MEIA welcomes MTA sponsorship reform and calls for wider events strategy

The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association (MEIA) has welcomed Tourism Minister Jo Etienne Abela’s announcement of a reform to the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA)’s sponsorship of events but said this must be linked to a wider events strategy.

Dr Abela told the media last week that the MTA is reformulating the way it sponsors events, a year after his predecessor Ian Borg said the authority will stop funding summer parties and festivals and use the money to aggressively market Malta as a culture and arts destination.

MEIA said it has held several discussions with the MTA and other public entities in recent years over how events sponsorships are structured, assessed and governed. 

It said it had previously been informed that some lower-value sponsorships could be approved at executive level, while larger requests were subject to a separate evaluation structure. It subsequently sought further information about the composition and expertise of those assessing applications and the criteria guiding their decisions.

However, MEIA argued that the discussion should extend beyond the approval of individual sponsorship applications. 

It said that if the MTA truly wants to align its sponsorship and marketing bushes towards cultural and heritage-based events, it should link public investment in events to measurable objectives that include economic return, cultural value, local industry development, seasonality, employment, audience development, destination positioning, community impact, environmental pressures and the long-term development of Malta’s creative and entertainment ecosystem.

“We therefore agree with the principle of reform announced by the Minister. However, reform must not simply mean changing who approves sponsorships, moving budgets between entities, or introducing a new application mechanism. It should be an opportunity to reconsider what Malta wants its events economy to achieve,” MEIA said.

The association went on to call for the integration of the night-time economy strategy, which is currently in the works, with a wider national events strategy.

“Such a framework should address not only funding, but also venues and infrastructure, licensing and permitting, transport, policing and security, noise management, community relations, accessibility, workforce conditions, fair pay, professional standards, audience development, internationalisation, data collection and the economic contribution of the sector,” it said.

“Crucially, the people working within these industries must be part of designing that framework.

“Promoters, producers, artists, cultural organisations, venues, technical professionals, tourism operators, hospitality businesses, local councils, residents and public authorities each experience different aspects of Malta’s events and night-time ecosystem. Reform developed without this expertise risks addressing the administrative mechanism without addressing the structural problem.”