Malta’s recent and current cultural policy priorities have been set by the National Cultural Policy (2021), which replaced the 2011 policy and reframed culture around the right to culture, wellbeing and sustainable development, drawing on the 2005 UNESCO Convention and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The policy was prepared through a working-group and public-consultation process and has been pursued with substantive continuity across the 2017, 2022 and 2026 general elections.
The policy framework has been operationalised through several enacted instruments and structural changes. Arts Council Malta’s Strategy 2025 “Care, Create, Flourish” set six strategic areas anchored in cultural rights; it concluded in 2025, succeeded by Strategy 2030. The current strategy highlights the role of professionalism through development, education and increased capacity, fair practice, community, inclusion and wellbeing, advocacy and public investment, and acknowledging and addressing the possibilities and challenges posed by AI to the cultural and creative sectors.
The six Regional Cultural Strategies 2022–2027 launched in 2022 mark the first systematic attempt to decentralise cultural planning to regional and local levels.
A national Charter for the Status of the Artist was endorsed by all eleven Public Cultural Organisations at the State of the Arts 2024 Symposium in October 2024 and provides a non-binding reference framework for subsequent policy and legislation. Institutionally, the Valletta Cultural Agency was set up in 2019 as the legacy body of Valletta 2018; the National Agency for the Performing Arts (NAPA) was established in 2023, bringing Teatru Malta, ŻfinMalta and KorMalta under a single administrative framework; and in November 2024 the Malta Film Commission was transferred from the Ministry for Tourism to the culture portfolio. The portfolio was re-named in 2025 from the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government to the Ministry for Culture, Lands and Local Government. Following the June 2026 general election, which returned the Labour government under Prime Minister Robert Abela, the ministry was reconfigured as the Ministry for Arts, Culture and the National Heritage (MACH), with local government and lands transferred to separate portfolios. Dr Malcolm Paul Agius Galea was appointed Minister. The National Book Council was transferred from the education portfolio to MACH, and several new entities were established under the ministry, including the Fondazzjoni għall-Malta Biennale, the De Valette Chamber Orchestra and Film Finance Malta Ltd..
Public investment has expanded the institutional base. MICAS – the Malta International Contemporary Arts Space opened in October 2024 as Malta’s first national contemporary art museum; the Valletta Design Cluster became operational in 2021; and the Budget 2026 announced a Marsa Arts and Culture Hub, a Creative Art Spaces pilot, a further edition of the Malta Biennale and Malta’s accession to Eurimages. Total state allocations to culture grew from approximately €27.1 million in 2013 to €138.7 million in the 2026 estimate — a cumulative increase of roughly 411% in nominal terms. The National Cultural Policy (2021) sets an aspirational target of 2% of total government expenditure for culture.
There have been a few significant reforms that have come about following sustained public debate. In the field of the environment, heritage NGOs and media coverage of the construction boom prompted amendments to the Cultural Heritage Act (2002, amended 2019 and 2024). With regard to artistic expression and censorship, pressure from the cultural sector led to the 2023 Bill to strengthen freedom of artistic expression, unanimously approved by Parliament, and to Legal Notice 177 of 2024 transposing the EU anti-SLAPP Directive. With regard to the role of public investment, sector criticism has been sustained regarding the Mediterrane Film Festival, whose 2024 edition was revised to approximately €5 million in public cost and which remains under parliamentary scrutiny following the 2024 National Audit Office report on Malta Film Commission governance.
More recently, the dynamic Maltese ecosystem has led to the ACM Strategy 2030 playing a pivotal role in shaping recent cultural policy in Malta by establishing a coherent framework that links sustainability with the professionalisation of the sector. Its emphasis on fair practices and governance is supporting a shift towards transparency, merit-based systems, and clearer standards for artistic labour, directly informing measures around contracts, payments, and workforce recognition. At the same time, its focus on public investment and the creative economy, including the facing of the challenges and opportunities posed by AI, has reinforced the need for structured funding mechanisms and long-term sectoral growth.
The Strategy’s commitment to research and advocacy has strengthened evidence-based policymaking, while its prioritisation of wellbeing and community inclusion situates culture within broader societal value. Crucially, through internationalisation and skills development, it aims to position Maltese culture competitively abroad while nurturing local talent. Together, these focus areas aim to advance a more mature, resilient cultural ecosystem grounded in professionalism and strategic coordination.
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