A hive of Malta's young creative talent

With departments covering everything from fine arts to 3D design, fashion design, journalism and performing arts among others, MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts is a hive of young, creative talent. Made up of 10 departments with courses at six levels, it allows students to enrol at any point, and provides unique insight into Malta's up-and-coming creative scene. 

This department of MCAST was set up in 2001, and is the only institute outside of the main Paola school, with some 800 students.

Director of Creative Arts Tyrone Grima says, "the most popular subjects at the moment are graphic design and creative media (filming, TV management, writing, editing, etc.)" - subjects which, with the increasing importance of the digital world, are very much on a par with today's reality.

The approach to teaching at MCAST is more of a hands-on practice method, as opposed to all theory. While the curriculum is quite strict, the brief of how to translate that is left in the expressive hands of the lecturers. To test their creativity, students are assigned live cases; real projects which they are then assessed on.

What is the reality for the future of post-grad MCAST students in Malta?

"There are different realities depending on the course taken. Some students go on to another institute to gain their Masters degree, while others immediately find directly related work, particularly in certain subjects such as graphic design and interactive media.

"Some of the more driven students go off and do their own thing. However, the student needs to be very creative and be willing to struggle a bit. Luckily, the Malta Arts Council is very helpful and encouraging.

"Then of course, there is always the reality that some students will find employment in a sector that's completely unrelated to what they studied, whereby they can still transfer the general skills that they learned throughout the course.

"We challenge students to break out of their comfort zone to avoid stagnation."

"Some of our students go abroad to broaden their horizons. We encourage these students to be humble in their approach. The arts are hard work, plus a little luck. We try to remind students that they're only as good as their last project. We challenge them to break out of their comfort zone so as to avoid stagnation."

Written by

Lisa Borain

Lisa is a copywriter/editor with an adventurous interest and penchant for all things Malta.