Social change through cultural enterprise in Malta : a critical assessment of a nascent field

Abstract

This article adopts a cultural policy perspective to address diversity and sustainable development in the context of cultural enterprise in Malta, where projects and scholarly research supported by European funded programmes in the promotion and protection of diversity in local and regional environments are at an early stage. This article first argues that engaging in a critical assessment of the field is timely because of the growing importance that matters of diversity and sustainability are having in the light of the cultural-driven and -led models employed that are having significant impact on human and natural ecosystems; this is particularly due to a booming population that is becoming more diversified, a greater economic activity especially related to tourism and travel and the consistent rise in the demand of creative products and services. In this light, references to the research conducted by the project Acting on the Margins: Arts as Social Sculpture (AMASS) will support this argument. It then argues that cultural operators and educators who are drawn to this area of interest and whose work consists of evaluating the scene and proposing novel ways of collaboration and research contribute towards building sustainable models of operation. The methodology applied is based on a pertinent literature review and observations made directly in the field of practice.