Culture is a paramount aspect of our lives, as it defines who we are, where are we coming from and sets the base for our future. By our actions, we can define what culture means for our future generations, although everything seems to be faster these days, almost at the speed of broadband. Thus what we do today, most probably might very well be defined as culture by tomorrow.
Therefore, we are caught in a state whereby on one hand, we have an urge to preserve what was handed to us by our forefathers through the ages, and on the other, we live in an ever changing world which is dominated by multiculturalism and innovation.
The field of culture at national level has been a major priority for this government which is working hard in this field, especially given that Valletta will be the European Capital of Culture in 2018.
At local council level, we are also working hard to promote culture to our communities by incentivising regional committees, local councils and administrative committees to organise cultural events of a high level with a view to complement the activities which will be taking place during 2018.
Our councils have already undertaken cross-border collaborations on various fields, including culture, through EU funding opportunities, and I would like to remind them that such opportunities abound in this field for them to explore and implement their projects.
One such avenue is the Creative Europe project. One of the actions that can be taken under such a programme is the MEDIA sub programme which, within the field of promoting transnational circulation, supports audience development as a means of stimulating interest in and improving access to European audiovisual works in particular through promotion, events, film literacy and festivals. This programme is a wonderful opportunity for councils who are interested in organising film festivals showcasing products of different participating member states.
We simply cannot take full cognizance of what we are without appreciating what shaped our fellow community members
Europe for Citizens is a programme which addresses issues relating to questions such as “what does it mean to be a citizen of an EU member state”. This programme helps citizens to learn about their rich European heritage and learn who our forefathers were and how their actions shaped us into what we are today. Similarly, in this age which is driven by almost immediate communication between continents, we simply cannot take full cognizance of what we are without appreciating what shaped our fellow community members into who they are today.
The Parliamentary Secretariat for Local Government is the Europe for Citizens Point in Malta and through its endeavours, is keeping stakeholders, such as non-profit organisations and public local and regional authorities well informed about the possibilities of initiatives to be undertaken through this programme, most of all, regarding the democratic engagement of civic participation which include projects and initiatives that develop opportunities for mutual understanding, intercultural learning, solidarity, societal engagement and volunteering at European level.
The Erasmus + Programme is also available for local councils which want to undertake a project involving the EU dimension. This programme provides for capacity building, whereby it encourages transnational cooperation projects based on multilateral partnerships.
This may be achieved through youth capacity building projects which foster cross-border cooperation and exchanges in the field of youth between countries which are participating in the programme, as well as partner countries from different regions of the world. Such engagements lead to an improvement of the quality of non-formal learning and volunteering in order to provide training for young people with fewer opportunities.
I appeal to all regional committees, local councils and administrative committees who are considering to embark on such projects, and other similar ones to consult this secretariat, the Department for Local Government, as well as the Malta EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSEC) who will be glad to assist them. Our aim is to facilitate councils’ work and nothing gives me more pleasure than to help these enterprising representatives to achieve their goals for the good of their communities.
Stefan Buontempo is Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government.