When Strategy2020 was launched in 2015, our local cultural and creative sectors were a different landscape to what we see now. Since then, we have witnessed an unprecedented increase in government investment in the sectors, a bolder presence of Malta within the international artistic community, and stronger local and international partnerships. The knowledge base concerning how these sectors function, as well as their overall social and cultural impact, has also been nurtured and expanded, and ever more people are benefitting from public funding – both directly and indirectly. Public Cultural Organisations and independent cultural entities in Malta have improved their capacity building exponentially, and arts education and schools are being increasingly prioritised via collaborations with artists to increase students’ exposure to the arts.
Our strategic success has resulted from bold and fruitful collaborative efforts with a wide range of stakeholders, both in the public sector and with artists and cultural operators whose dynamism, creativity and innovation have enriched the sectors substantially over the past few years. Throughout it all, ACM has played a central and vital role in investment, advocacy and support, empowering and facilitating these improvements over the years.

Nevertheless, at ACM we are acutely aware that challenges remain, which we will need to address over the coming years. In particular, we aim to focus on creative and artistic engagement across all age groups, especially given the adversity faced since 2020. We intend to open up new opportunities by facilitating stronger collaborations between educational institutions and cultural organisations and practitioners as a key starting point.

Despite recent challenges relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cultural and creative sectors, ACM’s first strategy can be considered a success. The difficulties and misfortune we faced motivated a rethink of how best to support sectoral development, and we have used this opportunity to address the artistic and cultural needs and concerns of both the sectors and the Maltese public. To this end, we increased our participatory mechanisms so as to hold and facilitate our public consultation process leading towards Strategy 2025. We conducted extensive conversations with the public and artistic, cultural and creative representatives, and we also held internal retrospectives and evaluation procedures targeting the different challenges and opportunities faced over the years.

With the National Cultural Policy 2021 having been launched in September 2021, Strategy 2025 aims to contribute to its implementation alongside strategies from other relevant public entities. We aim to align our goals with the Policy’s priorities and commitment to embracing culture for the well-being of all, highlighting the importance of cultural rights within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing the Status of the Artist head on – something which has become ever more pertinent given the recent challenging global context.

Strategy 2025 has been designed together with the people it will most impact. Our participatory approach to the strategy’s creation is being practised with immediacy. Culture is where new narratives and mindsets are developed and new societal shifts occur. Importantly, it is an enabler of long-term sustainability. Care, Create, Flourish is our mantra, best capturing how ACM will enable and position the sustainable and inclusive growth of Malta’s cultural and creative sectors as being integral to the well-being of all. Sustainability and inclusivity shall be endorsed holistically and comprehensively in policy directions, funding and investment.
Since drafting Strategy 2025, we have gathered invaluable feedback from ACM’s stakeholder groups, including cultural and creative practitioners, organisations, sectoral representatives and public entities operating within and/or with an interest in arts and culture. The feedback has indicated that we are on the right track to addressing the sector’s main challenges and ambitions, which is encouraging. ACM is also appreciative and grateful for the time, insights, suggestions and comments that have led to improvements made to Strategy 2025.

Now, ACM presents our final Strategy 2025, paving the way for our work in the coming four years. The staff at ACM looks forward to working with all stakeholders to continue supporting and promoting the development of Malta’s cultural and creative sectors. 

Strategy 2030

The Council is assessing the impact of Strategy 2025 through in-depth meetings and interviews. It began by launching the process internally, with the support of the policy and strategy development company EMCS, which won a call for quotations. In the first internal phase, contributions were made by Chief Executive Dr. Luke Dalli, Head of Funds Rita Falzon and the strategy team composed of Dr. Simone Inguanez, Dr. Nikki Petroni, Glen Calleja, Nicole Bugeja, Ġorġ Vella and Dr. Karsten Xuereb, who is coordinating the study.

At the same time, the Council also heard from the Sectoral Representation Working Group, made up of expert practitioners in various fields of culture and creativity as well as members of  public cultural organisations. They shared their reflections on Strategy 2025 and are contributing to the development of Strategy 2030.

This work is progressing hand in hand with research into every document, report, statistic and critical writing that may impact the development of the cultural and creative sectors and industries in Malta.

This framework will help shape the public consultation, which will take place between the end of August and the beginning of September, through open sessions for anyone practicing in the mentioned sectors and interested in the field’s development. This phase will be led by the research company PKF who were adjudicated a specific call for quotations for this work.

The final phase of the consultation will involve a draft of the new strategy, to which the public will be able to respond.

In the coming weeks, the Council will announce the dates of the public sessions and prepare the consultation document.

The process will conclude towards the end of 2025, serving as a guiding tool, including guidelines based on values and principles embraced by the sector for 2026 to 2030.

Alongside this research, the Council will also launch a review of the funding program structure and another review focusing on the impact of the cultural and creative sectors and industries on the economy and society.

The initial responses and results indicate that the new strategy will build on the successes of the current strategy and will do so by continuing efforts toward professionalization in the sector which can contribute to a more sustainable cultural, economic, and social impact.