The excitement is already starting. At the gathering this morning in the Exchange Building in Republic Street there were mayors from around Malta, artists, cultural workers and perhaps one or two ordinary residents like me. The choice of venue for this information session about Malta's bid to host the European capital of culture in 2018 made a statement about the significance of engaging the commercial sector in the venture. A lot was said about tripartite involvement of the business, cultural and political sectors in the process of preparing to host the event in seven years time. But what emerged most strongly for me was the emphasis placed on citizen participation not just as audience but as active contributors to the shaping of the bid and the vision that will inform both the programme of events and the evaluation of success.
Malta is already developing its cultural policy as I discovered last year when I went to some of the community consultation meetings held at St James Cavalier. The Malta Council for Culture and the Arts is also beginning the process of cultural mapping to identify what is happening at the moment so that the year-long celebration in 2018 will support the sustainability of cultural engagement in the longer term.
This morning, the artistic director of the Cork EU capital of culture event in 2005 spoke about the need for honesty and authenticity in the particular programme that we will develop here in Malta. She also talked about the inclusion of debate and cultural dialogue as important in building a vibrant sector that is sustainable and continues after the euphoria of a glut of events in one year has passed.
It is too early in the process to begin to consider detail of actual events but some relevant issues were raised from the floor. Questions of cultural democracy, social inclusion, political instability in government commitment and the involvement of all of Malta and its people will be significant in developing our bid, planning our programme and implementing a year of cultural focus. I'm looking forward to that and feel glad that I am already talking about it in terms of 'we'!
07/03/11 Today I received an email from the organisers of the information session giving the link to the website for European Capital of Culture:
https://secure2.gov.mt/ECOC/home?l=1
The photo is of a botanical pianist in the garden at San Anton.
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