Allocate annual investment towards our funding programmes, which will include financial schemes aimed at supporting artistic and cultural projects, programming, internationalisation, community exchanges, research and development, professionalisation, arts education, cultural content in the media, platforms, cultural and sectoral representative organisations, traditional cultural activities and similar initiatives to meet ongoing sectoral needs and concerns. Investment allocation is subject to Government’s annual budget, but our persistent aim is to maintain a relevant, structured and flexible funding framework.
Develop and continuously review our funding programmes and investment mechanisms through ongoing public consultation, engagement and evaluation to address sector-specific needs and concerns with the Status of the Artist at the core of our thinking.
Enhance standard operating procedures for fund management and assess existing processes to minimise bureaucracy and enhance communication with the public about our monitoring and reporting requirements.
Embark on an evaluation and consultation process to identify investment measures that allow for increased transparency and healthier competition. This includes reviewing and analysing our evaluation processes and systems to pinpoint areas that need improvement to provide more equitable investment, better feedback and flexibility in response to the changing needs of the cultural and creative sectors.
Invest in resources that facilitate ongoing discussions with our stakeholders and establish procedures that lead to a charter on the Status of the Artist to align with the National Cultural Policy 2021’s direction. The result will be a framework that protects, improves and recognises an artist’s right to express, practise, organise and advocate for their status.
Enhance our online CRM system for all public investment initiatives administered by ACM. It will be utilised for the duration of the funding process, including the application, evaluation, award, implementation, mentoring, monitoring and reporting stages, to ensure a greener, smoother and more efficient process.
Explore and establish alternative funding mechanisms that complement our existing ones. Such tools must be based on participatory approaches that enhance recognition of the public value of arts and culture, including crowdfunding, match funding, micro-grants and preferential bank loans. To achieve this goal, we will follow an exploratory process with our existing and future stakeholders using a cross-sectoral approach.
Establish co-funding mechanisms for our portfolio through inter-ministerial collaborations addressing specific target groups within the cultural and creative sectors.
Engage sectoral support coordinators with specialist knowledge and experience to monitor and guide the implementation of the funded projects and work we support through other forms of public investment.
Pursue the continuous support of Gozo and its position as a distinctive cultural region through a localised approach, as well as collaborative investment in the island’s cultural development.
Allocate resources to participatory frameworks with PCOs to strengthen their cultural leadership through relationships with collaborators from the public and independent sectors, their operational standards and various levels of decision-making. This will be implemented through regular and collaborative strategic reviews and evaluations using specialised think tanks and consultations. In this regard, ACM will serve as a role model, offering continuous guidance and advocating the use of best practices.
Establish sectoral steering committees with practitioners from public institutions, independent cultural entities and representative organisations that form part of Malta’s cultural and creative ecology and can offer advice and guidance during our investment decision-making processes.
Invest in building on the established Il-Premju għall-Arti as an award that recognises excellent and outstanding artistic work, in line with the sectoral trends, for its contribution on a national level, while encouraging more professionalism and innovation in the cultural and creative sectors.
Develop a portfolio of EU-funded projects to evolve and expand ACM’s international cultural profile to benefit those involved in the cultural and creative sectors.
Develop effective and suitable international multi-stakeholder partnerships and consortia to bid for multicountry project-based work by identifying the right partners and building relationships to prepare robust EU project proposals.
Make EU funding more accessible to Malta’s cultural and creative sectors by financially supporting Maltese cultural organisations that have secured EU funding, using an established co-financing mechanism that covers the self-financing component of the EU-funded project.
