Looking ahead to 2019 and beyond, when Valletta will have ceased to be the European Capital of Culture, Valletta 2018 chairman Jason Micallef has proposed that Malta follow the model set by the United Kingdom and Lithuania by bridging the gap between 2019 and 2030 – when Malta will next be entitled to bid for the rotating title – by organising its own National Capital of Culture events every three years.
In less than nine months’ time, Valletta will join other past stellar capitals in the honour of promoting the role it has played in European culture, its links with Europe and its European identity.
Becoming the European Capital of Culture has provided a splendid challenge and opportunity for Malta to derive considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and to act as a catalyst for regenerating our cultural heritage and fostering our arts, culture and traditions. The opportunities for every aspect of tourism to benefit are huge.
Judging by what we have seen happening in Valletta, both under the Nationalist and the Labour administrations, Malta has risen to the occasion and seems well placed to enjoy a successful 2018. The appearance and vibrancy of Valletta have been transformed, though more remains to be done to finish the job. It has still to be seen whether the cultural and artistic events that lie at the heart of the European Capital of Culture concept will be delivered to the same standard.
The criteria established for Malta becoming the European Capital of Culture will require us to encourage cooperation between Maltese artists and cultural stakeholders and other European Union countries. It will require strong central direction to bring together the disparate and, very often, competing players in the Maltese cultural field. Ensuring the right mix of domestic and international events and, most importantly, that they are of the right professional calibre, will be crucial.
Malta will need to highlight the riches of cultural diversity in Europe and to bring to the fore the aspects of European culture common to all of Europe. Coinciding, as it does, with Europe’s Year of Cultural Heritage, Valletta has a major opportunity to showcase its outstanding story and its architectural heritage.
But the whole of Malta is uniquely well placed to do this. Its 7,000-year-old Euro-Mediterranean history, its artistic, religious and other traditions are a vibrant mirror of the richness and variety of Europe and of encouraging awareness of the common history binding Europe together. These are at the heart of the concept underlying both the European Capital of Culture and the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
But looking beyond 2018, what kind of legacy will Malta’s European Capital of Culture leave? This is the crux and this is why the proposal to hold three-yearly National Capital of Culture events is an imaginative and far-seeing idea.
Properly resourced and effectively organised, this will embed solidly the concept of enjoying and taking pride in our cultural and artistic heritage. It will serve to expose more Maltese to the rewards of top culture beyond 2018.
As importantly, it will attract high-quality tourism and compel successive governments to continue the excellent work on the infrastructure to make Malta’s National Capital of Culture events worthy of showcasing.