On the 2022, the Maltese Embassy in Strasbourg started to officially represent Arts Council Malta in the EUNIC Strasbourg Cluster. 

"Poetry Slam for Democracy", a celebration of our founding values through the language of art.

On 8 November, in the framework of the 2022 edition of the World Forum for Democracy, a three-part poetry slam event in Strasbourg celebrated cultural and language diversity and our commitment to democracy as one of our fundamental values.

The event was co-organised with four of the members of EUNIC Strasbourg: the Permanent Representations of Malta, Luxembourg, and Portugal to the Council of Europe and Alliance Française.

It featured a multilingual slam poetry performance in the Hemicycle of the Council of Europe during the official programme of the Forum, a concert and open mic session in a local art gallery, as well as a happening in the Strasbourg tram leading to the European institutions.

The event aimed to contribute to the objectives of the European Year of Youth and the World Forum for Democracy of the Council of Europe, thus striving to engage young people encourage them to reflect on European democracy and current challenges to our founding values. This year’s edition of the Forum focused on the subject “Democracy: A New Hope?”, thus looking into innovative ideas on how to ensure the safeguarding and renewal of democracy in the face of rising threats.

Topics such as the decline of democracy, inequality and discrimination, distrust in democratic institutions and processes were extensively discussed during the sessions of the Forum. The poetry slam further built on these topics and laid the groundwork for an ongoing reflection on the present and the future of democracy along a cultural and participatory angle. The war in Ukraine was also highly prominent among the themes of the slam, with one of the artists reciting from his journalistic experience in documenting the humanitarian crisis from the frontline.

Rachelle Deguara represented Malta in this event and her participation was made possible thanks to the coordination and support of Arts Council Malta in collaboration with the Permanent Representation of Malta to the Council of Europe.