This report is a result of the application of the value-based approach evaluation to the Creative Communities (CC) funding programme of the Arts Council of Malta. This is a funding programme aiming at boosting art and culture in the community through projects managed by voluntary organisations active in the local community.

The aim of the artists involved in the projects is to foster a combination of cultural (artistic) and social impact within the local communities. In order to understand the process through which the arts and culture transfer their positive effects within the local community, we needed to understand the process of realization of various cultural and social values.

The CC programme of Arts Council of Malta is involving various actors, all of whom participated in the process of engaging Maltese communities (across different social and age groups) in culture and art projects.

The findings of a desk research, focus groups and interviews with organisers of the CC programme of Arts Council of Malta, shows that in the context of the CC programme, arts and culture aim at pursuing values such as well-being, artistic quality, inclusion, social cohesion and trust. Well-being is articulated as experience of self-confidence and creativity, and skills and talent development; artistic value expresses through inspiration, experiment and new art form as well as through aesthetic experience and artistic quality; social cohesion as value translates in social innovation, identity and solidarity; inclusion into sense of belonging, collaboration, social diversity and acceptance; and trust is associated with safety, caring, respect and knowledge exchange.