The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) has today formally submitted to Prime Minister Robert Abela an open letter calling for the resignation or reassignment of Hon. Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, Minister for Arts, Culture and National Heritage,and for the culture portfolio to be reassigned.

The letter is supported by 56 organisations and 3,327 individuals from across Malta’s cultural and creative sector.

“The unprecedented response received within such a short period reflects the depth of hurt, frustration and, most importantly, the loss of confidence in the Minister among the community he has been entrusted to represent. MEIA stresses that this is not a position the Association has reached lightly,” wrote the organisation in the statement.

“As a representative body, however, it has a responsibility to communicate the position of the sector, even when that message is difficult. The scale of the response means this can no longer be dismissed as an isolated disagreement between the Minister and individual members of the cultural community,” it added.

MEIA says that it has consistently sought constructive dialogue and recognises the substantial progress achieved for Malta’s cultural and creative sector over recent years through sustained advocacy, Government action and cooperation.

“It is precisely because that progress must be protected that the Association believes this situation now requires action,” it says.

MEIA says that while the Minister acknowledged that his remarks may have sounded insensitive, that people were hurt and that he could have expressed himself differently, his response stopped short of an unequivocal apology for the substance of the remarks and instead sought to contextualise them as an attempt to challenge and provoke discussion.

For MEIA, the issue is not simply whether the remarks could have been phrased differently, but they say that the concern is what those remarks revealed about the Minister’s understanding and perception of the sector he has been appointed to lead.

“Suggesting that the problem was principally one of delivery does not adequately address the very serious concerns raised by statements questioning public investment in culture, characterising creativity as potentially presumptuous or dangerous, referring to artists as considering themselves ‘God’s gift to the world’, and suggesting that creative expression should remain within particular norms.”

“The sector has responded because it believes these positions are fundamentally incompatible with the leadership, and understanding expected from the Minister entrusted with Malta’s cultural portfolio.”

Meia confirmed that the open letter has been formally placed before Prime Minister Robert Abela, and it believes that the responsibility to address the situation therefore rests with the Prime Minister.