St James Cavalier succeeds on every front

St James Cavalier in Valletta is gaining in the popularity stakes and in the past year witnessed a marked increase in the number of performances, exhibitions, films and attendances.

The centre's first annual report, released yesterday, showed that the number of exhibitions shot up from 19 to 25 between September 2003 and last month.

Cinema attendances also went up to just over 12,000 during the period under review, as opposed to 9,000 the previous year.

The past theatrical season was also a good one as St James registered an increase in both theatre productions, up to 21 from 15, and theatre attendances, up to 11,000 from 8,000.

The biggest increase was in the number of music performances, which shot up to 40 from 21, which in turn affected the number of attendances, which nearly doubled to 27,000 from just over 15,000.

The report, which released the figures for the first four years since St James was set up, showed a slight dip in attendances and performances in the second year.

Centre general manager Chris Gatt explained that in the first year the team at St James had hit the road running, so the following year provided the perfect opportunity to step back and assess the situation before again embarking on an intensive programme of activities.

Speaking at a press conference to launch the report, centre chairman Michael Fenech said that before St James opened its doors there was cautious optimism and many had feared it would turn out to be a white elephant.

"Today, we are proud to present statistics that are showing a consistent increase in terms of popularity and attracting new audiences," he said.

Mr Fenech also spoke on the development of the new Website as well as future services, such as booking online and the creation of an online catalogue for local artists to exhibit their work and expose their creativity.

Meanwhile, Mr Gatt spoke on the centre's role to create an environment where up-and-coming theatre companies could stage their work and serve as a platform for new talent.

The centre was also working to strengthen the relationship between the worlds of business and the arts to determine new ways of helping one another.

Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said it was a great satisfaction to see that the vision for St James Cavalier had materialised and was serving its function to stimulate new talent and creativity.

This season's events include an international poetry festival between Tuesday and Thursday, as well as a multimedia solo performance called Arab, directed and written by Egyptian Nora Amin on Saturday and Sunday.

Also lined up is the first Chinese film festival, Anton Chekhov's work Chaika translated into Maltese and called il-Gawwija (The Seagull), which will be staged in November.

There will also be an interesting array of theatre productions, exhibitions and films.

www.sjcav.org