Contrary to what was reported in the press, I am sure that Albert Marshall, chairman of the Arts Council, was at one with the minister in welcoming in a new fraternity of artistic directors, (‘Artistic directors should work together’, timesofmalta.com, July 6).
As Justice and Culture Minister Owen Bonnici rightly pointed out it is this diversity of views and ideas which ultimately creates a rich and challenging environment for creativity.
And it is precisely the role of the Arts Council to create the tools that allow that diversity to come together, as the minister also rightly pointed out.
On the other hand I would like to see Marshall and the Arts Council campaign for greater transparency in the selection of boards, chairmen, artistic directors and CEOs of the various government cultural entities (and here I also include Heritage Malta).
The long practice of choosing people (particularly, but not exclusively, at board and chairman level) from an often limited pool of political appointees has significantly stymied the professional growth of this sector.
As I have pointed out a number of times to previous ministers, this system of political patronage has not only prevented growth as the past history of an institution is not passed on or even worse disregarded, but has often caused these institutions to take retrograde steps, through the choice of inadequate boards, to the detriment of users and visitors. It has also meant that a number of perfectly valid people who might otherwise have put their name forward have been sidelined and discouraged from contributing to the sector in meaningful ways and have held back from offering their services, be it patronage, or knowledge sharing.
The current system often means that these boards do not have a clear idea as to their function which sometimes results in chairmen taking on executive powers they should avoid.
This leads to a loss of focus of the different roles and responsibilities of the management and the board.
In this regard it is important that our boards are adequately trained for the job in hand and the responsibilities they are meant to undertake, just as we expect our artistic directors and CEOs to be skilled professionals in their work.
This can and should be done by the Culture Ministry directorate. This directorate holds a number of highly qualified personnel and, with the setting up of a strategy division within the arts council, there are the necessary skills to make it happen.
The creative industry is crying for strong, transparent and effective structures. A lot of individual artists have invested a lot of thought, time and money in their development. We owe it to them to give them the best infrastructure within which to work. We owe it to Malta.