A member of the monetary panel for the European capital of culture, Dr Ulrich Fuchs, has recommended that the local team should "create more opportunities to meet local stakeholders," during their ongoing preparations.
Dr Fuchs has been in Malta for the past 3 days, holding discussions with the local team, giving advice and reporting back to the EU on the current progress. He was an art director for the European capital of culture both in 2009 and 2013. Valletta will be the European capital of culture in 2018.
He explained that only himself and a Scottish colleague have been directly involved in the preparations twice before, therefore having the unique ability to advise and consult based on the previous challenges he has experienced.
One particular issue he brought attention to, is the inaccessibility of the V18 offices, which are located at the top floor of the Chamber of Commerce, Valletta. He elaborated by adding that the more stakeholders the local team meets, the more opportunities and differing ideas they are presented with.
He remarked that budgetary issues, which are often the case with other countries, have not been an issue for Malta. Often times, there is a discrepancy between what a country promises and what they actually deliver in monetary terms.
Turning to the actual programme of the V18, Dr Fuchs said "everyone wants to be involved, the team has to establish a balance between local installations and EU ones."
He added that what must be kept in mind, is that this is the European capital of culture, not the Maltese capital of culture, therefore striking the right balance would be desirable.
The local team are receiving many proposals from all over, which is why "they have to be open," throughout the selection process.
On the inherent difficulties in preparing for turning Valletta into the capital for culture, Dr Fuchs said that the 5 year head start is both too short and too long for opposing reasons.
"5 years is too short for big investments to take place," he explained.
"It is also too long in terms of choosing what goes into the programme of events. Things change along the way therefore it is important that the selection process for the programme remains open as long as possible."
He said that the progress between September 2015 and now has been very positive. "There is more clarity about the flagship projects. I received the status of the planned programmes and felt optimistic."
On the resources available to the local team, Dr Fuchs said that the team is relatively small, and that "the budget is not huge." He went on to say however that in the light of recent economic turbulence, and the upcoming cities which will represent the capital for culture, future budgets are going to be smaller than in the past.
from The Malta Independent http://ift.tt/1PAPLsl
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