Master classes in expressive theatre and workshops on lighting and theatre techniques are among the activities planned for the summer programme at St James Creativity Centre, in Valletta.

The programme was launched yesterday. The master classes are being offered by the Creative Centre Foundation and will be open to Maltese actors.

The workshops will be open to those who would like to embark on a stage lighting career.

Adam Darius and Kazimir Kolesnik will lead the master classes in expressive theatre between August 23-26 and Thomas Feundlich will lead the workshops on lighting techniques between August 23-27.

The workshops and the master classes are sponsored by Lufthansa and Le Meridien Phoenicia and supported by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts.

Another interesting initiative being offered by the foundation is Artists in Residence. Through this initiative, three Maltese artists are being offered the possibility to follow a six-week programme at the Creative Arts Centre in Virginia in 2005.

The artists selected will have food and accommodation provided but they would have to finance their trip. Artists should fill an application form, obtainable from the centre together with a 500-word description of the project they would like to follow.

Other activities at the centre this summer include Dramafest 2004 between August 5-10. This festival is organised by the Drama Unit of the Education Department together with the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts. Seven different artistic works will be presented daily by Lemonhead, Icarus, StageBreeze, Playhouse, Urbania, Faces, Coccon, Du, Aleatea and Tony Cassar Darien. Each performance will be half an hour long with the first starting at 7 p.m., the last at 10.30 p.m.

There will also be the Young Cavalier's Club, an initiative to attract children to the centre once or twice a week. Qualified animators will spend three hours with the children engaged in a variety of activities including crafts and theatre.

Summer school is also being organised once again this year.

Both the summer school and the club are partly sponsored by Bank of Valletta.

Films will also continue to be screened at the theatre's cinema daily at 7 and 9.30 p.m. The cinema shows include a new release each month with this month's being The Magdalene Sisters and next month's Girl from Paris. Between August 26-29, the second Gay Film Festival will be organised.

For September, the foundation is planning to screen a series of short documentaries from the series 11.09.01 on the effect of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

The centre will also be organising a Christmas Arts Fair to encourage people to give Maltese works of art as Christmas presents.

The centre will be offering Maltese artists the opportunity to exhibit their wares between November 13 and December 13.

It is also launching a Journalists Culture Card so that accredited journalists or art critics would be able to attend activities at the centre free and report on them.

Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said St James had filled a void in cultural development.

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