Minister for Culture, Lands and Local Government Owen Bonnici announced the launch of a national awareness campaign aimed at the promotion of the Right to Culture. The initiative, which is led by Arts Council Malta, celebrates freedom of artistic expression and access to culture for everyone, emphasising the importance of cultural participation and access.

The campaign was launched with a public installation designed so as to create a shared cultural experience. Three large cubes were set up next to Triton Fountain, close to the entrance of Valletta, with each of these highlighting a different creative discipline.

During the launch, there were several live performances inside and around the cubes, with interaction, artistic freedom, and a deeper connection among those present being encouraged.

Minister Bonnici stated: “This campaign reflects the government’s continued commitment to place culture at the heart of national development. Through continued investment and targeted support, we are not only implementing our electoral pledge to strengthen the cultural sector, but we are also ensuring that no single artist or community is left behind. The Right to Culture is not only a slogan but is a pledge that we are actively implementing.”

From his end, Arts Council Executive Chairman Luke Dalli said, “The Right to Culture is at the heart of the Council’s Strategy because we believe that cultural participation should never be a privilege—it is a fundamental human right. For us, this is not simply a buzzword—it is a call for action. This campaign is another step towards realising this belief by creating concrete paths for artists so that they can develop and flourish, while we exploit a number of funding schemes which support access, inclusion, and participation. Our aim is to ensure that every artist, regardless of background or discipline, will be able to access the support they need in order to contribute in a substantial manner to cultural life in Malta.”

The campaign will be visible around Malta through visuals which have the aim of inciting curiosity and driving involvement in the Right to Culture as a guiding principle for the drafting of cultural policy and practice. Relevant material will be published online and in public sites so that the accessibility of this initiative will be further promoted, while a number of testimonials will be published. The testimonials have the aim of encouraging artists to better understand the right to culture and to explore how they can actively exercise this right in their practice, while at the same time becoming more aware of the forms of support available to them and how they can further benefit from such opportunities.

As part of this broad effort to transform this principle into practice, the campaign also sheds light on the Right to Culture Resources Pack – a free toolkit accessible in a published, online, as well as audiobook format, both in Maltese and English. The campaign guides creatives on how they should use it as a tangible tool in order to make their work more inclusive, accessible, and relevant to the communities they work amongst.

For more information visit https://artscouncilmalta.gov.mt/.

https://artscouncilmalta.gov.mt/right-to-culture-campaign-launched/