Jason Micallef refuses to comment directly on mayor’s boycott
V18 Chairman Jason Micallef has refused to comment on the current state of the relationship between himself, the V18 Board, and Valletta Mayor Alexei Dingli, who disassociated himself from the foundation after accusing Micallef of playing partisan politics and systematically excluding the local council.
“I do not think that a Board of Governors needs to make public what happened between the absolute majority of board members and the mayor,” Micallef said. “The board will remain open for the moment should the Mayor want to come back and sit on the regular meetings of V18,” he continued.
On the other hand, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici insisted that they “have a very good relationship” with Dingli, highlighting the work done in v18 and the civic office for the local council. “I look forward to continue working together,” he said.
Last May, Dingli wrote a letter to Micallef, as well as board members, expressing discomfort at Micallef’s management of the foundation.
The letter accused Micallef of systematically excluding the local council from its activities. It was reported that some invites were even sent to some entities in Valletta, and that those entities were prohibited from inviting the council. The V18 Chairman was also accused of playing partisan politics.
Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday in last week’s edition, Dingli said that he was still boycotting the foundation, saying that “nothing has changed, so I don’t see why I have to change my position.”
Micallef has been at centre of a public storm, receiving a tirade of condemnation from local and foreign artists, politicians and those linked with the EU’s capital of culture both internationally and locally after he ridiculed the last words of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia amid ongoing calls from anti-corruption protestors and members of civil society for government to be held accountable.
As the criticism and anger mounted against Micallef for making such comments, he, along with PM Joseph Muscat and, continuously pointed to freedom of expression to defend his language.
The newsroom previously reported how local and international artists, and famous writers such as Ewan McGregor hailing from PEN International condemned Micallef for his commentary, criticising him for failing to champion European values, calling for his removal.
They had specifically called out his harsh opposition of banners hung around Valletta calling for justice for the murder of Caruana Galizia, where Micallef repeatedly ordered their removal; along with his repeated offensive remarks against Caruana Galizia and her supporters on social media.
Most recently, eight past and future representatives of the European Capital of Culture have called out Micallef for ridiculing European Values. Ulrich Fuchs, the Chairman of the committee that monitored Valletta as European Capital for Culture in 2018, saying that he would not attend any V18 event “as long as people representing the project destroy European values.”
Government set to announce fiscal incentives for artists - Bonnici
The government is set to announce fiscal incentives for local artists, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said. The proposal, which was part of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto, will be key in ensuring artists are able to pursue their field without added financial pressure, Bonnici explained.
The Minister was speaking at a press conference regarding the results of surveys of the first six months of V18 - Valletta is the capital city of culture in Europe for the whole year.
Over 317,000 people have attended around 200 V18 events for the first six months of the year with 1,500 local artists and 166 international artists taking part, V18 Chairman Jason Micallef revealed.
110,000 visited the capital at the v18 opening, while 70,000 people attended the Valletta Celebrations on New Year’s Eve. Il-Festa lKbira also saw a large attendance with 40,000 visiting the city.
The Valletta Green Festival was also a success, with 30,000 visiting the festival last May, he said.
Micallef stressed the V18 extended beyond event within the city pointing to a number of events held across all of the Maltese islands, such as Altofest Malta 2018.
V18 has also provided a number of jobs, Bonnici said.
The result showed that as of 2017, around 10,201 were employed within creative and cultural industries, up for 8,618 in 2014. Around 93% of the 10,201 are employed on a full-time basis within the private sector, whilst the remaining are employed by the public sector.
Part-time employment has also increased up to 1,912 in 2017 from 1,612 in 2014.
Figures provided by the Malta Tourism Authority showed that around 15% of tourists come to Malta for cultural reasons. Parliamentary Secretary for V18 Deo Debattista said that the figures were the result of the government’s significant cultural investment over the last few years.