How did this grant contribute to the realization of your project in regard to artistic exchange, local cultural development and/or the promotion of cultural diversity?

I have met a lot of local artists at the conference and through MUZA and I am thinking about exchanging skills about digital archiving and mapping with them. We have conceptualised a few participatory projects with them – from HABATA (door handles) that are part of every home and so, both private and public landscape to branding design with MUZA's communities. This design can be utilised for analogue and digital sphere simultaneously and so, engage intergenerational audience as well as minorities - the refuges and asylum seekers that recently arrived to Malta.

How does exchange, networking and international contacts contribute to the development of your artistic and cultural project?

My artistic practice depends on the international contacts as I have been born in one country where I started my artistic practice and I continued to develop professionally in another. I have therefore relied on the bridging of cultures as a catalyst to the positionality and production in my work for two decades now, enriching the practice by different influences in technique, form and traditions.

Can you elaborate on the learning and knowledge you have gained and shared throughout this experience?

Valletta has suffered an increase in property value in the last few years. The city artists suffer greatly from the rocketing prices of the smallest portions of land in this historic area. The number of the newly built houses and the presence of the foreign investors forges a tension in the local community who is at risk of homelessness and dislocation due to the lack of the municipal protection. The artists are on the side of the indigenous Valletta population they are often descendants of and are trying to convince the local and national government to control the building in the city as well as the prices of the properties for the sake of wellbeing of all residents in this urban environment.

Please indicate a link to your current work (website/facebook page)

https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/people/nela-milic