Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/580873
14 IT may be an impression of mine, but the Malta 'arts scene' – to use a phrase that is sufficiently board to mean practically anything – seems to be caught up in an intrinsic con- tradiction. On one level, there is a heck of a lot more happening than I ever remem- ber. In between Notte Biancas, Beer Festivals, Baroque festivals, and on- going preparations for V18 (more of which soon enough), there are now regular arts festivals organised by practically every local council… a live garage-band culture that has clearly outgrown its earlier 'cover version' phase… not to mention a growing awareness that not all 'street art' is necessarily vandalism. Perhaps the most significant shift has been political (with lower-case 'p'). Culture is clearly no longer re- garded as a useless Cabinet portfolio to be juggled between different – and sometimes unlikely – ministries. There is demonstrable cognisance of 'culture' as something worth invest- ing in. Hence the paradox. Even as the arts in general climb up the ladder of national priorities, Malta's artists by and large still fit the stereotypical adjectives that have always accom- panied that word: 'struggling', 'starv- ing', etc. We may have discovered the no- tion of 'creative industries'… but the creative industrial revolution has yet to take place. As one of the more outspoken ac- tors on that particular stage, Mario Vella has long argued that Malta's artistic scene requires an infrastruc- ture to be built up almost completely from scratch. Currently poised for the release of Brikkuni's third studio album, he is perhaps more aware than most of the practical hurdles facing the struggling musician in to- day's world. Which I suppose makes him part of the paradox himself: though one of Malta's 'successful' artists, he is still compelled to rely on external funding to do the thing for which he is best known. Doesn't this mean that the local arts scene is actually living an illu- sion? Has it become too reliant on external financial support, and if so… doesn't this indirectly indicate that commercial success in art is simply an impossibility, given Malta's size limitations? "Let's start by saying that I'm not against public funding for art. I un- derstand that it is a contemporary re- ality everywhere – in the UK, Franc, Italy etc. – that art doesn't generate the same amount of money as it used to. That's a fact. So there needs to be assistance. Even if just to avoid having a 'gentrified' artistic scene: where the same artists dominate everywhere, and we never see the other side of the coin. What I commented on the past was not on the use of public money, but on the way the funding was dis- tributed…" Vella acknowledges having availed of the National Arts Fund to help complete the second Brikkuni al- bum. "More recently I applied for funding for a logistical project that simply couldn't be financed by the money generated by the band. We spent a year doing live gigs, but there was no way we could cover the costs of this project. It involved perform- ing with an orchestra over a period of time…" Initiatives such as the Arts Fund, he adds, have in fact been indispensable. "Since it was introduced it's been responsible for a number of valid works. Still, I have some reservations over how this fund is allocated: for instance, the exaggerated prevalence of 'academic credentials' irritates me a bit. Not because I ignore the need for creative vision with an academic background… I just don't think it's the be-all and end-all…" This brings us to the first of a number of intrinsic problems within an arts scene that is already heavily reliant on patronage. The resulting playing field is not always level. "Over here it's easy to become an 'authoritative' person within cultural circles. And you'll find the same peo- ple lapping up every source of fund- ing imaginable… sometimes to the detriment of young talent that's also looking for a break. I'm not saying established artists shouldn't get any funding at all. But the balance could be a lot better." Apart from the distribution of funds, there is also the question of origins. Recently, for instance, it was announced that monies raised by MEPA through permits for high-rise buildings would be channelled into the arts. Officially, the intention is to pump more money into artistic endeavours… but it sounds more like a retrospective justification of an enormously controversial planning policy. Vella nods. "That's how I inter- preted it, too. But that's also part of the reality of such finds. Each time I accepted funding for a project, I was conscious that I was tapping into a fund financed by various taxes… in other words, by the general public. But what I find worrying is that in the most popular and prominent sectors of the Maltese arts scene there is a near total lack of social conscience. Either that, or the social conscience it expresses is a very simplistic one that panders to non-controversial themes. I'm not saying that to be a valid artist you have to be politically active… there are millions of exam- ples of non-political artists who had a huge impact on the cultural world. But then again, an artistic scene al- most completely lacking in social conscience, with no real drive to struggle against the same establish- ment that feeds it… I'd say that's a dead art scene." But is that really true of Malta to- day? Sticking to only music for