Notte Bianca to take up more than a night and more of Valletta

The groundwork is being laid for the third edition of Notte Bianca, which has been scheduled for October 4, and is considered to be one of the most compact national-scale activities, with over 40 events in one city on one night.

A programme is already on the drawing board, and artistic director Peter Busuttil is inviting expressions of interest from potential participants and proposals of an artistic and commercial nature, as well as meeting the local community.

Meanwhile, he is not worried that the novelty of the event, which has already attracted thousands to the capital city, is starting to wear off. While he plans to stick to tried-and-tested, winning formulas, he is also concocting innovative concepts that should continue to see the crowds throng into Valletta and even spend the night.

In fact, the idea is to extend the event to span 24 hours, rather than have visitors leaving by around 1 a.m., with enough activities to keep them awake. Performances are being looped, so visitors need not rush to watch everything as there would the constant repeats.

Mr Busuttil is also trying to get hotels in the area to organise packages - "a sort of breakfast club" - that would encourage visitors to spend the night and not feel they have to start making their way home at some point. The idea is for Notte Bianca to spill into Sunday lunch.

Another aim is to extend the event to the whole of Valletta - from the bottom to the top and the east to the west coasts, with multiple entry points and events at each.

"The most you can walk with nothing happening around you would be 20 metres," Mr Busuttil said. "It is not about walking from one event to the other; you walk and the event comes with you."

As to the bottom of Valletta, the Lands Department in Auberge de Bavarie and its massive courtyard - one of the largest in the city - is for the first time being used for a tailor-made cultural activity, while its historical documents are being exhibited in its basement.

Halfway through the city, the Health Ministry in Merchants Street is also being put to a cultural use for the first time. The laboratory of Sir Temi Zammit, housed within it, is being opened to the public. Once the law courts, its underground cells may also be made accessible.

Castille has been opened to the public in the previous editions, so this year's Notte Bianca is planning to go a step further and talks are underway to clean and open up its underground areas.

Mr Busuttil, who has been outsourced by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, has taken on the logistical headache and intends to heighten the pain with "lots of activity".

He is planning the longest concert ever - 12 hours of pop and rock on a two-tier stage outside the President's Palace, which will see another first. Australian Pop Idol winner, Natalie Gauci, the first-generation Maltese singer, will be launching the album she is currently recording with Sony BMG on the Notte Bianca stage.

Mr Busuttil is also in talks with the family of renowned author Mikiel Spiteri (Kilin), who recently passed away, to organise a tribute, while visitors can stumble upon Richard III, shuffling across the road, as specific scenes from Shakespeare plays are being staged everywhere.

Notte Bianca is intended to bring the capital city alive - and that also applies to the monuments, with actors enacting the events that led to their creation.

The gastronomical side of the event is also being focused on, with a variety of cuisines on offer in their particular atmospheres to achieve the cosmopolitan vibe of other cities. Mr Busuttil wants to set up a Little Italy and a China Town, and have more space for people to sit down and wine and dine.

The Valletta Rehabilitation Project is also being involved, particularly in the lighting of parts of Valletta that are not properly lit.

The emphasis is on local and exported talent, and Mr Busuttil is also in talks with a number of musicians, actors and authors that have made it overseas.

He is also setting up a kids' park, where parents can literally "park" their children, who would be entertained by animators, while they indulge in their own fun. A beer garden and a wine house are being set up, while the widest area of Strait Street in front of Vincenti Buildings is being transformed into Triq iż-Żifna, a Latin and ballroom dance hall, where spectators can interact with the dancers.

Site specific dance choreography, using the capital's many steps, is also being worked on, while a play on Caravaggio, an itinerary production, is to start on one side of Valletta and end on the other, involving more audience interaction.

Religion being part of culture and in view of the Pauline Year, four localities that celebrate the feast of St Paul may create their festa atmosphere, together with those other feasts that are held in Valletta.

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