The public consultation about the National Cultural Policy 2021 (NCP) is certainly an occasion for debate and anticipation of possible changes in the cultural sector. Its exhaustive policy recommendations provide local stakeholders with a firm basis for arguments favouring a stronger national commitment towards culture and the arts.
As an academic specialised in art education at the University of Malta, I have a clear interest in the chapter on ‘Improving Artistic and Cultural Education’. In a year during which the arts were more or less abolished in state primary schools due to pandemic-related measures, it’s refreshing to see that the NCP places such an emphasis on arts education.