the time being: I listen to local bands and get a very different impression. Groups like Norm Rejection, Rage Against Society (even the name is in- dicative) and Batteries Not Included all touch on deeply political themes. RAS, for instance, even championed a ban on circus animals… "But you'll notice that they're all part of very small subcultures. By and large, in pop culture… which I con- sider to be very important… I detect a fear to tread on the corns of anyone 'important'. There's a hesitation to spit into the plate you're going to eat from." Vella seems to be suggesting that subsistence on 'official' handouts, by necessity, breeds a certain reluctance to rock the boat. This raises the ques- tion of whether it is even possible to succeed without outside help. From Vella's own experience with Brikkuni (and previously with Lumiere)… is success possible in such a small mar- ket? Or is Malta's arts scene doomed to conformism, for the simple reason that it needs government funding to survive? He shrugs. "It depends what you mean by 'success'. It's a flexible term. A lot of people would take it to mean recognition outside Malta's shores, for instance. Others would say finan- cial survival." It was actually survival I had in mind: we know it is possible for lo- cal artists to get recognised abroad bands in the death metal scene have been successful in Europe and even America (eg, Forsaken, Beheaded). But what good is that, if success doesn't translate into the kind of fi- nancial security required to (for in- stance) produce another album? "Again, it depends. There are some record labels – like Howard Keith's Jagged House – that, regardless what I think of the musical content, have managed to hit on a business model that somehow works for them. But even if the model functions: the fact remains that not even Jagged House, in spite of its popularity, can provide full-time jobs for the musicians on its roster. All of them hold day jobs. Besides, I can't imagine this business model permits artists to be risqué. Or politically engaged…" Jagged House produces artists such as Ira Losco, Red Electrick, Airport Impressions and the Rifffs. If I'm get- ting Vella's drift, they all seem to fall into the broader category of 'safe', 'non-controversial' pop. We both agree that there's nothing intrinsi- cally wrong with that at all: but is he suggesting that it's the inevitable price one pays for survival in such a small market? "Let me put it this way: it is possible to live off art in Malta. It is extremely difficult, here and everywhere else, but it can be done. It is harder here, because the logistics are more re- stricted. But to live off art, you have no choice but to do things you don't really want to do. You have to play at weddings, for instance… take com- missions… up to a point it's inevita- ble. The problem is that people who make use of those avenues to gen- erate capital, don't get to fulfil their dream projects anyway, at the end of the day. They're still huddled in their safe pond. I see an imbalance in that regard…" But this brings him back to his dis- comfort with defining success. "What worries me far more than the ques- tion of self-sufficiency is that there is no real respect at grassroots level for the utility of art beyond its ability to generate capital. Take the example of an artist who 'failed'… according to the parameters by which many measure 'success'. The chances are that when you employ someone like that, they will generally be more cre- ative and very employable. That sort of person is certainly not going to do any harm to the local workforce." Creativity, he argues, has a value in itself… but this is not given the rec- ognition it deserves in Malta. "The reality is that we do need or- ganised structure to finance the arts these days. But there are other things we need before that. Sometimes I get the impression that in this country we always run before we learn to walk. There is no real structure at present for a young artist to avail of, even using only his own resources, to get his work out there." Before getting to the bit about fund- ing individual projects, the emphasis should be on prioritising the arts at grassroots level. "We need to engen- der an appreciation, from an early age, of the value of art. Not just its entertainment value – though that, too, is important – but to nurture an audience that, in future, would ap- preciate these things so much they'd be willing to pay for them. If we're going to talk about 'strengthening culture', that's the place to start, in my opinion." What would that involve in practi- cal terms? "We need structures to provide training, or to encourage self-train- ing and improvement… so that even- tually, if the aim is to have full-time artists, they would have the possibil- ity to leave Malta with at least some basic preparation to confront the realities of a much bigger market. As some people have done successfully in the past, without any outside help at all…" Yet at the same time there does Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2015 Another 'Brikkun' An artistic scene almost completely lacking in social conscience, with no real drive to struggle against the same establishment that feeds it… I'd say that's a dead art scene SOCIAL CONSCIENCE Over here it's easy to become an 'authoritative' person within cultural circles. And you'll find the same people lapping up every source of funding imaginable AUTHORITY