St James Cavalier’s general manager and artistic director Chris Gatt is calling it a day after 14 years. As he looks back on its achievements, he tells Kristina Chetcuti Maltese artists and education are a big disappointment.

For the past 14 years, the fates of Chris Gatt and St James Cavalier have been colourfully intertwined: you could not mention one without thinking of the other.

Under his management and artistic direction, the centre for creativity, Malta’s successful millennium project, started a much-needed change in the culture sector.

Now, he says, his “baby” is a “teenager “It’s time for me to let go.”

His fixed-term contract came to an end 18 months ago, and he requested that it not be extended.

“I am only staying on until a replacement is found. I love St James Cavalier too much – I want to see new blood,” he says.

In the wake of a series of resignations in the culture sector, he stresses that his is not a political move.

“An institution like this needs to be reinvented every decade if it is to remain fresh. It is not right for me to hold the fort until I retire,” says the 53-year-old, who was 39 when he took the job.

“I opened it, I created it and built it in my image. It needs a young, fresh approach and the time is now, four years ahead of Valletta 2018.”

His is a heartfelt appeal for “any revolutionary out there” to fill the vacancy at what he calls a “centre of experimentation” with a “strong international reputation.”

Fourteen years at the helm of creativity are, however, marred by two major disappointments: Maltese education and artists.

“Artists are a big problem in Malta: they are happy being a hobbyist,” he says.

He lists their weaknesses: they have no voice; they are short-termists, they only think about their own little project; they prefer to be servile rather than instigators; they still think in terms of ‘Malta’ instead of ‘Europe’.

“You have to decide if you want to be an artist or not and then you have to fight for your art,” he says.

He is worried our real artists are leaving and we are not trying to entice them back.

I’ve had directors at the education department telling me that culture is a waste of time

“So we’re stuck with 50-year-olds like me or artists who only think of their next government-sponsored commission,” he says, not mincing his words.

Because of this, there is a good chance that in 2018, Malta will be a mere backdrop to showcase foreign material.

“Where’s the long-term vision? Our systems are Mediterranean with a 1950s mentality,” he argues.

He still cannot understand why boards are appointed by minsters who are new to the job, who then have to work with people who have no institutional knowledge.

“It’s like a fiefdom. Our structures are amateurish: which company changes a board, because a minister is changed?”

The mentality needs to change from top to bottom, starting with the education sector, he says.

He tells tales of uninterested teachers, who drop their students off for a performance, while they go for a coffee. If the teacher did not share the experience, how could she follow it up, he asks?

“I have seen children shush the teachers to tell them to switch off their mobile phones. We clearly have a disparity here.”

The younger generation – on to which St James Cavalier has invested all its energy – seems to grasp culture more effectively.

About 10,000 schoolchildren visit St James every year, and, fortunately there are teachers and headmasters who eagerly cooperate season in, season out.

“But I’ve had directors at the education department telling me that culture is a waste of time,” he says. “They don’t understand that culture is about life skills.”

Confidence, creativity, self-expression, awareness, problem solving and critical analysis are but a few of the benefits children reap from being exposed to culture.

“In a theatre performance, you are presented with a problem: a child learns how to look at it and think about it.”

Education, particularly in secondary schools is being ‘dumbed down’.

“Standards are falling: take the literature that students are studying, there’s little Shakespeare left – and that’s because it’s too difficult for the teachers. They can’t explain it to the students.”

The problem, he says, is that culture has to be part of the curriculum: “By eliminating culture we’re sapping the soul of education and we’re leaving the skeleton.”

It is never too late to change: the education division merely has to take note.

“There’s none so blind as those who will not see,” he says.

His other issue is with the island’s insistence on linking tourism with culture.

By eliminating culture, we’re sapping the soul of education and leaving the skeleton

“We think of culture as a way to attract the tourist – it is not something that belongs to our soul – we think culture is just a product to be sold.”

A country with little culture has little chance of having strong employment, he says. Creativity generates innovation, energy and new ideas. Look at New York, London and Paris: the true heart is where creativity is, and not in bureaucratic cities like Canberra and Washington.

He is not happy that the Piano project has left St James Cavalier surrounded by Parliament, the Prime Minister’s office, the Stock Exchange and the Central Bank and is relieved that the Arts Museum will be moved to the Auberge d’ Italie.

“That will be our only link to creativity – that will give the city its heart back.”

He dreams of seeing St James Cavalier “rise like a phoenix” by being managed by a new candidate “who is not afraid of breaking the rules”.

(“Make sure you write that down,” he says – eyes mischievous –“creativity is all about breaking rules”).

But what of his future plans? “I think I may still have stuff to offer.”

Coyly he mumbles something about his little dream in the drawer: “I’d love to set up my very own theatre... but is there anyone out there willing to invest in that?”

He gives his trademark laugh and as he walks up the St James Cavalier steps, he brings them to life – for one last time.