The state has an important role to play in the arts sector, but not as a producer, Annalisa Schembri, the artistic director of the APS Summer Festival has said. 

The festival is striving to uphold the values of community and sustainability, not only in terms of the environment but in the sort of the economy it hopes to see flourish in the creative industry, Schembri said. 

“I believe that for a project to be sustainable, it needs to start small. In a year where we’re seeing a large number of events mushrooming, I find myself questioning how sustainable they actually are,” Schembri said. 

“It’s high time we realise that the creative economy is a profession that should be an option for students, young people, or anyone seeking to break into it.” 

“I think we have a responsibility to create sustainable events because we should not only create a legacy but start opening up into new economies. I feel this country misses the fringe economy, there’s a lack, and that’s where I place the APS Summer Festival.”

“I think the events that are right now struggling to become sustainable can really thrive if we look into to strengthening the fringe economy,” Schembri said. 

“An economy of smaller-scale events can thrive into healthy ticket sales and build a healthy eco-system around them.” 

The state, she continues, has a part to play in this, but rather than as a producer of competing events, it should look to strengthening its role as a facilitator of the arts. 

“I think the state should look at its role in the creative economy in a different way and inspire a space where artists are safe to be themselves and create, to support them while giving them the freedom to think for themselves and be independent,” she said.  

The APS Summer Festival, now in its second year, has taken care to offer fair contracts and working conditions to its artists and vendors, Schembri said. It has also been mindful of its environmental impact, instituting a no plastic policy, eliminating all unnecessary printing and introducing vegan and vegetarian bar options at concessions. 

The festival has started to introduce sensory-friendly measures and will this year feature two quiet areas where attendees who may feel overwhelmed during the show have a chance to regroup. This year’s roster will also feature a full evening of children’s programming, with all performances being sensory-friendly. 

Performers at this year’s APS Summer Festival, which runs from July 20 to 31, will include the New Victorians, Beangrowers, Kantera, Walter Micallef, Skald, Cushion and Mana Tapu. The festival will also include an evening put on by student and refugee performers, a visual and musical poetry reading as well as a flamenco performance. For the first time, the festival will also be offering a masterclass in stage management on July 30. 

The vice president of the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association Toni Attard said that complaints by producers about having to compete with events organised by government entities are common and the state must take its role as an authority figure in the culture industry seriously. 

“The time has come for the government to decide whether it wants to facilitate the industry or kill it off,” he said. 

“You cannot be both a regulator and a producer at the same time and it is having an impact on audiences of large events.” 

Practices such as giving a substantial portion of tickets away for free is having an impact on where audiences are choosing to spend their time. Smaller producers also struggle to keep up with seemingly inexhaustible marketing budgets. 

“It skews the market completely. We’ve even seen large productions having to be cancelled because they couldn’t keep up,” he said.

“Granted that, right now, events that weren’t put in two years are happening in the span of four months, but it is a practice that has been going on for some time, such as the MTA bringing in Cirque du Soleil in December, a period typically dominated by Panto, for example.”

“When it happens, producers find their fees going up and they can’t compete. Meanwhile, even if the audience isn’t growing at the same pace as the number of events, they can afford to make a loss.”

“This issue has been flagged by MEIA on several occasions, but there seems to be little appetite or will to address it.”