Over the next three years, Valletta 2018 will be working closely with its Maltese and international partners to host a number of key high-level arts-related events with positive repercussions on the cultural, economic and social aspects of our country.
In 2016, Malta will be welcoming, for the first time, the 7th World Summit on Arts and Culture that will take place from October 18 to 21. The event is being co-hosted by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (Ifacca) and the Arts Council Malta (ACM).
Ifacca is the global network of arts councils and ministries of culture and is keen to engage in forward-looking discussions with a view to develop globally-reaching actions.
On the other hand, ACM has enjoyed a recent restructuring that will strengthen its management of the implementation of national cultural policy in a more coordinated manner with all other public cultural organisations that fall under its umbrella structure.
In October 2016, a number of Ifacca member events will take place alongside others for the public, including the CEO Leadership Seminar, the 5th General Assembly, regional chapter meetings and members’ lunches.
In preparation for the World Summit, ACM, within the framework of Valletta 2018, will be stepping up its international efforts that are aimed at putting Malta on the cultural map.
Cultural relations act as an important legacy for efforts towards global collaboration
These will primarily support the mobility of Maltese artists to Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia through the Malta Showcase and its mobility funds, which can support the successful exposure of local talent abroad.
However, mobility is mutual and, in collaboration with the Valletta 2018 structure developed together with the Roberto Cimetta Fund (RCF), artists, researchers and creatives in general can access funding to travel to Malta.
During a series of workshops held in 2014 and this year, RCF and Valletta 2018 established mobility opportunities to geographical regions from around the world, from Brazil to Australia.
In 2017, Valletta 2018 and ACM will support the government and the ministry responsible for European Affairs in particular, in organising the six-month cultural programme accompanying the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU between January and June.
The cultural programme is a key element of Malta’s plans to celebrate our first EU presidency. The programme will be wide and varied and will involve the engagement of Maltese artists in Europe and further afield as well as European artists in Malta.
For many centuries, Malta has been closely linked to cultural developments in Europe and the presidency will offer the island an opportunity to showcase and build on those connections, taking national borders as a starting point to engage citizens further in the experience of the arts and cultural heritage across Europe and the Mediterranean.
In 2018, the title of Valletta as European Capital of Culture will be celebrated by all of Maltese society but in particular Maltese artists together with their international partners from Europe and beyond during a year-long programme of cultural events.
These will build on the four themes set by the Valletta 2018 bid, as approved by the European Commission, namely cities, generations, islands and routes, to highlight the European dimension of cultural exchange in Valletta as a contemporary hub for multicultural communication with a mission to interpret its heritage, and that of Europe, in innovative ways.
Through Valletta 2018 and with the support of ACM and the Maltese public, cultural organisations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maltese artists and cultural operators have already succeeded in developing a growing number of international exchanges with previous, current and upcoming European capitals of culture, in particular the Dutch city of Leeuwarden, capital of the Friesland, which celebrates its title together with Valletta in 2018, and with which several localities in Malta have begun various programmes of collaboration.
Talks are also underway with the EU-Japan Fest to maintain the tradition of collaboration between European Capitals of Culture and Japan that has been in place for over 20 years.
Such cultural relations, which extend beyond Europe and also target North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, aim to enable international cultural programming to flourish beyond 2018 and act as an important legacy for current efforts towards global collaboration.
Karsten Xuereb is executive director of the Valletta 2018 Foundation.