Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/527016
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 14 JUNE 2015 This Week 43 ARTS Council Malta has joined the European Union National In- stitutes for Culture (EUNIC), a network which aims to expand the role of culture in Europe, and to strengthen cultural dialogue, exchange and sustainable coop- eration with countries outside the EU. The membership was unani- mously approved in Madrid ear- lier this week when the General Assembly voted officially to accept Arts Council Malta as its latest member. EUNIC's mission is to promote European values and to contrib- ute to cultural diversity inside and outside of the EU, through collab- oration between European cultural institutes around the world. "I am delighted to welcome Arts Council Malta as a member of EU- NIC global," said EUNIC Global director Helena Kovarikova. "This completes the representation of all 28 EU member states. EUNIC is in the process of developing strate- gies in line with the EU agenda for culture and Arts Council Malta will now be directly involved in this process. I am confident that this will be mutually beneficial." On his part, Arts Council Malta chair Albert Marshall added that Arts Council Malta's EUNIC membership will serve to increase Malta's European presence and global significance in the cultural and creative sectors. ''Our mem- bership will strengthen the close collaborations with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the inter- national work of Maltese artists and public cultural organisations.'' Formed in 2006, EUNIC is a rec- ognised leader in culture coopera- tion governed by its 33 members from 28 countries and over 90 clusters based in different loca- tions around the globe. EUNIC's members work in over 150 coun- tries with over 2,000 branches and thousands of local partners. They work in the arts, language, youth, education, science, intercultural dialogue and development sectors. The members employ over 25,000 staff and have a combined turno- ver of more than €2.5 billion. EUNIC is the vital partner for international cultural affairs, be- cause of its special expertise and world-spanning network. Serving as competence pool and think- tank for European institutions, EUNIC complements EU initia- tives and activities in the field of culture. As a new EUNIC Global mem- ber, Arts Council Malta will be able to integrate the geographic and thematic strategic approach of the network into its own strat- egy, especially in relation to the Mediterranean region. The Coun- cil is also in the process of drawing up a five-year strategy based on a five-pronged approach. One of these is internationalisation, a new strategic priority for the council. The Council also aims to create a platform for dialogue on interna- tional cultural relations through the upcoming IFACCA World Summit, to be held in Malta in 2016. It will also play an active role in the delivery of European work plan for culture during the Mal- tese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017 and Valletta 2018. Arts Council Malta joins network for European Union National Institutes for Culture Left to right: Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga Salamanca, Secretary General of Instituto Cervantes and Vice President of EUNIC, Annika Rembe, Director General of Swedish Institute, President of EUNIC, Diego Marani, Policy Officer, European External Action Service, Helena Konarikova, EUNIC Global Director and Albert Marshall, Executive Chair, Arts Council Malta