L-Aħħar Festa – the Valletta 2018 official closing event – is currently underway in St George’s Square.

The official closing ceremony took place in Valletta’s St George’s Square, where Valletta 2018 chairman Jason Micallef passed on the baton to the next European Capitals of Culture, Matera and Plovdiv 2019.

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said Valletta 2018 made culture more accessible to everyone, with more than 400,000 people attending Valletta 2018 events.

“During this year, we have seen an unprecedented growth within our country’s culture sector. We have increased funding and investment within it, created new jobs, and provided opportunities to artists and above all, we brought culture closer to the people.”

Mr Micallef said that thanks to Valletta 2018, Malta’s capital was now known worldwide as one of the most innovative cultural cities and an inspiration to visit.

He said that the projects sown this year would hopefully reap fruit.

Activities on Saturday kicked off at 10am and will continue until midnight. The fringe events included a roundup of the year, with performances and installations from some of the projects in Valletta 2018’s cultural programme happening in the city’s main streets.

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