The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) has launched its 2026 Budget Recommendations, presented this year under the campaign Secure Creative Futures: Stabilise. Reform. Invest. The proposals put forward 33 recommendations across eight reform pillars, offering a practical and ambitious roadmap to address systemic weaknesses and unlock the full potential of Malta’s creative and cultural sectors.

Over the past decade, Malta’s cultural and creative industries have grown in scale and visibility, supported by funding schemes, international collaborations, and landmark infrastructure projects. Yet this visibility has not translated into resilience. The sector remains marked by instability and market failures: funding is fragmented and short-term, professionals face insecure incomes and weak protections, and independent organisations and businesses operate under the constant threat of closure. This fragility is compounded by imbalances in public investment, which often prioritise large-scale projects and state institutions while overlooking the sustainability of the wider ecosystem. A lack of long-term planning for cultural infrastructure has further weakened the sector’s foundations.

“Every year we take this moment not only for reflection, but to speak honestly about the realities we face. This year we want to highlight the urgency for an infrastructure that provides stability and reform for long-term foundations. Our recommendations recognise the need to stabilise the sector, reform outdated fiscal and governance frameworks, and invest in skills, innovation, and audiences. Without a systemic approach that strengthens the entire ecosystem, Malta risks undermining the very sector it has worked so hard to elevate. Budget 2026 is the moment to secure creative futures.” – Maria Galea, president of MEIA.

The campaign’s three reform drivers are clear: stabilise to guarantee continuity, fair pay, affordable spaces, and reliable data; reform to modernise outdated tax, funding, and governance systems; and invest to strengthen skills, audiences, and digital innovation so that Malta’s creative economy remains globally competitive.

The recommendations are structured across eight reform pillars:

National Cultural Partnership Fund – introducing rolling 3–5-year agreements for independent organisations, scaled to their size and tied to fair pay and regional access.

Workforce Protection – including a phased-in Fair Pay Framework, a shared Arts Insurance Scheme for freelancers, and a Legal Aid Fund to safeguard rights and contracts.

Financial Incentives & Cash Rebates – a cultural cash rebate for theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, and independent music, underpinned by a Tourism for Culture Fund, alongside box-office support for Maltese films and a paper subsidy for independent publishers.

Arts Council Funding Reform – expanding the Arts Support Scheme with tiered project brackets, indexing budgets for international showcases, increasing the Screen Support Fund, introducing an Ecosystem Development Fund, and piloting a Basic Income for Artists.

Creative Infrastructure & Spaces – a 10-year National Creative Infrastructure Plan addressing flagship venues, affordable regional studios, rehearsal spaces, and grassroots hubs, with immediate action through adaptive reuse of buildings, a Creative Spaces Fund, and landlord incentives.

Research & Evidence – a national research framework co-managed with NSO, a biennial audience survey, and an annual Creative Economy Report to provide reliable data and income tracking for informed policymaking.

Skills & Education – recognising arts as a core subject in schools, supporting teacher training and residencies, establishing a Creative Skills Fund, providing sustainability grants for higher education, and introducing a national AI & Digital Innovation Programme.

Finance, Tax & Governance Reform – amending the reduced 7.5% tax scheme, reforming VAT on art and cinema, expanding deductions for donations, introducing cultural advertising and sponsorship credits, pension flexibility for artists, landlord tax incentives, and establishing an Inter-Ministerial Creative Economy Council.

Taken together, the 33 recommendations are not subsidies but strategic investments with measurable returns: stronger businesses, fairer jobs, higher tax and tourism revenues, wider community access, and enhanced international competitiveness for Malta.

This year, MEIA is also opening the Secure Creative Futures campaign to the wider public. Cultural professionals, organisations, and audiences are invited to join the movement by downloading the campaign banner and sharing it across their platforms, adding their voices to ensure culture is recognised as a strategic pillar of Malta’s future.

The past decade gave Malta visibility. The next must deliver stability. MEIA calls on government to integrate these proposals into the 2026 Budget, embedding culture symmetrically within national development and ensuring that creative futures are not only imagined but secured.