The impact of Valletta 2018 on the European identity of the Maltese population

Abstract

In October 2012, Valletta was selected to be the 2018 European Capital of Culture (ECoC). Participation of Maltese and European citizens was considered to be an integral goal of the initiative and, to this end, the Cultural Programme that envisaged considerable community and outreach components all around the Maltese Islands. The European dimension is also a key aspect of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme. ECoC programmes aim to foster cooperation between cultural operators, artists and cities from different Member States, to highlight the richness of cultural diversity in Europe and to bring the common aspects of European cultures to the fore (European Parliament, 2006). However, while the development of a European (cultural) identity is a goal of ECoC programmes, there are few studies which provide evidence of this. Consistent, accessible and comparable research and evaluation directly linked to culture is one of the requirements of hosting an ECoC (Garcia and Cox, 2013). In light of this, the present study examines the extent to which European identity in Malta may have been affected by the Valletta 2018 ECoC programme, to what extent, and among what segments of the population.