Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/768342
maltatoday, SATURDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2016 30 This Week How to improve culture in Malta Culled from a year's worth of interviews with TEODOR RELJIC, local artists and creative practitioners let us in on their hopes for the Maltese cultural scene in the coming year... and perhaps further ahead Dorian Mallia Dancer, choreographer. Director: Moveo Dance Company Art should always be led by artists and supported by a strong infrastructure. Local audience limitations should be considered and made up for. I believe that more importance should be given toward promoting Maltese artists and performances on an international level. International exposure of what is Maltese should go beyond Malta Song, the Maltese summer, sea, baroque and history, and serious promotion should be given to the wider spectrum of the arts. Ruben Zahra Musician Partly thanks to Arts Council Malta's funding schemes, today it is possible to work as a freelance musician in Malta… but you have to work your butt off. The work has to be excellent and you need to develop entrepreneurship skills. It's a learning curve and each artist needs to navigate his or her own journey. Personally, I would not have it any other way. What I would change is infrastructure… the cultural infrastructure of Malta is very poor. We lack concert halls, performance space, cultural clusters. We even lack the basis musical instruments available for rent to present a classical music concert with the basic percussion instruments. That needs to change. Bettina Hutschek Artist, filmmaker Apart from BLITZ, I do not know of any project spaces or lasting artist-run initiatives, and Malta could definitely take more of those! Artists need institutions and funding as much as spaces for experimentation and the possibility of failing. Instead of complaining about what's lacking, we can actually just get up and DO things. I consider project spaces and the project-space energy as essential to any contemporary art scene. Artists should also dare to produce work that is relevant to today's issues, while being maybe un-sellable or un-marketable (e.g. not every concept drawing needs a frame…) While there is so much going on with the revamping of the Arts Council and Valletta 2018 around the corner, I think it is very important to work with the institutional frameworks but not to rely on them or drown in organisational issues, but to always remind yourself of the quality and the message of your work. Immanuel Mifsud Author I've learnt that reading a poem aloud and to someone changes the whole dynamic of the lines. Sometimes I revise the poems after public readings. Would I recommend poetry readings? Definitely. There are other poets who are giving readings nowadays, and some of these readings are even spectacular. I'm thinking of Adrian Grima's reading in col- laboration with Plato's Dream Machine last year for example. That was a really good reading. I do wish readings like that become more of a frequent and regular event. They are beautiful because the poetry is beautiful. And people do enjoy the live experience of reading sessions. Stalko (Tim Ellis, Michael Stivala, Chris Cini) Folk-pop band There is a lot going on at the moment. New material is being released regularly and, although it may not all be to our liking, it is surely encouraging to know that more people are contribut- ing to the local music scene. As for things to change, top on our list would be more input and support from local authorities. We still lack adequate, propped-up venues for gigs, and while we're at it, any news from William Mangion?! "We need more small-scale, grassroots initiatives" "The cultural infrastructure in Malta is very poor" "Artists should run their own spaces and not rely too much on institutions" "People enjoy the live experience of poetry readings" "There needs to be more input and support for musicians from local authorities"