More than 2,100 artists, cultural workers, organisations and members of the public have signed the open letter launched by the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) asking Prime Minister Robert Abela to request the resignation of the Minister for Arts, Culture and National Heritage, Malcolm Paul Agius Galea, and to reassign the culture portfolio. The signatures were collected within a day of the letter’s launch on 9 November.
The letter follows the Minister’s remarks at the Festival of Ideas, reported by Times of Malta, in which he described his first months in office as “traumatic”, said that to him being creative means being presumptuous and dangerous, and questioned why productions should need public funding when ticket sales should be enough. It also follows other inappropriate remarks by the Minister, including his comments on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, to which MEIA responded in September, and a speech in which he reportedly said that artists remind him of his time working at Mount Carmel Hospital.
The response shows the strength of the sentiment across the sector and beyond it.
MEIA reiterates its call on the Prime Minister to request the Minister’s resignation and to reassign the culture portfolio to a Minister with the competence, understanding and respect the sector deserves.
The open letter remains open for signatures and its full text is available here.