Boost on culture funding: preparing to host Europe’s Capital of Culture, 2018

This included direct assistance to 80 creative businesses through the INVEX programme, the Malta Film Fund, and the audiovisual sector training programme.

Over 100 arts projects have separately benefited from assistance via the Malta Arts Fund and the President's Award for Creativity, while schools and professionals were assisted by the Kreattiv programme, he added.

To build on this achievement, Fenech announced a €250,000 investment aimed specifically at assisting and promoting the Maltese film industry: expected to be given a particular boost this year, after Malta beat off stiff competition to host next year's European Film Academy Awards.

An additional tax exemption scheme on income from copyright is further aimed at attracting international artists and film-makers to Malta.

Many of the individual initiatives in Budget 2012 target families with children, and culture is no exception. Fenech announced that in the coming year existing benefits in sports education will be extended also to cultural education, with a €100 reduction on taxable income for costs related to children's courses at cultural and creative teaching institutions.

There will also be an exemption from the payment of registration fees for new companies in this sector, as well as on their annual payments to the MFSA for three years.

An additional €40,000 have been allocated to a Public Lending Rights Fund, so that authors and translators of books in Maltese receive appropriate remuneration when their publications are borrowed from public libraries.

The Finance Minister announced a number of schemes and initiatives targeting growing sector of digital gaming, including a €150,000 Malta Games Fund to assist development of the local industry. A tax credit scheme of up to €15,000 will be extended to Maltese companies wishing to commission educational or promotional digital games. Furthermore, the flat 15 percent income tax scheme will be extended to international professionals such as game directors and game designers, as well as academics and researchers.

Fenech explained also that Valletta has been identified as the hub of the government's cultural and creative strategies. He hinted at an "innovative scheme" aimed at self-employed authors, composers, visual artists and performing artists, film artists and design artists who work in the capital city. The existing CREATE scheme to the whole area of Valletta so as to encourage more creative activity in our capital city. These and other measures will contribute to the competitiveness and creativity targets involved in having Malta host the European Capital of Culture in 2018.