Cultural continuities and cultural policies in small states : the case of Malta

Abstract

This article explores some of the challenges facing artists and curators living and working in a small state. More specifically, it addresses the tension between ‘openness’ in cultural policies, through artist mobility and arts funds; and ‘closure’, in terms of limitations in issues related to peripherality, identity and the application of the arm’s length approach in cultural policies. Discussion centres around cultural commonalities in small states and their implications on the formulation of cultural policies in a system of networked communities contextualised in a nuanced socio-political climate. Recommendations are offered on less structured and more fluid, actor-oriented cultural policies, referred to as ‘accomplishing’ cultural policies in small states, as an incessant adaptation addressing proactively cultural change while still recognising cultural continuities of small states. This article draws examples from the small state of Malta, to explore the applicability of these cultural continuities.