Direct professional cooperation between Maltese cultural operators and international counterparts has expanded across the performing arts, music, visual arts and audiovisual sectors. Cooperation typically takes the form of co-productions, touring, exhibition loans, curated exchanges, residencies and presence at international professional platforms.
In the performing arts, Teatru Malta launched its Autumn/Winter 2023–24 programme from Opole, Poland, marking its first international theatrical co-production (The Best European Show). Independent companies access international circulation through ACM’s International Cultural Exchanges Scheme and International Participation Scheme (see 7.2.3), supporting touring, festival participation and presentation at trade fairs. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra has built international visibility through European tours — including 2022 performances at the Berliner Philharmonie and Vienna’s Musikverein — and was invited to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto in 2025 with the opera Hadrian. The Orchestra also operates a regular international guest-artist programme.
In the visual arts, MICAS opened its inaugural programme in October 2024 with an exhibition by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos and has since established partnerships with international institutions for its 2024–26 programme. Heritage Malta and MUŻA participate in international loan exchanges, including loans to and from major European institutions: a 2025 exhibition at Palais Lascaris in Nice featured artefacts from Malta’s national collections of the Order of St John, and MUŻA contributed a Vittore Carpaccio drawing to a 2022–23 joint exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Doge’s Palace in Venice. The Malta Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale is curated through a competitive open call commissioned by Arts Council Malta.
In the audiovisual sector, Malta Film Commission and producers benefit from the film co-production treaty network described in 1.4.1, and Malta is a regular host of international productions under the film cash-rebate scheme. Malta’s accession to Eurimages in January 2026 widens access to European co-production support. The Mediterrane Film Festival operates as a state-led international showcase, programmed annually since 2024.
In literature and publishing, the National Book Council supports international cooperation through translation grants, fellowships at international book fairs (Frankfurt, Bologna, Sharjah, Beijing), and the Premju Nazzjonali tal-Ktieb which includes a translation category. In creative-entrepreneurship training, the CASE Malta Programme (Creative and Social Entrepreneurship) launched by Arts Council Malta in 2024–25 in partnership with the international NGO In Place of War and the University of Manchester delivers certified training and mentorship to Malta-based creative practitioners. Higher-education partnerships, particularly through the University of Malta, and Maltese participation in the Anna Lindh Foundation network sustain professional and academic exchange across the Euro-Mediterranean. These initiatives support many other capacity-oriented programmes run by state agencies in favour of civil society such as the apprenticeship schemes, the investments in cultural organisations and the Creative Innovators and Platforms Fund run by Arts Council Malta.
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