PREMJU NOMINATION
BEST CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISE
SAYDON STUDIO
CONTENT DISCLAIMER
This website contains resources and media to support the Premju Għall-Arti nomination. All content, be it text, images, music or videos- belongs to Luke Saydon and co-creators. Despite there being photo permissions for every item on this page, those permissions were gathered for the particular project and not for general distribution. Kindly avoid unauthorised sharing, respecting our copyrights. Your confidentiality safeguards our creativity and our communities.
Thank you for understanding.
© Luke Saydon 2023
SAYDON STUDIO
CREDITS BETWEEN 1.10.21 - 31.08.23
Saydon Studio is a musical theatre collective founded in 2022. Founded by Luke Saydon, it is a place where ideas can play unrestricted. Saydon Studio is not just the platform for Luke Saydon’s work, but also the creativity of an entire company of practitioners.
Despite over 51 practitioners who have now worked with Saydon Studio, the constant practitioners involved in almost every project are Luke Saydon (producer/creative), Emma Micallef (project manager), Sean Borg (marketing), Matteo Depares (sound engineering).
In its one year of existence, Saydon Studio is already the producer name behind 10 projects that ran in Malta. These projects include:
IT-TEATRU TAL-MISKIN
Saydon Studio, September 2023 - November 2023
IT-TEATRU TAL-MISKIN is a new Maltese musical that premiered in September 2022, written, composed and produced by Luke Saydon. The piece reached out to over 1,400 audience members and participants, but more importantly actively involved 113 young people in the writing and development of it.
Brought to life by a cast who identify as members of the LGBTQI+ community, the musical is a queer coming of age story about intolerance, innate hatred and fear of “the other”. The piece actively tackles gay hate crimes, LGBTQI+ acceptance in Malta, hate speech, freedom of expression, and LGBTQI+ visibility in the arts.
The Times hailed the production as “the best thing to happen to Maltese theatre this year (2022)… packing theatre to the brim, with audiences transfixed, shattering the earth in its wake.”
Find here a review for Teatru tal-Miskin from the Times of Malta
Find here a review for Teatru tal-Miskin from Ramona Depares
Find here a review for Teatru tal-Miskin from Lovin' Malta
Find here a collection of reviews and social media posts about Strand 6 - It-Teatru tal-Miskin
Find here for a list of participant and audience numbers involved in Programm tal-Miskin
Find here for a list of creatives involved in Programm tal-Miskin
These videos have English subtitles. Press CC to access.
IL-PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN
Saydon Studio, May 2022 - November 2023
Headed by Saydon Studio, il- Programm tal-Miskin was a multi-disciplinary programme of events across Malta and Gozo, focused on celebrating the presence, visibility and social relevance of the LGBTQI+ community- also produced by Luke Saydon. It involved an outreach project with the young LGBTQI+ community, an education programme for young theatre makers, the making of a podcast of Maltese queer stories, an art exhibition for young upcoming queer visual artists and post show Q&A’s.
IL-KOMUNITA' TAL-MISKIN
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 1
A series of workshops with the young LGBTQI+ community to inspire and develop the new Maltese musical Teatru tal-Miskin. Target communities included working with members of the LGBTQI+ community, students in secondary and tertiary education levels and voluntary organisations who work with young people- all of which are at the forefront of LGBTQI+ conversations. It-Teatru tal-Miskin had to be a platform for the concerns and thoughts of this community, therefore their voice had to be present. Workshops included writing camps, focus groups, feedback sessions, informative sessions about the arts, sessions with youth workers and complimentary ticket offers for the show. The strand also ensured a partnership with the European Union Year of Youth to establish widespread (and international) awareness.
(Total of 65 participants in this strand)
L-ISKOLA TAL-MISKIN - WORKSHOPS
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 2
3 workshops about queer theatre were delivered to drama students from Malta and Gozo where aspects of our unique theatre making process were also shared with young people. The workshops were entitled “theatre as an activist”. Young people with no experience of the arts were also invited through an open call. Their involvement ensured a fresh take on classical theatrical techniques marrying up social commentary with art.
