Entertainer and TV presenter Ray Calleja has been awarded a €25,000 direct contract to oversee the artistic direction of the opening ceremony at November’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

A spokesman for the CHOGM task force confirmed that Mr Calleja has been given a direct service contract without tender.

According to the spokesman, the selection was carried out according to public procurement rules.

“This service is considered as a service for the production of programme material intended for broadcasting by broadcasters,” the spokesman explained.

In 2005, when the CHOGM summit was first held in Malta, the creation, artistic coordination and execution related to the opening ceremony was awarded by tender to Welcome Events – a consortium of various Maltese companies chaired by Lou Bondì. The government had budgeted some €115,000 for the opening ceremony .

Asked to explain why the CHOGM task force this time felt the need to specifically engage an artistic director, the spokesman said this was needed to organise all the opening ceremonies related to this event. 

“Mr Calleja’s responsibilities include the artistic concept that will allow Malta to portray itself artistically in the ‘show’ required for the opening ceremony and the coordination of all related material, personnel, artists and designers.”

Apart from the 30-minute official opening ceremony of the actual summit meeting, Mr Calleja will also be responsible for the opening ceremonies of the four fora related to the CHOGM dedicated to business, civil society, women and youth. However, these will be small-scale ceremonies.