Heritage Malta launches its events calendar for summer and autumn

Heritage Malta has launched its events calendar for the second half of 2023, offering a wide variety of activities and experiences that may be enjoyed by people of all ages. Activities for this year’s Student Passport Summer Programme, aimed at increasing accessibility to our cultural heritage among children and young teens during their school holidays, have also been announced.

Heritage Malta’s calendar for summer and autumn targets the general public as well as seasoned scholars, with a total of 52 events ranging from edutaining activities intended for families with young children to large-scale and smaller exhibitions, re-enactments, members events, curatorial talks, thematic tours, public lectures, special openings of closed sites, harbour cruises, heritage trails and equinox events.

The Student Passport Summer Programme, on the other hand, includes various interactive hands-on experiences for children of all ages. This year, the themes of the events in this programme are all related in one way or another to natural history, since 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the National Museum of Natural History, which is very popular among children.

The events calendar and the student programme were launched at a press conference attended by Dr Owen Bonnici, Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, and Dr Clifton Grima, Minister for Education, Sports, Youth, Research and Innovation.

Heritage Malta’s Chief Executive Officer, Noel Zammit, said that Heritage Malta’s events during the first half of the year sparked great interest and saw thousands of people flocking to the museums and sites under the agency’s wing. Heritage Malta is duty-bound to ensure that our nation’s stories are preserved for posterity and made accessible for everyone to experience and enjoy, and this calendar of events illustrates the agency’s endeavours to accomplish this mission.

Speaking about the Student Passport Summer Programme, Vanessa Ciantar, Heritage Malta’s Assistant Manager for Education and Thematic Events, gave an overview of this summer’s activities. She said that the programme aims to reach students of all ages and interests. Although the overriding topic is natural history, it will be tackled through different means, such as art, storytelling, model making, virtual reality, talks, and cave exploration. Students and their accompanying guardians will surely find something that kindles their interest, spurs them to help preserve the natural world, and strengthens their love of learning in a museum setting.

Year 6 students from the Vittoriosa Primary School were present at the press conference, participating in a typical hands-on summer programme activity which involved the baking of traditional Maltese biskuttini.

More information about Heritage Malta’s events calendar may be accessed here.

The full programme of the Student Passport Summer Programme activities may be accessed here.