Heritage Malta’s calendar of events for the second half of 2023 has been launched, offering a wide variety of activities and experiences to be enjoyed by people of all ages. Activities for this year’s Student Passport Summer Programme, have also been announced.
These details were given during a press conference which was attended by Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government Owen Bonnici and Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima.
Minister Owen Bonnici explained that Heritage Malta’s calendar for summer and autumn, targets the general public, with a total of 52 events ranging from educational activities to exhibitions. He praised the Student Passport Summer Programme, which includes various interactive hands-on experiences for children of all ages.
“This year, the themes of the events in this programme are all related in one way or another to natural history, since 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the National Museum of Natural History, which is very popular among children. This programme is also aimed at increasing accessibility to our cultural heritage among children and young teens during their school holidays,” concluded Minister Bonnici.
Minister Clifton Grima spoke about the importance of students remaining active during the summer holidays, while also enjoying some well-deserved rest after the academic year.
“It is important that students find time for everything, even for activities like these, which, while they are activities that increase knowledge, they are interactive activities in which the student can participate directly. The students and the adults who will accompany them in these activities will surely find something of interest, motivating them to help in the preservation of the natural world, and strengthens their love of learning in a museum environment, whilst also learning,” said Minister Grima.
Speaking about the Student Passport Summer Programme, Vanessa Ciantar, Heritage Malta’s Assistant Manager for Education and Thematic Events, gave an overview of this summer’s activities. She said that the programme aims to reach students of all ages and interests.
“Although the overriding topic is natural history, it will be tackled through different means, such as art, storytelling, model making, virtual reality, talks, and cave exploration,” Ms Ciantar explained.
Year 6 students from the Vittoriosa Primary School were present at the press conference, participating in a typical hands-on summer programme activity which involved the baking of traditional Maltese biskuttini.
