Fourteen-year-old Jamie Cardona is one of the main movers behind the first edition of teen arts weekend #malteen. Marc Buhagiar picks his brain about the importance of encouraging a love for the arts.

“Art is a way of expressing yourself. Art gives you self-confidence.”

These very bold words that are uttered by 14-year-old Jamie Cardona, a budding actor who is working with a team of professionals and other teens on #malteen, an upcoming teen arts weekend that is being launched for the first time this month.

Cardona has been acting on stage since the tender age of four.

“I always liked the arts; they have become part of my life,” he says with much enthusiasm.

His passion for the theatre started when he used to watch drama programmes on television as a young child that made him realise that he wanted to try his hand at acting. Since then, Cardona has appeared in a number of local plays such as Il-Kappillan ta’ Malta, L-Indemonjati and Jien inħobb, inti tħobb. He has also won a prize for best student in his category from the Lifelong Learning Directorate.

At the moment he’s dedicating most of his time and effort to make sure that #malteen is a huge success.

“The aim of #malteen is for teenagers to find creativity in themselves,” says Cardona. As the name suggests, #malteen is a weekend aimed at Maltese teens aged between 13 and 17, who are part of different youth groups and organisations. Its purpose is to introduce teenagers to the world of art through a number of different fun activities and is being organised by St James Cavalier Centre of Creativity in collaboration with Fondazzjoni Ċelebrazzjonijiet Nazzjonali and Aġenzija Żgħażagħ.

The weekend is jam-packed with engaging activities that will expose teenagers to a variety of art forms in a fun and exciting way such as music concerts, dance installations, theatre productions, scriptwriting workshops, human board games and abseiling, among other things. Cardona hopes that all the teenagers attending the weekend will enjoy the weekend and leave with a smile, having met new people and made new friends.

Most of Cardona’s work for #malteen is focused on the theatre aspect of the weekend. According to him teenagers want something they can relate to, so the focus has to be on the experiences that teenagers go through during their teenage years.

#malteen addresses the experiences and challenges that teenagers face and promises to give teenagers more self-confidence to tackle issues such as peer pressure through the arts. Through the arts, #malteen encourages teenagers to feel comfortable in their own skin.

“I’ve always believed that art helps you find yourself since aged about four. Art helps you build self-confidence and it helps you develop your character. The feeling it gives you is indescribable.”

Cardona believes that many teenagers aren’t particularly interested in the arts, but he hopes that #malteen will change their approach.

“At first,when students from schools come to see a play they start making fun of everything. But when they see that it affects them personally, that this is presenting a set of situations that could happen to them, then they become engrossed in it,” he says.

The aim of #malteen is for teenagers to find creativity in themselves

Cardona uses the example of #babydaddy, a play which was part of the Żigużajg Arts Weekend for Children and Young People, and which also features in #malteen.

#babydaddy is a play which presents the reality of teenage pregnancy as the father, who is currently studying for his exams, discovers that he got his ex-girlfriend pregnant.

“Teenagers are exposed to scenarios that they can go through themselves in the future. As with #babydaddy... anyone could potentially go through that experience at some point or another.”

According to Cardona another factor that determines how well teenagers react to a play is its ability to make them laugh. “I think what most teenagers want out of the theatre is a good laugh. Teenagers go out and meet each other to have fun and the theatre can offer that entertainment.”

One thing that Cardona does try to take an initiative with is teen presence at the theatre, always doing his best to drag as many friends as possible with him to the theatre. He says that Valletta is full of teenagers on a Saturday night and that there is no reason why they can’t be enticed to spend their time at artistic productions.

#malteen will also include a camping/brainstorming activity which Cardona will also be taking part in. The activity will see tents set up outside St James Cavalier with participants working on a three-minute film which will premiere at the #malteen closing party.

Cardona is one of eight teenagers who will be brainstorming and acting out scenes for the film with the guidance of a group of professionals. “I’ve never been camping, so I’m really looking forward to it,” he says.

His greatest fear? That someday he might lose interest in doing what he loves.

#malteen is on between Friday and next Sunday at St James Cavalier Centre of Creativity, Valletta.

www.sjcav.org