Culture is knowledge

An independent study commissioned by the European Commission indicates that culture contributes 2.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and employs 5.8 million Europeans. The study was presented to a European Union Council meeting of Ministers of Culture at a meeting held in Brussels last week.

It is interesting to note that this sector is increasing its share of economic activity with a growth, between 1999 and 2003, which is 12.3 per cent higher than the growth of the European economy in general.

The study underlines the potential for creating more and better jobs in the future and confirms that culture and the arts are far from being marginal in terms of their economic contribution. Apart from having the potential of being a major employer, culture and the arts contribute to innovation and the economic and social development of the EU, its regions and cities.

It is known that countries which are at the forefront, competitive and economically successful are "knowledge societies". The future of any society will depend on how much it knows, what it can do and how well it does it.

A society which does not invest in culture, which is knowledge, is destined to structured pauperisation. I consider all money that is spent on culture a sound investment.

I drove this message home at the end of a seminar on EU funding opportunities for arts and culture organised last week by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts within my ministry.

These funds are meant for artists, musicians and others in the cultural sector to move freely and easily cross borders to gain inspiration and stimulate innovative creative connections. I believe that persons in the arts and in the cultural sector need to meet their international peers, exchange views, co-operate, influence and learn from each other.

Funding arts and culture of the different member states is part of the EU mission which obliges it to respect the diversity of culture and identities, and to promote culture through appropriate programmes and funding.

It was a joy for me to see that many people turned up for this event and participated proactively in the entire proceedings.

A living museum

Tas-Silg represents thousands of years of human history. It is a living museum of different eras going back to the second half of the third millennium before Christ to the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Romans and Christianity.

I had the opportunity to trace the history of Tas-Silg when I delivered the opening address during a seminar entitled "Tas-Silg: Its Past, Present and Future" organised by Heritage Malta at the Italian Cultural Institute last Thursday.

It was fitting that this seminar was organised at the Italian Cultural Institute. The beginning of these excavations followed a mission in 1962 by Michelangelo Cagiano de Azevedo, Professor of Classical Archaeological Studies at the Catholic University of Milan. From Azevedo's report it transpired that Malta was not only a unique place for megalithic complexes but had a great potential relative to the historic age.

As a result of this report, in 1963, an Italian archaeological mission carried the first excavation at Tas-Silg, San Pawl Milqi and Ras il-Wardija in Gozo. For the past 43 years, Italian archaeological missions headed by distinguished scientific researchers delved deep in our history and discovered remains that shed a light on our past and on that of the Mediterranean basin.

Tas-Silg is an archaeological workshop. It is situated in the south of Malta overlooking the magnificent harbour of Marsaxlokk which since time immemorial was one of our main harbours. During the second half of the third millennium before Christ a large megalithic temple was built on the hill overlooking the bay.

This temple survived several centuries of history, including the Phoenician and Carthaginian eras. It was surrounded with courtyards and porticoes reminiscent of the architectural styles prevalent in the fourth and third centuries before Christ. Other additions were made during the Roman period where the megalithic temple remained the centre of attraction as well as a sacred place.

The conversion of the Maltese Islands to Christianity led to the abandonment of this temple and later to the erection of the monastery inside the ruins of the temple. A baptismal trough surrounded by the remains of an intricate marble pavement was discovered in 1966 within the building.

Following the various Italian archaeological missions and various studies by Maltese archaeologists, I believe that it is now time to open the doors of this megalithic site to the world, but not before taking all the necessary precautions to preserve what has been excavated.

Dr Mario Tabone, chairman of Heritage Malta, expressed the same vision in his own inaugural remarks at the seminar.

It is worth recalling that Malta depends for a quarter of its livelihood on tourism. Cultural tourism is one of our major tourism segments. We all need to appreciate that Malta offers unique megalithic remains which are World Heritage sites. Tas-Silg groups together archaeological remains from different eras and these should help the Maltese people to become more acquainted with our history and heritage and the tourists who visit us to realise better the roots of mankind through the ages.

Latest on tourism

The news that the European Commission has given Malta the go-ahead to grant state aid to airlines creating new routes, even if expected, is welcome indeed.

It proves that Government has dealt with the whole issue of low-cost carriers judiciously. Only a few weeks ago, we had at least one person writing to the editor wondering what would happen to him in view of the fact that he had booked a low-cost flight before the government had the Commission's go-ahead! The truth is that we were doing our homework diligently and the European Commission's decision provides eloquent testimony in our favour.

I have just seen figures for passenger movements in the first three weeks of November as released by Malta International Airport. The bleak picture we had registered up to the end of October is being reversed.

Passenger movements for the first three weeks of November are 5.5 per cent up. Moreover, I am informed that during the same period, Ryanair flew in over 3,000 passengers from the UK and over another 1,100 passengers from Pisa. Interestingly enough, there is no passenger movement increase from the UK, which means that Ryanair's performance has made up for passengers the country would have lost had we not made the courageous decision to open up to low-cost carriers.

This also means that we are making progress on routes that do not depend (at least not totally) on the new low-cost operations. Italy, for instance, kept registering incredible growth and finally we have growth on Germany.

On Thursday, I visited the new Palace Hotel in Sliema, still under construction, which will be ready before summer. This project represents an investment of Lm9 million and is giving us 156 new rooms in the high-yield five-star sector. Between this year and 2009, total investment on new hotels or extensions will go beyond Lm100 million and the new properties place on the market no fewer than 5,000 new beds.

One final bit of news is that following a revaluation of how our Marketing Directorate should function, our former marketing director has called it quits. He is replaced by Joe Galea, who enjoys the trust of the industry not least because of his excellent track record as MTA director in Germany. I am grateful to Jeffrey Cutajar for the service he rendered to MTA during his term of office. Equally my gratitude and best wishes go to Joe. We are very much counting on your professional approach and performance.

info@franciszammitdimech.com, www.franciszammitdimech.com