Book Council says MCC prioritising Cirque du Soleil instead of book festival

The National Book Council has said it risks losing its traditional November slot at the Mediterranean Conference Centre due to a pre-booking for the month by the Cirque du Soleil spectacular.

The NBC appealed to the government to ensure that it retains unreserved access to the Mediterranean Conference Centre to organise the 2021 National Book Festival from 10 to 14 November.

“it is with great regret that it has been informed that it will not be able to make use of the Republic Hall for the Malta Book Festival, as it will instead be used for the publicly-subsidised show of international circus actors Cirque de Soleil,” the NBC said.

The Cirque de Soleil was already scheduled to appear in Malta in November 2020, although the event had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NBC said now more than ever, the book industry in Malta needed all the support it can get from the government. “However, if space in the MCC is to be restricted, it will severely affect the event itself and the revenue it generates, which are crucial for the book industry to survive,” the council said.

The council said it had been the most consistent and loyal customer of MCC. “We used its wards at the time of the pandemic when others were cancelling everything. Now we’re being mistreated in this way by the MCC executive and administration. Last year, the Cirque de Soleil went bankrupt, so the Maltese government’s public subsidy to this company could have an extremely dubious legal basis,” they said.

The NBC said the government had also prioritised a foreign artistic group and not the local cultural industry. “Even though the main aim of the government is to promote Malta as a tourist destination, it is throwing the stone on its feet if it does so by favouring foreign artistic groups instead of the local creative industry. The book industry is comprised of small businesses of hard-working families, and the government should understand this.”