(Total of 48 participants in this strand)
L-ISKOLA TAL-MISKIN - INTERNSHIPS
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 3
Following the involvement of the above community, 6 young people (under 25s) were invited to be present in the rehearsal room for it-Teatru tal-Miskin (Strand 6). Through an application process, 6 young creatives from different disciplines (acting, writing/directing, tech, stage managing, composing/ sound, dance) saw the production through from rehearsals to production, were mentored by the professional company and harvested this sense of intergenerational skills being explored and implemented in the piece.
(Total of 6 participants in this strand working with 32 professional creatives)
L-ISTEJJER TAL-MISKIN - PODCAST
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 4
Following the research phase of Teatru tal-Miskin, we adapted the heartfelt stories of young LGBTQI+ members into a powerful podcast, bridging the gap to the wider community who couldn't participate. Participants used their own voices and shared their stories. Piece of music from the musical were included to create a one of a kind merge of theatre and spoken history. Our program marked a pioneering effort, documenting the untold Maltese LGBTQI+ narrative in unprecedented detail. It's a beacon for future generations to learn from, be inspired by, and cherish.
(Total of 10 participants in the making of the podcast and 129 streams of the podcast)
L-ISTEJJER TAL-MISKIN EXHIBITION
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 5
All the input to the programme shaped Teatru tal-Miskin which in itself was a work of art. However, aspects of the community could not be highlighted in this one piece (one such example is the Maltese queer feminine experience). Therefore, an open call was issued for artistic members of our community to commission three works of art that sparked questions, emotions and conversation about aspects of our community. These queer artists were Sam Vella, Matteo Pullicino and Klonn. The programme enabled their work to be exhibited in three venues across Malta and Gozo.
(Total of 3 artists and over 1,300 visitors to the exhibitions)
CREATIVE Q&A - Taħdita Teatru
PROGRAMM TAL-MISKIN STRAND 6
As the show toured 3 theatres in Malta and gozo, a public Q&A session was organised, providing another opportunity for community members not directly involved in the earlier phases to provide feedback and engage with the production. This early engagement allowed us to address any immediate topics, discussions, or reactions, ensuring that the community continued to play a central role in shaping the piece.
(Total of 30 attendees)
KOR KWIR
EuroPride 2023 - April- August 2023
KOR KWIR is Malta’s first queer community choir. Musically led by Luke Saydon and co-arranged by Matteo Depares, this choir is a unique safe space for people to come be who they want to be, feel warmly welcomed and express themselves through the joy of music. This non-audition choir met bi-monthly from April to August, building a new community of queer singers in preparation for EuroPride. (Over 120 participants)
TLAQNA
A Cabaret to Launch Saydon Studio
August 2022
To celebrate the launch of an exciting new theatre collective, an evening of musical theatre was held at StoreRoom, Gżira. The event brought in well over a 150 audience members and 7 performers. The night was part cabaret, part launch, part open mic night and also a networking event. Creatives who follow Saydon Studio’s work come from every generation. Therefore this event provided a space for new creatives on the scene to network with artistic directors, theatre owners and producers all of whom came to support.
IT-TEATRU TAL-MISKIN PUBLISHED SCRIPT
August 2022- ongoing
In August 2022, Saydon Studio was awarded support from the Malta Book Fund to release the published script of Teatru tal-Miskin. This ongoing project kicked off in August. The publication will also include a comprehensive guide of how we as an independent theatre collective went about creating such a successful piece. This contributes further to the mission of our production towards the empowerment of the young theatre makers of our country.
THE GOZO CHILDREN'S THEATRE PROJECT
November 2022, July 2023
Over the course of the year, Saydon Studio established an artistic residency with the San Lawrenz Council in Gozo, working very closely with mayor Noel Formosa. Through our partnership, Saydon Studio has delivered over 5 workshops to children who do not have automatic access to the arts or theatre training. Through puppetry workshops, singing workshops, movement workshops - Saydon Studio in collaboration with the council are providing (free) access to the arts to young children in a locality where drama classes are not usually there.
Thank you for your consideration.