Michelle Castelletti has been appointed artistic director of the Malta Arts Festival, Toni Sant has been named artistic director of St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity while Mario Philip Azzopardi will take on the role of Valletta 2018 Foundation artistic director from January 1, the Malta Arts Council has said.

Following a Masters in Conducting in the UK, Dr Castelletti was appointed festival manager of Sounds New contemporary music festival in Canterbury.

Under her management, the festival won the Destination Canterbury Award for bringing the national and international recognition to Canterbury. Soon after her PhD, Dr Castelletti moved to Manchester where she was appointed artistic director at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Toni Sant will be the first artistic director of St James Cavalier.

He was the Director of Research at the University of Hull and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK. Dr Sant started his career as a professional broadcaster in Malta.

Finally, Mr Azzopardi is an artistic practitioner, director, administrator, producer and original creator of products and events.

When his original play Sulari fuq Strada Stretta was banned from the National Theatre due to censorship issues, he moved to Canada. The same play was successfully presented to sold-out houses at the Manoel Theatre 30 years after it was banned.

He has directed more than 300 hours of prime time American television for top US production houses. More recently he set up Staġun Teatru Malti, a private company that commissions, develops and produces plays in the Maltese language.