Arts Council Malta to hold its first national conference

Arts Council Malta will be holding its first national conference, highlighting the strategic focus of the Council for the next five years. 

The conference, which will be held on December 14 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, will be addressed by former European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou. Culture Minister Owen Bonnici will open the conference. 

Other international speakers will include Paul Dujardin, Director General of BOZAR in Brussels; Shelagh Wright, Associate at DEMOS; Sebastien Cavalier, Director of Culture, Marseille, France; Airan Berg, Artistic Director, Linz09; Ragnar Siil, Managing Partner at Creativity Lab and Cristina Farinha- Executive Producer at ADDICT. 

Key stakeholders from Malta’s cultural and creative sectors, creative practitioners and artists will also form part of the various discussion panels, including the participation of all the artistic directors of Malta’s Public Cultural Organisations. 

Peter Jenkinson, OBE, will chair the conference together with Giuliana Fenech from the University of Malta. Jenkinson has worked internationally for over 20 years in the cultural sector, passionately advocating and acting for deep and lasting change across the cultural and political landscape.

The conference will reflect upon the Council’s plans for the cultural and creative sectors until 2020. 

Discussions will highlight topics such as Sustaining legacy – Post ECOC and the future of cities and communities; Public Cultural Organisations: building stronger partnerships for Malta’s cultural and creative sectors. One specific discussion will focus on artistic excellence and the quality mantra while another will focus on creative potential and economic development. 

In recent months, Arts Council Malta has been holding a consultation process with a number of stakeholders from the cultural and creative sectors. More than 300 artists, creative practitioners and other stakeholders have discussed their vision, ambitions and dreams for Malta’s cultural and creative sectors for the five years to come. This process was referred to as Create2020. 

“Following the enactment of Arts Council Malta Act in May this year, we immediately set in motion the design of the Arts Council’s strategy. This will effectively define a five-year work plan for the Council’s work through set actions that provide a coherent focus and channel energies into priority areas,” said Arts Council Malta director of strategy Toni Attard. 

“The aim is to invest in the cultural and creative sectors to achieve higher levels of excellence.”

The conference is open to the public on a first-come first-served basis or until December 10. It will run between 08:30 and 17:15. Lunch is included. The conference is free of charge and interpretation services from Maltese to English will be available. 

After 17:30, Arts Council Malta representatives will be available at the conference venue to discuss the Council’s strategic plan and provide information on the funding programmes for 2016. 

Those interested in attending the conference should email [email protected]