malta

CLIENT arts council malta
PROJECT malta music & nighttime economy strategy
DATE december 2023

CHALLENGE

Malta’s Mediterranean climate, picturesque Baroque architecture and year-round events featuring music attract residents and tourists to participate in its night time economy (NTE). Arts Council Malta (ACM) engaged Sound Diplomacy in 2022 to undertake a two phase Music and NTE Strategy for the country.

strategy

The goal of the project was to develop a strategy for the island, understanding the ways in which the music industry is connected to the existing NTE, what the opportunities for the future are, and how the country can drive COVID-19 recovery through music. 

  • Music and NTE Asset Mapping

    Sound Diplomacy worked with local stakeholders and consultants to map all assets within Malta’s music and NTE. The mapping identified 5,111 NTE assets with a fixed location in Malta, with 582 being music-related assets.

  • Stakeholder Engagement

    From November 2022 to January 2023, Sound Diplomacy, with the help of ACM, conducted four roundtables and an interview with key stakeholder groups from within Malta's music ecosystem and NTE, including residents. Findings from a survey run by ACM to creative workers, including music industry members, were used to support this work. 

  • Regulatory Assessment and Comparative Analysis

    Sound Diplomacy conducted an analysis of key policies, reports and regulations connected to Malta’s music and NTE ecosystems and how they compare to other cities, as well as  an assessment of cities and initiatives as benchmarks against which comparisons were made with Malta. 4 key themes were reviewed - licensing, music & night governance, professional development, and music cities networks./

  • SWOT Assessment

    A summary of the findings from research and stakeholder engagement across both phases of work. It compared and assessed how the strengths and weaknesses identified for Malta perform against the opportunities and threats.

  • Strategic Plan

    All findings and analysis throughout this project informed a set of 20 actionable recommendations, arranged by themes to direct Arts Council Malta going forward. Each recommendation was allocated a timeframe for initiation, key stakeholders to implement/support, a case study where relevant and a connected Sustainable Development Goal. 

Findings & Outcomes

Arts Council Malta has adopted the Strategy and recommendations, and continues to work towards supporting the local music industry and NTE with this in mind.

Testimonial for Sound diplomacy work

  • Arts Council Malta

    Arts Council Malta engaged Sound Diplomacy to carry out a 2-year research project resulting into a Music and Night-Time Economy Strategy between 2022 and 2023, so as the understand the ways in which the music industry is connected the Night Time Economy in view of its efforts to implement its national strategy towards advancing Malta’s Cultural and Creative Sectors.

    This entailed a process of stakeholder engagement, mapping, regulatory assessment and strategic planning which are currently informing how Arts Council Malta is engaging with its internal and external stakeholders from within and beyond the Cultural and Creative Sectors. During the process, Arts Council Malta was able to build and strengthen relationships with regulatory stakeholders which proved to be an added value towards the current policymaking process in improving cultural infrastructure for the music and night-time economy sectors. The mapping also resulted into an evidence base which is informing strategic action across a diverse spectrum of cultural policy areas within Arts Council Malta’s remit especially when attempting to understand the local and regional cultural asset ecosystems that result into economic spillovers into the tourism sectors and broader business communities.

    It was an utmost pleasure working with everyone from the Sound Diplomacy team to deliver such a high quality and impactful project. Their approach to project management and communication ensured that the end result was reflective of the needs and contexts we work with and within while still exceeding expectations.

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