€225,000 spent on opening party at MICAS

A lavish party held last October to mark the delayed opening of Malta’s contemporary art centre in Floriana cost taxpayers a staggering €225,000.

No expense was spared for the two-hour event, hosted by Chairperson Phyllis Muscat, as Prime Minister Robert Abela and Minister Owen Bonnici unveiled their commemorative plaque to mark the occasion.

While the party was mostly attended by close collaborators of Muscat and the government, including many of the Mellieha businesswomen’s friends, it included a massive display of fireworks, flowing alcohol, displays by artists flown in for the occasion from abroad, and refined food.

So far, the government has not given details on which contractors benefited the most. When PN MP Bernice Bonello asked Parliament for a breakdown of the expenses incurred for the occasion, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici gave general figures without going into much detail.

However, even this ‘controlled’ information raised eyebrows about the waste of public funds for such a party.

Muscat spent more than €80,000 on what she described as ‘logistics for the party’ and another €79,000 on non-defined items.

With the approval of Minister Bonnici, Muscat also used some €45,000 from public coffers to hire artists for the two-hour party.

The grand opening of MICAS arrived more than three years later than scheduled.

Built using millions in EU funds, the contemporary art centre, based at the former Ozpizio in Floriana, originally had to open its doors in 2021 as part of the legacy connected to Valletta being the European Capital of Culture in 2018.

However, bad planning and management led to the centre’s building running constantly behind schedule, with many millions spent over and above the original estimated costs.

During the years, when the project was still in its infancy, Phyllis Muscat still spent many unaccounted-for public funds in hosting mega dinner parties to supposedly raise funds for the centre.

Through the ‘advice’ of one of the government-appointed board members, Malta’s Ambassador for Culture Francis Sultana, Muscat also commissioned international artists to produce specific works of art for the centre.

Incidentally, almost all the works of art, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands, were commissioned from clients of Sultana, who runs an art gallery in London owned by his long-term partner David Gill.

Sultana has never explained the conflict between his business interests and his role at MICAS, among others.

Apart from Muscat, the MICAS board includes Francis Sultana, Georgina Portelli, Claire Cassar, Gabriella Agius, Patrick Camilleri and Martin Scicluna.