The Teleportal. Photo: FinePixel Media

Year 5 students at St Thomas Moore College, Fgura, recently took part in a creative project under the guidance of artists Anna Formosa, Justin Galea and Jo Tabone.

Titled Fgurin Kburin, the project focused on the theme of local identity and culiminated in a performance within the school grounds that was attended by parents and other guests.

Work on the project started months earlier with the support of funding programme Kreattiv. Thanks to the initiative, students explored Fgura in the past and the way it has evolved, besides discussing how they would like their locality to be shaped in the future.

In order to explore the past,three famous personalities from Fgura were invited to talk to the students. Father Timotju Azzopardi was the first parish priest of Fgura, Emanuel Darmanin, a former school headmaster, and Eman Bonnici who explained how the town got its name and talked about the discovery of the Punic tombs in Fgura, shedding light on how people on the island lived in ancient times.

To discover the present, students were encouraged to experience their outside surroundings, while the futuristic aspect of the project took on an interesting twist with various fantasy and sci-fi ideas.

Among the more interesting suggestions for a future Fgura, students mentioned the introduction of an underground carpark and a park with lots of trees and flowers where the locals could have picnics and a health clinic.

For the performance, students were then divided into three teams, each of which worked closely with one of the participating artists.

Formosa, who was in charge of drama, worked on a narrative of the piece. Galea worked with the students to create the musical backdrop, the theme song and to design the sound. Tabone worked with the third team to create the set and props.

The outcome was a performance which revolved around the reactions of Fgura residents to over-development in the area; a strong element of sci-fi crept in with the protagonists abandoning Fgura to set up home on another planet, only to discover that there’s no place like home. The production ended with a song penned by the students themselves.

To complement the performance an exhibition featuring photos taken during the project and samples of the work undertaken by the students was put up.

Formosa, who was also the leader of the artistic team, explained that the idea was not simply that of producing a performance, but also to make sure participants took ownership.

“We also wanted the theme to have relevance for them. Hence, we merely created the platform for them to develop it. We hope the students have not only improved their skills in drama, music and art and other aspects that come part and parcel of this process, such as teamwork and confidence, but also learnt how to appreciate and feel part of their local community.”

Headmaster Lorian Busuttil Naudi spoke of the importance of the involvement of students in such projects.

“Creativity is one of the most fundamental aspects of self-development, which is why our school gives a lot of importance to this field.”