Ghaqda Madonna tal-Grazzja, Banda San Mikiel

‘Għaqda Madonna tal-Grazzja, Banda San Mikiel, Zabbar’, is a Maltese music school and social club. Band Clubs in Malta play an important role in the socio cultural life of towns or villages. Our primary role is a musical one. We provide music lessons free of charge for youths from Malta. As an organisation we play in various local events, including the annual feast of the locality and other festivals. A secondary role of our band club, which is still important, is the organisation of social events. The band club’s premises is a meeting place for locals who engage in activities related to the local village feast dedicated to the patron saint of the village. These activities extend to preparing elaborate street decorations and a youth section, which organises a number of activities all year round. In our activities we involve a number of youths, who are neither employment, education, or in training (NEETS). These persons have a lot to offer but they are afraid of the rigid education system. Also we have youths who excel in music but due to their difficulties in the education system will not continue to invest in their talents and skills. We try to assist and help these youths to enhance their talents. We emphasise on the need to collaborate with other organisations, in order to enhance the European dimension in the work we carry out. During these past twenty five years we also had the opportunity to give performances abroad in various countries including in Sicily (1991, 1994, 1995), Italy (1996), Greece (1997), Tunisia (1998), Switzerland (2000), Sicily (2004) and Poland (2005).