Accessible to all

The young Minister of Youth and the Arts has a clear objective in his outlook and policy. It can be described as his motto. In fact he declares that his ministry has a role to push cultural institutions to create programmes that are accessible to the public.

The scenario in the Arts is not so promising or satisfactory. Drama in Maltese is rather in the doldrums. At the moment there is need of courage and inventiveness to bring it up anywhere approaching a satisfactory level. This bright promise is not going to happen overnight. Given the present pace of reaching forward to an acceptable level in most things it will take at least three years. And that is being rather optimistic.

What is encouraging is the tendency for more public participation in cultural events. Taking this as a hopeful start, the Arts Ministry said it is planning a programme to make culture more accessible to the public. This pious hope must be accompanied by action.

Limiting the vision of plans to just the Manoel Theatre, St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity and the Mediterranean Conference Centre leaves us in square one. It is only those who normally visit the capital that would be targeted, so there is little chance of reaching the people as a whole.

For the time being, at least, it seems that the Catholic Institute theatre, the oratories, drama companies and village teatrini as well as the Salesian Theatre and De Porres Centre in Sliema have been overlooked. It appears therefore that the projects of the Arts Ministry have not considered venues outside Valletta. This is being pointed out as it is suggested that only the majority of the people has the power to alter the course of culture and to cultivate it actively.

The performing arts

Minister Mugliett acknowledged that "obviously culture is not just about art. There are other aspects such as cultural management and people to manage events and institutions". Not to forget backstage crews and supporting teams in the performing arts. In fact the minister pointed out that just as the University has programmes of theatre studies and courses in sports, MCAST could cater for courses in photography, scriptwriting and film editing.

One set-up the ministry is considering is the Academy of the Performing Arts with courses related to all the arts. This may be the development of the Mikielang Borg Drama Centre located next to Maria Regina Girls' Junior Lyceum.

Lately there has been a lot of new interest from local groups to introspect our roots, to study them and promote them, the minister observed, such as work undertaken by Etnika and Gukulari Ensemble, EU membership will spur people to cultural revival. Possibly artists, performers and dramatists will rise to the new environment and come up with new works.

The area of cultural diplomacy ranks high today in the national cultural agenda, It is perhaps time to consider sending works of art to decorate the walls of our embassies and consulates. This will make our art accessible also to foreign visitors.

Cultural cities

The choice of Valletta as a European cultural city in June 1998 proved to be a veritable disaster. Everything that could go wrong did. Valletta never looked so shabby and dusty as that month.

It was the Greek Minister of Culture, the famous actress Melina Mercouri, who originated the idea of electing a European City of Culture. In 1983 she convened a meeting of EU culture ministers. She argued that culture and its dimensions had to be given reasonable attention alongside economics and trade.

The Greek Minister pleaded: "It is time for our voice to be heard as loud as that of technocrats. Culture, art and creativity are no less important than commerce, economy and technology."

Last year Salamanca in Spain was chosen as the Capital of Culture on the strength of its renowned university, architecture and cultural heritage. However it was its highly esteemed theatrical tradition that clinched its choice as the capital of culture for the year.

Salamanca's programme of events was funded by Culture 2000, The events consisted of two related drama performances coupled with traditional and religious music festivals.

There were also art exhibitions - Rodin sculptures - and one dedicated to women artists. There was also a photography and video art festival. Imaginative and creative use was made of ancient historic buildings. Large-scale performance centres were purposely erected to prove Salamanca's justified claim to act as the host city for culture for the year.

Preparations for Malta's claim

The order of entitlement to nominate a European capital of culture has already been established up to 2019. So that if Malta is to claim for similar entitlement it is time to prepare its planning programme.

We must not remain conservative and base our presentation to fit an accepted traditional format. Instead we must agitate for independent creative and original thinking.

We must not shy away from the stream of policies that combine educational, social and cultural objectives. We need new ideas to create something aggressively radical in presenting Malta as a progressive, cultural identity continuing our millennial heritage.