GozoNews.Com

A group of 15 students from the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts in Ghajnsielem Gozo left for Austria this week.

They are on an 8-day trip which will see them visiting Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and the Czech Republic. This is the first time that the Centre has embarked on a student exchange programme.

The students, who are currently studying lace, candle works, thread filigree and traditional gold embroidery, are being hosted by the Landwirtschaftliche Fachschule Freistadt boarding school in Austria and are being presented with a unique opportunity to learn about the Cottage Industry and other traditivonal crafts practised in these areas. Students will have the possibility of further exchanging ideas and learn more about marketing techniques employed overseas for improved exposure of local artefacts.

This visit will later be reciprocated by a group of 17 Austrian students who will be visiting Gozo in May.

The Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts is presently undergoing extension works through an EU co-funded project that also includes the construction and setting up of a Crafts Incubation Centre. In the last two years, the centre also benefited from the European Social Fund with additional courses organised for the first time in Gozo. Currently, there are more than 1,100 students of all ages benefiting from the educational opportunities on offer at the Wistin Camilleri Gozo Centre for Art and Crafts