Antoinette Caruana, who has been CEO of Heritage Malta almost from its inception in 2003, has resigned and will be leaving her post in September.
Before leaving for a two-week holiday last Friday week, she sent a letter to all Heritage Malta staff and told them she had accepted another offer.
Heritage Malta chairman Dr Mario Tabone confirmed to this newspaper that Ms Caruana has resigned and said a process to select her successor will soon start with a call for applications.
Dr Tabone praised Ms Caruana’s drive and integrity and denied she had left because of some disagreement with him or the government.
However, this new resignation, coming as it does on top of other resignations relating to the Culture and Tourism Ministry – Grace Borg, Romwald Lungaro Mifsud, etc – will inevitably generate questions regarding the lack of funds for Heritage Malta projects.
Our heritage, Dr Tabone told this newspaper, is Malta’s next best resource after its human resources and Malta must invest in it in order to protect it. Dr Tabone denied he has any intention of leaving now as there are still a number of projects he intends to see through over the next two to three years he said.
Heritage Malta is the national agency of the Government of Malta set up in 2002 under the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act and entrusted with the management of national museums and heritage sites and their collections in Malta and Gozo, including seven UNESCO world heritage sites.
Following the recognition of four key aspects of the national cultural heritage, namely management, conservation, interpretation and marketing, Heritage Malta bases all its activities bearing in mind that all our national museums and sites have an important role to play in education, learning, access and the generation of revenue to be reinvested in the heritage sector.
Heritage Malta was set up in 2002 under the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act 2002. We started operations on 1st January 2003.
The agency reports to the Ministry for Tourism and Culture and is answerable to Parliament through the Minister, Dr Francis Zammit Dimech.
Heritage Malta is led by a Board under the direction of a Chairman, Dr Mario Tabone. Ms Caruana was appointed on 8 March, 2003.