Never has there been a better time for the arts in Malta. Over the past five years, government expenditure on culture more than doubled. In 2018, culture and the arts will receive an overall 10 per cent increase in public expenditure over the previous year – a total of €70 million for cultural heritage, the arts, media and the creative sectors being the highest to date.
This increased investment in the cultural sector is symptomatic of a thriving economy: when the going gets tough, culture is the foremost in line to fall victim to the razor gang of rational economists.
At a time when the public purse can afford to sustain a renaissance of culture and the arts in Malta, we should be thanking our propitious stars for having the government embracing convictions that the arts inject meaning, authenticity and enjoyment in our everyday lives. They create and sustain jobs, enrich education services, bring people together and improve our well-being and quality of life.
The facts: the 2018 culture budget is estimated to be at 1.6 per cent of total government expenditure, according to an analysis by the Arts Council Malta following the recent Budget 2018 announcement.
This is the highest level to date. Per capita public investment in 2018 will be €159 – up from €138 in 2017. The public funding portfolio awarded by the Arts Council Malta to artists and organisations has grown from €1.9 million to €2.1 million.
An overall increase of 36 per cent is also registered in the allocation for public cultural organisations (PCOs) with a total of €19.5 million. This includes a substantial increase of 19 per cent from 2017 allocated to festivals organised by PCOs, which now have a total budget of €1.8 million.
While almost all cultural and creative sectors saw marginal budgetary increases between the 2017 and 2018 budgets, the highest increase – €3.4 million – was in the interdisciplinary sector, the highest in recent years.
This is followed by increases in the heritage sector – €1.7 million, the arts sector – €1.5 million and a slight drop in expenditure in the media sector – €360,000.
Since 2013, total cumulative government investment in the sector has exceeded €283 million.
All recurrent expenditure in the four areas of the cultural and creative sectors (heritage, arts, media and interdisciplinary) will experience increases over the 2017 budget, amounting to €7.5 million, or 20.6 per cent. The total recurrent expenditure will amount to over €43 million.
The 2018 financial estimates indicate a new allocation of €160,000 to support theatre spaces, building upon the theatres audit project between 2015 and 2017.
A sum of €40,000 is also set for the Atelier for Young Festival Managers, an initiative of the European Festivals Association where distinguished festival directors will be working with participants from all around the world to explore issues relating to festival production management.
Art and culture help to create a prosperous, healthier and more equal nation
As expected, the Valletta 2018 Foundation enjoyed a 78 per cent increase in funding with over €8 million to be dedicated to its cultural programme. The European Capital of Culture is supported by the arts council’s festival directorate in providing the major festivals’ artistic content.
This Budget promises well for the continuation of the significant increase in public investment in the cultural and creative sectors, set in motion in recent years. As the 2017 Budget made way for a successful cultural programme in Malta’s EU Presidency in 2017 and the introduction of new funding programmes managed by the Arts Council Malta, the 2018 Budget points towards a promising European Capital of Culture and the continuation of important capital projects.
Co-funding from the current EU structural funds and the EEA/Norwegian financial mechanisms will also be key to ensuring continuous infrastructural improvement for the majority of PCOs and the relocation of Heritage Malta.
The funding has not only enabled previously inexistent structures to be created and others to be strengthened. It has also provided impetus to an entire sector.
After 2018, Malta’s cultural scene will have changed. But while much will have been achieved, more will remain to be done. Through its Create2020 strategy – a five-year strategy for the cultural and creative sectors – the Arts Council Malta’s role will be to ensure continuity and sustainability well beyond 2018.
If the council is to meet its strategic ambition of placing the arts and creativity at the heart of Malta’s future, it will need to ensure a legacy that will go well beyond 2018.
It must be one that is both written in stone – through improved infrastructure – but also, perhaps at its most tangible, in a transformed artistic climate where new ideas, knowledge and aspirations can result in a profound and lasting legacy for all, inspired by a strong belief that art and culture help to create a prosperous, a healthier and a more equal nation.
Albert Marshall is chairman of Arts Council Malta.