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Karl Schembri
The culture minister’s plans to amalgamate the three government theatres in the capital have been met by resistance from two of the entities up for restructuring, with the chairmen and committee members of St James Cavalier and the Manoel Theatre insisting that a merger would kill the identity of their respective institutions.
Minister for Tourism and Culture Francis Zammit Dimech made his plans public late last year when he appointed former Arts Council Chairman Joe Friggieri as a special advisor on the pending merger of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, St James and the Manoel, but the boards of the latter two institutions have appealed in separate letters to the minister not to scrap their separate boards and to keep their autonomy.
Confirming receipt of the two letters sent earlier this year, the permanent secretary at the culture ministry, Peter Portelli, said the points raised by the two boards were being taken into consideration.
“The idea is to ensure coordination in the administration, support services and marketing of the three entities, by amalgamating the three entities,” Portelli said. “But we can’t do anything that would dilute the specific roles of each entity.”
Asked specifically if the three boards will remain distinct or merged into one, Portelli said no decision had been taken yet.
“We’re looking at different possibilities,” he said, adding that no target date was set for the restructuring. “It’s something we want do well, rather than do it at all costs.”
Prof. Friggieri said he was against amalgamation but for coordination between the cultural institutions.
“There should be coordination of resources without imposing homogeneity between the three entities,” Prof. Friggieri said. “It makes sense to hold regular meetings between the three boards, so that maybe they discuss their events calendar, plan together in advance and avoid overlapping activities.”
Manoel Theatre Chairman Wilfred Kenely, told MaltaToday that merging the three boards would harm the institutions’ identity.
“While we agree on more coordination and synergy between us, our committee informed the minister that it would be a mistake to put all the three institutions into one basket,” Kenely said. “They have developed into distinct entities, with their own niches and particular visions, and amalgamating them under one board would compromise their diverse direction and vision.”
Kenely’s counterpart at the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity, Michael Fenech, was also critical of an amalgamation of the theatre boards.
“As board of directors of St James we are not convinced this is a good idea,” Fenech said. “The three institutions have different valid roles which they should keep and merging them will not do them any good.”
On the other hand, the Mediterranean Conference Centre chairman, Peter Fenech, believes the three institutions may still retain their distinct identity if they are merged into one entity.
“The economy of scale would benefit everyone,” Peter Fenech said. “In my opinion you can and must keep the cultural aspects of each institution separate and distinct, but there is no reason why there shouldn’t be an amalgamation. Why should there be three different billing systems, separate staff and technical people, everything multiplied by three? To me it makes sense merging them.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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