A Sustainable Cultural Infrastructure for Valletta

Davinia Galea

6 November 2010

‘[F]irst of all, what the anthropologists mean: the way of life of a particular people living together in one place.’

‘[C]ulture may even be described as that which makes life worth living’, but also connected the two by stating it is a ‘society’s arts, manners, religion, and ideas’

T. S. Eliot, Notes Towards a Definition of Culture (1948)

‘[T]he importance of culture as a component of national life and of cultural development as a matter of international concern’.

WCCD, Our Creative Diversity (1995)

‘Sustainable’ or ‘sustainability’ as associated with ‘development’, not only in economic terms but in the broader sense of ‘human development’, that is, speaking about the quality of life.

Intergenerational equity as ‘fairness in the distribution of welfare, utility or resources between generations’

David Throsby, Sustainability and culture some theoretical issues (1997)

Cultural Capital is ‘an asset which embodies, stores or provides cultural value in addition to whatever economic value it may possess’.

David Throsby, Economics and Culture (2003)

Creativity in the twenty-first century plays an important role between ‘communication on existential issues’ and ‘ways of living together’ Jeannotte, (2003).

UNESCO recognises that culture and creativity are not mere ‘promoters of economic growth’. Investment in Capital, in this case, social, human, cultural or creative is increasingly growing in importance (1998).

‘Creative Communities are centres of diversity, innovation and economic growth’

Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)

a Super-Creative Core…

Computer and mathematical occupations Architecture and engineering occupations Life, physical and social science occupations Education, training, and library occupations Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media

occupations

Creative Professionals…

Management occupations Business and financial operations

occupations Legal occupations Healthcare practitioners and technical

occupations High-end sales and sales management

Working Class component that supports the above groups: Construction and extraction occupations Installation, maintenance, and repair

occupations Production occupations Transportation and material moving

occupations

Service Class component that supports the above groups: Health Care Support occupations Food preparation and food-service-related

occupations Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

occupations Personal care and service occupations Low-end sales and related occupations Office and administrative support occupations Community and social services occupations Protective service occupations

Agriculture…

Farming, fishing and forestry occupations

Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)

The need to address the problem of lack of spaces for the performing arts;

To provide adequate and appropriate space for the hosting of the 2017 Presidency of the EU and the 2018 European Capital of Culture events of a European dimension;

To assist in the culture-led regeneration of the Capital City;

As an important business development tool that brings economic, social and cultural advantages to our country;

To create cultural programmes of artistic excellence whilst also addressing community outreach.

Valletta with such a proposed cultural infrastructure would be a key influence within a Mediterranean, European and International context.

The title of ECOC…

not only promotes existing cultural excellence, but encourages cities to put culture at the heart of development, innovation and prove that culture is essential to city life, regeneration, education, business and social inclusion.

The ECOC initiative aims to foster European cross cultural co-operation and therefore requires a broad scale European dimensional programme, with a sustainable cultural legacy

Department of Culture Media and Sport (2003)

The ERM report declared that… i. ‘a sustainable cultural infrastructure’ i.e. to

encourage growth and development in the cultural and creative industries in Liverpool,

ii. ‘an inclusive and dynamic community’ that would see greater participation from local communities in cultural events and a unified community,

iii. ‘a premier European city’ that would see an improved infrastructure connecting with the city centre and a culture-led regeneration as a result of these factors that would result in a socio-economic and cultural renewal for Liverpool

Sadiq, K., Walker, H., Hutton, S., & Artis, H.,European Capital of Culture: Socio-economic impact assessment of Liverpool’s bid,

Manchester, ERM Economics (2003) .

[s]paces are experienced by the many different people who inhabit them. What is “culture” to one group may be “repression” to another. … Public spaces create a variety of public cultures, and … the overarching public culture of the city is dialogue among them.

Sharon Zukin The Culture of Cities (1995)