Children, young people and communities with disabilities have a right to culture and access to the Arts. Set up by the Malta Trust Foundation in 2021, Villabianca is a specialised music initiative based in Santa Venera (MT), aimed at benefiting individuals and communities with disabilities. Villabianca provides a space for music, and a rainbow of opportunities and futures to children, young people and communities that may have little access to artistic expression. Villabianca is founded on the belief that artistic experiences can help individuals to untap pathways of communication and self-expression, imparting a strong sense of empowerment and promoting self-reliance, thereby facilitating the individual’s active participation in the community. Its objectives are:
- to create individually-tailored pathways of adaptive music learning opportunities and music as therapy through sessions for children and young people;
- to foster musical exchange and provide quality musical programmes through professional support within diverse community contexts; and
- to enable training opportunities, mentoring and supervision for arts practitioners, educators and carers. The professional services offered by Villabianca include:
- adaptive music learning opportunities and music as therapy tailored to individually-assessed needs in one-to-one or group settings;
- community outreach programmes supporting diverse communities through short- and long-term exchanges;
- training opportunities for knowledge-sharing and capacity-building delivered by a network of international experts to support arts practitioners, educators and carers.
