The state of art

Should not all our population rejoice at the news that one of Valletta's most prestigious car parks will be developed into a state of the art stand-up comedy club? Thankfully the car park will not be forgotten and will still retain some of its glorious space in the whole project. On the other hand the arts shall be far removed from all original plans, discussions and seminars held in the past 60 years or so. Surprisingly enough it took our government all this time to realise that it would have never been viable to rebuild the opera house into another theatre.

Jesmond Mugliett claimed that should the site have been developed into a theatre, the government would have to inject an additional Lm1 million to the cultural budget every year. Such statements seem to imply that the Maltese government is ashamed to invest more in culture. Considering that our total cultural budget is around Lm1.3 million, the government certainly cannot boast about its record in the cultural industry.

Investing in more physical structures may currently not be a necessity for the arts, however, thoughtful enhanced cultural investment is certainly called upon. Cultural investment is not merely about providing (limited) funds to cultural institutions but about ensuring that the appropriate resources and structures are developed to nurture and enhance the creative expression of the community.

Through its lack of commitment, vision and policy the government is not facilitating the accessibility of culture to society and is therefore not addressing key cultural issues within the European framework. The Europe of Cultures project created by the European Union aims at making people aware of the shared European culture, to foster cultural exchanges within Europe, enable the publics to get involved in European projects and make culture accessible to the greatest possible number of people (EU Commission document 2001).

Malta's genuine participation in such endeavours can only occur once the Maltese government considers culture as an ongoing investment in people's values, beliefs and expression. As witnessed in other European countries this could produce positive results in terms of the economical, educational and, above all, creative potential of the country. However, the government's main institution to manage cultural affairs has so far failed to achieve the latter results.

As stated in the working document for the creation of a cultural policy in Malta, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (MCCA) is Malta's "autonomous structure for promoting and implementing cultural policies in the spirit of government direction". The current mechanism of the MCCA cannot fulfil the government's ideal investment in the arts. The MCCA is still a re-branded government department with typical civil servants struggling through their work with limited motivation and inappropriate training in cultural management.

Other arts councils in Europe have set objectives to meet the needs of artists and develop all the arts through educational programmes, projects and initiatives to achieve artistic excellence and improve the quality of life for all through the arts. These objectives are certainly affected by the budgets allocated and the external funding raised by these European cultural institutions. The £60 million fund of the Scottish Arts Council or the €13.4 million fund of the Culture services of Cyprus, demonstrates not only state financial commitment towards the arts but also a determined vision in developing the identity of the country.

Malta's current cultural budget and policy give a clear indication that the government's concept of art is limited to patronising certain institutions and events rather than develop long-term projects such as outreach, arts in education and artist development programmes. I find it rather absurd that the MCCA never set any official consultation meetings with artists except for the carnival seminar held this year, which was organised thanks to the unstinting efforts of individuals outside the council.

We seem to have great skill at building structures like St James Cavalier, however we leave them struggling for survival. We are determined to ensure that the success of the MCCA lies in the hands of government-appointed board members irrespective of their personal agenda or experience. Above all, we are certain that the European Union will be our cultural saviour even though no initiative has been taken by the MCCA to ensure that Maltese artists have the necessary skills and resources to create arts foundations or associations to access these funds.

The way forward for the MCCA is to set clear objectives and initiate a synergistic communicative process with its stakeholders in order to achieve the cultural excellence deserved by the Maltese. It is highly irresponsible for the MCCA to continue using 50 per cent of its allocated budget on itself through salaries, bonuses etc and 25 per cent of its funding budget on the Eurovision Song Contest. Clear measures to fund groups and individuals must be established to ensure appropriate accountability whereas various initiatives such as public-private partnerships should be developed to ensure increased financial support.

The arts could serve as an ideal promotional tool for the country and Maltese representatives abroad must be encouraged by the council to develop projects which would enable an enhanced exposure of Maltese artists and their art rather than postulate the exceptionally rare ad hoc cultural happenings in Maltese embassies. The council must understand that its role is not merely for funding purposes but also to facilitate and foster the arts to the entire community.

Exciting educational programmes for the arts should be developed to expose the arts and encourage children to access the arts as a means of personal development and identity. This also implies that the arts need to be far removed from the high-culture-institutionalised settings but must be brought directly to the community in their centres, schools, squares and houses. The MCCA could easily make use of local councils to ensure accessibility and development of the arts in each locality.

With regard to cultural tourism, historical pageantry seems to be the only concept to be developed in Malta. The MTA have developed a number of successful projects to expose Malta's rich history; however, cultural tourism should go beyond the development of cultural heritage. An investment in the contemporary arts such as quality performances, concerts, exhibitions and festivals should also be a focal target of cultural tourism. Malta's only success story in quality large scale events is the Jazz Festival and the government should certainly capitalise on other similar opportunities. The arts have been central in developing cities like Edinburgh, Cork, Rotterdam and Salzburg into major cultural tourist destinations, apart from the positive outcome of such investment on local artists and the community.

I suspect that should one consider some of these proposals, the extra Lm1 million in the cultural kitty mentioned by Mr Mugliett may not be enough. Maltese governments always found themselves in a lacuna when dealing with culture, the reason being that the total expenditure in arts and culture are never translated into votes for any of the two parties. The government believes that it is more important to invest in itself by building a state of the art Parliament as a national monument of power rather than invest in a state which consolidates the creativity and expression of its people as a truthful demonstration of its national identity.