A roller coaster around the capital, a water fight at the Palace Armoury and a water slide in St George’s Square would be a perfect way to celebrate Valletta as Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2018, according to nine-year-old children.
The Valletta 2018 Foundation is carrying out workshops for Grade 5 schoolchildren as part of its awareness building campaign and also to encourage participation in the events to be held in the run-up to the year in which Valletta will take its prestigious title.
Actors Malcolm Galea and Joseph Zammit, who are coordinating the workshops, were surrounded by eager students of St Theresa College, Santa Venera.
“So, does anyone know what’s the big thing happening in 2018?” asked Mr Galea.
One boy solemnly announced that 2018 will spell the end of the world.
He was quickly shouted down by his classmates, who pointed out that it was the year when Valletta would be the cultural city of Europe.
The animators started quizzing them about culture: “When I was your age, if someone asked me what culture is I would have stared blankly at them, do you know what it means?”
All hands went up again, shouting: “It’s history!” “It’s museums!” “It’s traditions!”
We just want to engage the public to debate art and culture
One boy stood up and, in a serious tone, described culture as “Rispett bla ġlied” (respect without fighting), which the animator – rendered speechless for a minute – termed as a brilliant slogan for a battle.
Discussion moved on to our food culture: prinjolata (carnival cake), pastizzi (cheesecakes), timpana (pasta pie) and figolli (typical Maltese Easter sweet).
Did anyone know which types of food could certainly not be termed as cultural?
“Yes, Mc Donald’s!”
“Pizza by Luca”
The aim of the workshop was for children to come up with ideas for V-18 celebrations.
“The best ideas will be realised and then when you’re old you can tell your grandchildren that you came up with the idea,” said Mr Galea.
Another hand went promptly up: “Sir, we don’t say old people, we say senior citizens.”
The students were then divided up in teams and ideas started flowing: setting up the biggest ice cream in the world; no school lessons; an underground mine cart from Valletta to everywhere; free Lamborghinis for everyone; a huge water slide; a zoo on a boat; glittery għonnelli and a competition for who eats the most pastizzi.
The children will have to wait a while until they get to know whether their idea has been chosen but they were invited to visit Valletta on May 18, when an Imagine 18 expo will be held at the Manoel Theatre.
“The public will also have the opportunity to propose new projects for the V-18 cultural programme and, during the same event, interested individuals will have the opportunity to enrol to form part of the volunteer programme,” said Edward Bonello, V-18 communications director.
“We just want to engage the public to debate art and culture and to participate in a direct manner in Valletta’s European Capital of Culture project,” he added.
As the students cheered at the idea of a fight with water pistols at the Palace Armoury and a water slide installed at St George’s Square, the V-18 team was assured of the children’s willingness to take part.