Deo Debattista, Parliamentary Secretary for Consumer Protection and Valletta 2018
We have been eagerly awaiting January 20 since 2012, when the European Commission chose our capital, Valletta, to hold the European Capital of Culture title in 2018, along with the Dutch city of Leeuwarden. This was undoubtedly a unique opportunity for us, and the previous government had taken this opportunity to ensure that the title would leave its mark on our capital for years to come. Something, which this government has continued to invest greatly in.
The Valletta 2018 Foundation has proven loyal to criteria imposed by the European Commission for an inclusive and vast cultural programme. All roots of the arts and culture sector have been tackled, and audiences from all ages will be entertained and engaged during this year’s events.
The cultural programme aims at promoting Malta’s unique identity to our European counterparts, and to further emphasise those values, which should make us proud European citizens. Audience participation has been a crucial pillar upon which the cultural programme has been finalised. The 1,000 local and international artists who will make the programme come to life in the upcoming 12 months have made it clear that audiences play a crucial role in the success of cultural events. Valletta 2018, Malta’s biggest investment in the culture sector to date, is no exception.
Our artists must keep benefitting from the same opportunities and funding made available thanks to Valletta 2018
Naturally, children and youths were a crucial part of the cultural programme, and will continue to be if we want Valletta 2018 to live on in our citizens’ lives. Rather than launching a campaign specifically for children and young adults to learn to include cultural activities in their lives, we ensured that the programme had specific shows or activities, which were only for audiences of a certain age.
Ġaħan 18: Niftħu l-Bieb ma’ Ġaħan is one of these. Musical group Tikka Banda will be in charge of this short performance, which will be put up in primary schools in Malta and Gozo. Ġaħan will explore different games and methods of entertainment through interactive music, and will touch on current topics such as Mediterranean heritage, cultures of neighbouring countries, and the environment.
Años Luz is another workshop, which will involve children of all ages. It will be held at Esplora and will offer audiences a unique experience in contemporary shadow theatre, accompanied by live music.
Naturally, we also wanted to reach out to our younger audience through what is perhaps one of the stronger methods of storytelling: theatre. Teatru Manoel Youth Theatre will showcase an original musical Hush at the Manoel Theatre in March.
We also explored the art of community curation through Naqsam il-Muża, which the foundation created with the aid of Heritage Malta. Here, members of an identified community choose and present artworks from the art collection to be soon on display at Muża, Malta’s new National Museum of Fine Arts.
The project was launched in Valletta with members of the Valletta community visiting the National Museum of Fine Arts. Participants presented their choice of artefact to friends and family members, and proposed the community space where the artwork will be displayed. This is the very spirit, which the actual museum will promote once it is opened in the coming months.
While I take great pride in assuring an interactive cultural programme for 2018, I have also prioritised the idea of a Valletta 2018 legacy that goes beyond infrastructural projects, which have been inaugurated around our capital. Our artists must keep benefitting from the same opportunities and funding made available thanks to Valletta 2018 for years to come, and our audiences can expect top-notch cultural events similar to those included in our cultural programme.
2018 will be a great year for our audiences, yet the years to come will be endowed with the same grandeur of the coming 12 months.
Karl Gouder, Opposition spokesman for Cultureand the Media
This is most certainly a very important and exciting year for our nation. The fact that we shall be hosting the European Capital of Culture this year will once again turn Europe’s attention towards us, this time for the right reasons. It was Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and his team who envisioned and believed that this privilege and honour would be possible and together with Mario de Marco, at that time minister for culture, prepared an impressive bid that helped our nation bring this prestigious event home.
Our vision at that time had two objectives, and was intended to use this very important occasion to make a big leap in culture and also to make a big leap in reinvigorating Valletta. Both the culture scene and our capital city were at the heart of the bid’s plans.
If we do not strive to appreciate our culture, who will?
Importantly, we also wanted this to be a national event and not only for Valletta. We wanted to use this event to instill in our nation a sense of pride and appreciation of our culture. We have to make sure that this edition of the European capital of culture has a lasting effect that is much longer than one year.
Culture is what makes us who we are, culture is what makes us Maltese and Gozitans and therefore it is our duty to preserve it, to show it off and to inculcate it. If we do not strive to appreciate our culture, who will? Our nation, thanks to our forefathers, has a vast and rich cultural heritage that is second to none, and this should therefore be the perfect time for us to ensure that we appreciate, support it, and share it with others.
We also do this with a long-term view of its impact. Valletta 2018 is the opportune time for us as a country to promote culture, to promote our cultural heritage and to ensure that it is passed on to future generations so that they too will have the opportunity to appreciate and preserve it, and to keep forming for the ones who come after them.
There are no doubts that as a nation we have to make the best ‘use’ of this event to promote culture across all generations, however we have to put special emphasis on the younger generation, as it is only through inculcating a sense of appreciation of culture within our younger generation that we can ensure that this will have the desired and planned long-term effects.
As a result we need to be even more creative and find ways and means to involve children from a very young age. We have already embarked on projects to do this, with a high element of success: Żigużajg for one is now a successful annual activity that strives to pass on culture and the arts in a fun way to our kids and youth.
Year after year, this event is becoming larger and more varied, with new events and, more importantly, a greater participation by youngsters attending and enjoying themselves while doing this.
Therefore to go back to the original question, as a nation and as a generation, we will not be judged on the success or otherwise of Valletta 2018 merely on the number, quality and attendances of the events that are going to be organised during the year. I am pretty sure that people will participate and that the events will be of the desired quality.
What will judge us is the legacy that we will leave behind long after 2018 will have passed, whether we will become a nation that better appreciates its cultural heritage more than it did before this year, and more than that, whether the upcoming generation will learn to love, appreciate and pass on one of the most important aspects of our nation: our culture and our cultural heritage.
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