Reaching as big an audience as possible

It was very kind of Chris Gatt to reply to my letter regarding the screening of La Traviata at Argotti as was his invitation for me to substantiate my argument by providing ideas as to how the public could, in future, benefit from free tickets to such events.

The only pity is that Mr Gatt assumed my letter was addressed to him when it was not.

As always happens in such circumstances, people like Mr Gatt with a genuine passion for their job and the sector in which they operate end up being the ones getting the flak because their position makes them easily visible targets whenever people want to point fingers.

In this case, however, I was expecting a reply from those who really owe us an explanation: the authorities who, at the end of the day, dish out the money.

Mr Gatt is not naïve. He knows, just as all of us do, that cultural support to national institutions such as St James Cavalier, the Manoel Theatre and others is pitiful.

And in his letter, Mr Gatt just proved this fact when he asserted that "this deficit would have been much larger were it not for the generous intervention of the Ministry of Culture and the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts".

Mr Gatt, this pathetic situation is precisely the reason why such cultural events are always relegated to happening only at the mercy of "generous interventions" and what led me to write my letter in the first place!

I am not expecting concerts for free; I know the money involved in putting up such events and, in this case, the financial implications of buying the broadcasting rights. And I never thought that the €20 entrance fee was exorbitant and, as such, I never said this in my letter.

I only expressed my disappointment at the fact that this event, which involved two prominent Maltese artistes, was relegated to another pay-per-view event when it could have been an excellent opportunity to take opera and Maltese talent to national status: a cultural gift to the people with the whole bill footed by the authorities the same way they were very prepared to do so for a big populist concert such as Isle of MTV.

And if Mr Gatt takes my experience in PR and marketing to task I say, yes, my letter was also prompted by my thinking on such terms too.

Therefore, if I dare suggest my personal opinion, I would have had this particular concert free of charge compliments of the ministries responsible for tourism and culture, which could have acted as the launching event to a series of similar outdoor screenings, themed and enjoying the financial backing of a corporate sponsor.

This first concert would have allowed much more than 750 people to truly get a taste of what the opera experience is all about and, hopefully, the rest of the series would have enjoyed more patrons as a result of the generated momentum.

This would have been more in line with St James Cavalier's commitment to providing cultural events to "as large an audience as possible", as quoted by Mr Gatt.

I very much hope that all those who flocked to Argotti to watch Joseph Calleja will be equally eager to repeat their patronage to the forthcoming similar screenings mentioned by Mr Gatt whom I commend for his resilience and unremitting passion.

But something tells me that unless Joseph Calleja is on stage, screenings will be redirected to the mere 100-seat screening theatre at St James.

This time round, I honestly wish and will be very happy to be proven wrong.