Book council chief takes aim at MTA after Cirque du Soleil elbows out book festival

The executive chairman of the National Book Council has hit out at the Malta Tourism Authority and its sponsorships committe, after once again elbowing out November’s annual book festival to accommodate a Cirque de Soleil spectacular at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

The spectacular is promoted by the company 356 Group in Malta, which benefited from an undisclosed grant from the Malta Tourism Authority as part of its sponsorships programme to foster tourism attractions.

But Camilleri attacked the MTA’s sponsorships officer, Lionel Gerada, whom he said enjoyed a close relationship to the 356 Group.

“Gerada was given authority by the disgraced, former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi to allocate MTA event funds. 365 Entertainments are amongst the MTA’s preferred recipients... During a public accounts committee grilling in 2018, Gerada claimed he had no connections to 365 Entertainments despite being photographed dining out with its principals at a Netherlands restaurant. That’s perjury on its own. But it also makes the Cirque du Soleil grant corrupt,” Camilleri said.

Camilleri said the MTA cash was subsiding a foreign and formerly bankrupt company at the expense of the Maltese book industry, which holds it annual book festival and awards every November at the Mediterannean Conference Centre’s Republic Hall.

“You would expect people to resign over this scandal in ordinary European states, but this is not an ordinary European state. The government expects us to remain silent... but in our jungle rules, corrupt idiots are allowed to bully their way around in the country. It is my job and my duty to defend the interests of the local book industry and I will keep doing-so as long as the law allows me to,” Camilleri said.

Gerada has previously appeared as a guest speaker at an International Music Summit event as one of the event organisers from 356 Group. The company’s shareholders are Nicholas Spiteri, Gerald Debono, and Trevor Camilleri.

The Malta Book Festival, previously the Malta Book Fair, has been held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre for over 30 years. In 2019, the National Book Council was told it could not book Republic Hall anymore because the Malta Tourism Authority had front-run our booking for an event they are sponsoring which will host the Cirque de Soleil circus, one of Quebec’s most internationally recognizable brands.

The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, allowing the NBC to host their annual book festival.

However, in June 2020 Cirque du Soleil, filed for bankruptcy protection following months of meagre revenues because of the pandemic. Cirque was forced to cancel its shows and cut nearly 3,500 employees due to the pandemic.

Then in November 2020, it completed the sale of the company to a group of its creditors led by Catalyst Capital Group. And in 2021, the NBC recieved news that the Cirque de Soleil show was to go ahead anyway, and that the council was unable to make use of Republic Hall.

“I protested against this tourism minister Clayton Bartolo and the Prime Minister himself and all I got from the government was the request to help myself by changing the dates and location of the Malta Book Festival.

“So, practically, the book industry is expected to take a bigger hit in sales by further changing the arrangements of its event for the sake of a foreign circus subsidised by our own government,” Camilleri said.

Camilleri also took aim at Bartolo, who recently released a document on the importance of promoting indigenous culture as part of MTA’s new strategy. “Despite the fanfare, the minister and MTA are doing exactly the opposite of what this document  says – they are subsidising a foreign circus at the expense of a local culture industry. And the expense is on our side is at least €100,000 less in book sales and a long-term negative impact on our brand. Great way to help small businesses.”