The Minister for Gozo, Giovanno Debono has inaugurated an exhibition of art and sculpture related to the Olympic Games, which are being held in this year in London. This exhibition has been organised by the Malta Olympic Committee in collaboration with the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Craft, in Ghajnsielem.

This initiative seeks to encourage National Olympic Committees to promote active synergy between art and sport at both national and international levels. For this purpose the Maltese Olympic Committee is participating in the fourth edition of the IOC Sport and Art Contest which had been incepted in the year 2000.

This event is held every four years and is part of the celebrations for the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in this year.

The competition has taken place in two phases. A national phase which should be completed by the end of February 2012 and an international phase which will take place from March to June 2012.

The competition include two categories which are sculptures and graphic works (paintings, drawings, engravings etc).

The theme of the contest is ‘Sport and the Olympic Values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.’.Many of the works on display were submitted by among others, students and teachers from both the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Craft and MCAST.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Gozo Minister praised the participants and also acknowledged the work of the Gozo Centre for Art and Craft over recent years in succeeding to attract a steady increase in interest from hundreds of Gozitan participants for its courses every year.

The Minister stated that despite the small size of the island, Gozo not only increased awareness and participation in cultural activities, it also improved their level with competitions at both National and International level now being held in Gozo.

“This was not done by chance but is a result of initiatives, learning opportunities and training that have been offered over recent years, ” the Minister said. While also congratulating all participants the Minister wished well to the artists whose work may be selected to represent the country at an exhibition of the winning works during the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London.

Malta’s Ammbassador to Jordan and Director of the Malta Olympic Committee, Mr. Anthony De Bono, who had the task of organising this competition, along with Mr. Joseph Cassar, Secretary General of the Olympic Committee, showed their appreciation to all who contributed to this competition to make it a success and mentioned especially the support of the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Art and Design and the Gozo Centre for Arts and Crafts. Included with these thanks were also two professional artists Luciano Micallef and Eman Grima who made up part of the jury.

The exhibition will remain open in the Exhibition Hall of the Ministry for Gozo in St Francis Square, Victoria, until Friday, the 20th of January 2012 and will then move to Malta at the Ministry for Education in Valletta.

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