale.
This year’s edition of Carnival will be like no other as the festivities were reduced to ensure the safety of our patrons, staff and the Carnival community. Carnival is part of our cultural tradition and Festivals Malta intends to keep it alive now more than ever. We know what this tradition means to our community and artists who work hard year after year to produce beautiful floats, costumes and grotesque figures for us to enjoy. That is why Festivals Malta will continue working to ensure that our events happen in a safe manner following all public health guidelines.
I would like to thank the staff at Festivals Malta for all their hard work, the dedicated Carnival community for their passion and perseverance, our Artistic Director Jason Busuttil and the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, the Arts and Local Government.
The Maltese Carnival this year will be celebrated differently than the grandiose event we are used to given the current Covid-19 impacted landscape. Nonetheless, we made it a point that Carnival will go on this year through careful coordination, sensible planning and, most importantly, respect to public health guidelines.
This year we will still see spectacular floats, although in the form of static artistic installations, and the beautiful costumes synonymously associated with our traditional Carnival, with all of the Festivals Malta production team going through great efforts to ensure the event is safe for everyone to enjoy. We will also be introducing installations in several localities around the island, which is our way of safely bringing Carnival to the villages.
The Carnival community has worked tirelessly throughout the year, and after the disappointing cancellation of the Summer Carnival, we felt that it is our duty to ensure that Carnival 2021 still goes on in some form or another.
Here’s to another successful edition. Stay safe and enjoy our cultural heritage!
