The Covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the economic and social life of many people. To no surprise, the creative sector was one among the many affected by the pandemic, worldwide.

Speaking about the challenges faced by the industry on a local level, the Arts Council said that the local cultural sector undertook several steps to adapt to the Covid-19 restrictions that were in force over the past two years.

It said that many of the annual festivals, such as the Malta International Arts Festival, Ghanafest and Carnival festivities took place in new formats which focused either on small scale mobile performances or online content. This did not lack its own challenges, however, and new problems such as audience engagement surfaced.

In a research done by the Arts Council Malta it was discovered that the audience’s interest in attending online events was highest during the beginning of the pandemic, where it has decreased over time.

Apart from the forms of engagement, the many organisations and independent performers had to also rethink their business and income models. In accordance to the aforementioned study, although the intention to attend events improved as restrictions were eased and vaccination rates increased, many were still generally hesitant to attend in-person events.

In its answers, the council explained how there were many other issues that surfaced with the onset of the pandemic.

“The issues that were brought to the surface by the pandemic – the status of the artist, the relationship between the arts and wellbeing, the need for creative practitioners to have greater economic security, among others – have encouraged the sector to explore ways in which these issues can be addressed in a systematic and comprehensive manner,” it said.

In trying to help sustain the local arts sector, the Arts Council itself came up with various initiative funds and activities. The council said that, in setting the Malta Arts Fund Special Call, it addressed the impacts of the pandemic on the creative sector.

Apart from that, it also established the Transition Arts Task force, which is a consultative forum aimed to provide space for discussion and guidance on how the sector can manage difficulties brought about by the pandemic.

Subsequently, through the development of recommendations by the same task force, Arts Council Malta launched the Restart schemes, which are a series of 12 arts investment and support schemes made available throughout 2021, which costed around €3,62m.

Such schemes also covered funding for programmes which existed before the pandemic, which however had to be revised in order to compete in the new reality.

The same schemes have been further developed this year.

Speaking about the allocation for the creative sector, the Arts Council explained how it has increased following the onset of the pandemic, where in 2021 it was allocated a total of €95.2m, which was increased to €110m this year.

It further added that the challenges that the pandemic has brought about played an important role in shaping Malta’s recent National Cultural Policy, and its own Strategy 2025, which were both published last year.

Currently, the Malta Arts Council is participating in ongoing discussions with several other public institutions and cross-sectoral stakeholders to address the infrastructural challenges that the creative sector faces.