Promised Bruno Mars concert backfires despite €1 million public allocation

The government’s decision to earmark almost €1 million in taxpayer funds for a proposed Bruno Mars concert has descended into confusion after it emerged that no contract exists with the international superstar or his representatives, casting serious doubt over whether the concert will ever take place.

Multiple sources told The Shift that the highly anticipated concert, for which Festivals Malta approved a public allocation of €980,843 under its Large Scale Events Support Scheme, is now increasingly unlikely to happen.

The allocation was awarded to GMED Projects Ltd and Media Exclusive Ltd, companies linked to some of Malta’s best-known entertainment promoters. GMED is co-owned by Daniel Farrugia, the partner of Equality Minister Rosianne Cutajar, together with Owen Spiteri and Edward Curmi, the owners of G7 Events. Farrugia has been a partner of G7 before he started dating Minister Cutajar.

The revelation has triggered alarm among senior officials at Festivals Malta, who are questioning how such a substantial allocation was approved without the agency first seeing a signed agreement with the performer.

According to sources, officials are struggling to establish on what basis the funding was granted and who authorised the allocation, with the controversy exposing growing tensions between Festivals Malta, the Arts Ministry and the Office of the Prime Minister.

Sources told The Shift that organisers are now scrambling to secure an alternative international artist in an attempt to retain the public funding already allocated for the Bruno Mars concert.

Discussions are understood to be underway to replace Mars with another headline act rather than forfeit the grant, raising fresh questions about whether public funds awarded for one specific event can simply be transferred to a completely different concert without a fresh evaluation. This can ammount to misappropriation of public funds.

Officials at both Festivals Malta and the Arts Ministry are privately distancing themselves from the controversy, insisting that decisions on the largest allocations under the scheme were taken at Castille rather than by the cultural agency itself.

The Shift sent detailed questions to Arts Minister Malcolm Agius Galea, who is politically responsible for Festivals Malta, asking who approved the allocations, who sat on the evaluation board, whether the agency had verified the existence of contracts with performers before approving public funds, and whether promoters would be permitted to substitute artists while retaining their grants.

No reply was received.

Separate questions were also sent to Owen Spiteri of GMed and G7 asking whether a Bruno Mars concert would still take place this year or next, why almost €1 million in public funds had been allocated if no contract existed with the artist, and whether another performer was being lined up to replace Bruno Mars.

He also failed to reply.

The controversy extends beyond the Bruno Mars allocation.

The Shift is informed that similar concerns have emerged over the government’s €1.52 million allocation towards a proposed Paul McCartney concert through Greatt Company Ltd, the largest single grant under the scheme. Greatt is owned by former PN and PBS official Anton Attard, whose company has for years organised large-scale events in Malta, many of them backed by public funds.

Sources said officials have also been unable to establish that a firm commitment exists for the former Beatle to perform in Malta despite the substantial allocation approved under the scheme.

The government announced almost €9.4 million in subsidies earlier this year through Festivals Malta’s Large Scale Events Support Scheme. Besides Greatt, the largest beneficiaries included GMED Projects Ltd, Media Exclusive Ltd, Plus356 and NNG Promotions, with several companies reaching the scheme’s maximum allocation through multiple successful applications.

When the allocations were first announced, The Shift revealed that taxpayers would be subsidising commercial ticketed concerts while private promoters retained all ticket revenues.

The latest revelations raise an even more fundamental question: whether millions in taxpayer funds were committed to headline concerts before the government had secured firm contractual commitments from the artists themselves.

Neither Festivals Malta, the Arts Ministry nor the Office of the Prime Minister has explained what due diligence was carried out before the allocations were approved, whether proof of signed contracts was required, or whether safeguards exist to withdraw the grants if the promised concerts fail to materialise.