A front-page report carried in The Times (January 9) informed readers that a think-tank has been set up to formulate "a road-map" for the future of culture in Malta and "to contribute to the development of a national cultural policy".
Malta has suddenly been made to realise by the European Commission that the contribution of culture and the arts to Malta's economy is the lowest in the EU, representing 0.2 per cent to the country's GDP. The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, quoted by The Times, implies that this is due to a lack of a national cultural policy. He was reported as saying that the development of a national cultural policy has long been in the making but never materialised. This is incorrect and the ministry should be looking elsewhere to account for Malta's low performance in the cultural and artistic sector.
Malta has had a formal document on its cultural policy since 2001. The document, issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the time, where I had been serving within the Policy Unit since 1998, was distributed for national discussion after more than two years of widespread consultation with cultural stakeholders. The policy document was then evaluated meticulously in 2002 by a group of European experts from Britain, Germany, Italy, Finland and Romania, hosted in Malta by the ministry.
The group of experts acclaimed the policy and made their own recommendations after meeting scores of artists, directors, writers, dancers, performers, entertainers, academics, broadcasting coordinators, curators, senior tourism officials, ethnographers, librarians, linguists, museum directors, art educationists and formations of young people representing alternative culture.
In October of the same year, Malta's cultural policy review, containing 63 recommendations for implementation, was presented at a plenary session of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The experts had summoned the Maltese government to start implementing the cultural policy systematically. Following further consultation, based on the debate that had ensued after the publication of the first document by the ministry and the European experts' review, Malta's cultural policy was revised to include aspects related to prospects for the film industry, intellectual property and the music industry, including the production of rock music in Malta. The revised version remained unpublished.
While the updating of policy is imperative, Malta does not need to reinvent the wheel. A cultural policy exists and what is needed is direct action. Four years ago, the European experts reviewing Malta's discussion document acclaimed the policy's acute vision, forwarded their own suggestions and hoped that the policy would be "costed and time-tabled for implementation".
Vital strategic actions contained within the original policy document published by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2001 included the establishment of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (MCCA); the creation of an operating agency (Heritage Malta) for the surveillance and development of heritage sites; a Malta Crafts Council; a National Book Council; a Council for the Development of the Maltese Language (to include schemes for translation) as well as recommendations for inter-ministerial and corporate action, to be instigated by the Centre for Creativity and involving local councils.
The document also focused on the absolute need for professional training in cultural management, an aspect that has been consistently ignored or shelved.
But other actions prompted specifically by the cultural policy document of 2001 have been taken (for example, the establishment of the MCCA, Heritage Malta, the Crafts Council, the Book Council and others), so it is very strange that the public is now being told that a think-tank has been set up to "contribute to the development of a national cultural policy".
It is also very strange that not a single reference is being made regarding the policy document of 2001 or the European experts' review and recommendations of 2002.
In addition, it should also be said that, once established in 2003, the MCCA had launched what was then called its first Three-Year Strategic Plan for the Arts, which saw the setting up of no fewer than 16 sub committees to cater for and develop respective art forms, including religious ritual. The MCCA had called a series of think-tank sessions but then all sub committees were abolished for lack of initiative and complete inaction. That is precisely where one should look for the problem, namely a chronic reluctance for implementation in the medium and long terms.
The projects lined up for implementation by the MCCA between 2003-2006 never materialised. These involved several recommendations for projects as proposed by the original policy document of 2001, including the setting up of an Academy for the Performing Arts, a Carnival Village, a Museum of Maltese Contemporary Art and the development of an interactive Arts Village.
The question is: Once cultural policy documents and actual recommendations exist in black and white, and once a cultural policy document has received so much acclamation from European experts, does Malta need another think-tank operation or should the government see to policy being put into practice?
Mr Azzopardi is an established author, director of the Malta Drama Centre and coordinator of forum-theatre projects overseas.