The 2018 long-awaited eighth edition of the ŻiguŻajg International Arts Festival for Children and Young People kicked off on Friday 16 November.

ŻiguŻajg continues to cement itself within the national calendar as the go-to Festival of work for young audiences. This year’s edition boasts numerous productions by foreign and local performing arts companies, while ŻiguŻajg has collaborated with no less than five other public cultural organisations – Teatru Manoel, ŻfinMalta, Teatru Malta, Spazju Kreattiv and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra – to further enhance the repertoire.

The Festival opened with a bang at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, on Friday. Wearing beautifully-crafted head-dresses, Barra bid-Daqq, a collaboration between musical bands Perkuss’hawn Maracatu and KażinSka, performed, taking their joyous upbeat sounds to Castille Place.

Rupert Cefai, Chairman of Fondazzjoni Kreattività, and Daniel Azzopardi, Festival Director, officially opened the festival. “Year after year, ŻiguŻajg continues to bring great quality performances to thousands of children,” said Mr Cefai. “Fondazzjoni Kreattività is delighted to present another exciting edition of ŻiguŻajg.”

On his part, Mr Azzopardi added, “We’re excited to welcome over a hundred artists from Malta and from all over the world to be part of ŻiguŻajg, and to show the best children’s performances to children here in Malta.”

The atmosphere was excitingly festive, as children – donning masks they made themselves – gathered for the opening, before heading off to the launch performance of The Misadventures of Peer Gynt, a ŻiguŻajg collaboration with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Malta Youth Orchestra.

This year’s edition of ŻiguŻajg has adopted an environmental policy. Not only do some of the performances actively champion environmental awareness, but each host venue and location are providing divided bins while organisers are actively encouraging their patrons to recycle.

Given the festival’s overwhelming popularity, the majority of tickets were sold out within the first day of booking, however there are still tickets available for certain productions. Tickets for these may be booked through the website.

ŻiguŻajg is produced by Fondazzjoni Kreattività and will run from 16 to 25 November 2018. For tickets and more information visit www.ziguzajg.org.