Creative Director addresses Cabinet on education, sustainability & infrastructure in Malta’s arts sector

Marie Gallery 5 Creative Director Maria Galea on Monday shared that she had the opportunity to voice her thoughts to Cabinet on various improvements that need to be made to Malta’s arts and cultural sector.

Ms Galea, who is also the Founder of ARTZ ID and is Chairperson for Visual Arts at the Malta Entertainment and Arts Association, intervened in the discussion about education, sustainability, and infrastructure within the sector. She highlighted the need for a “balance” between the public and private sector.

She also touched on different ways through which arts and culture can be included within other Ministries, not just the Ministry for The National Heritage, The Arts and Local Government, in order to “follow in other countries’ footsteps”.

Additionally, she pointed out that there needs to be an increase in job opportunities in the sector for students that have just finished their studies, along with more incentives that “reduce the dependency on public funds”. Ms Galea also said that there is a desire for more creative spaces, as well as “collaboration and inclusion for a healthier ecology”.

Further, she emphasised the importance of creative industries and the “potential the creative economy brings to the country, community, and the sector at large”.

“Thank you for the opportunity and space to voice my thoughts and vision where creativity, artists, professionals, and organisations operate in a healthy, inclusive and organically sustainable ecology,” Ms Galea concluded.

Ms Galea is also a Young Cultural Innovators Fellow at Salzburg Global Seminar, and says she is motivated by the “improvement of the art ecosystem”. She holds a qualification in Finance and the Art Market from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and is currently reading for a Master of Arts in Arts and Cultural Enterprise from University of the Arts London.