The replacement of the Museums Department by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Heritage Council has closely been followed by the replacement of the Department of Culture by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, a body first proposed by our intellectuals at least two decades ago. It is therefore highly welcome, but of course the public expects much of it.
The Department of Culture, now being phased out, did some good work for the performing and fine arts, but its power to produce radical policies was limited and it was handicapped by the rules and regulations of that civil service to which it belonged and by insufficient funding. The MCCA's brief is 'the promotion of culture within a wide perspective of socio-economic activity' and to make the arts and our cultural heritage more accessible and better known both in this country and abroad.
The first president is a manager and economist who has already stressed the importance of good marketing for our cultural products and "the need for business models to be introduced within certain organisations".
The importance of marketing and obtaining substantial sponsorships has already been recognised by some of the bodies now falling under the MCCA, such as the Teatru Manoel whose marketing of its products both here and in Europe has greatly developed during the last few years.
Marketing in overseas markets is also being undertaken by private bodies, such as the organisers of Victoria's Mediterranean Festival.
It would greatly help bodies in both public and private sectors to be given funds by the MCCA to develop their marketing programmes, and, in some cases, to get them started. Once the council appoints the various experts it will need it should provide cultural organisations with advice about marketing and public relations.
One trusts that the MCCA's CEO, a respected civil servant, will keep in mind the need to approach his relations with cultural bodies differently from those with public sector bodies.
One of the hardest tasks facing the MCCA is to help the increasing number of bodies in drama find the space they need for rehearsing and performing.
Bodies like the Dominican friars in Sliema who plan to develop their rundown theatres and others who wish to convert halls and open-air venues into theatres should be encouraged by being given not just advice but, when possible, funds. The founding or strengthening of drama groups in our villages needs to be fostered, and the mentality that anything outside the Teatru Manoel or St James Cavalier must be second-rate or third-rate must be destroyed.
Theatres and theatre spaces all over Malta and Gozo will help to produce that greater access to the performing arts Louis Galea wishes the MCCA to create.
He has said that theatre in Malta tends to be elitist, but he surely did not have in mind the shows put on, say, at the Catholic Institute's theatre, or even the farcical comedies at the Manoel. Everywhere in the world there are different audiences for different kinds of theatre. Malta needs a variety of venues where the different audiences can find their favourite show.