PEN Malta Calls on Malcolm Paul Agius Galea to Resign

Marcus Bennett

A 15-minute recording of remarks by Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea at the Festival of Ideas has prompted PEN Malta to demand his resignation. Lovin Malta reported that the recording circulated over the weekend. The report described growing backlash against the minister.

The writers’ organisation said the comments showed contempt for the artistic community the minister is responsible for supporting.

“Dr Agius Galea is out of his depth. PEN Malta calls on him to step down,” the organisation declared.

The remarks

In the recording, Agius Galea described his first four months in office as “traumatic” and said his former career as a family doctor had taught him to view creativity as “presumptuous and dangerous”.

He also suggested that creativity should operate within certain “norms”. He expressed frustration with artists who believe they are “God’s gift to the world” and questioned why productions expected to attract strong audiences should need government help if ticket sales could cover their costs.

PEN Malta responded to that account of artists with a written demand for his resignation.

“He described his first months in office as ‘traumatic’, practically ridiculed the people whose work he is entrusted to support and insisted that creativity must follow certain ‘norms’,” the organisation said.

PEN Malta’s response

PEN Malta said it rejected his position and questioned whether he truly understood artists’ role in society, particularly their capacity to challenge convention and make audiences uncomfortable.

The organisation put the issue directly:

“Is this really how he sees Malta’s artists?”

“The minister’s poverty of ideas on display is matched by the contempt these remarks show for the arts,” PEN Malta said.

“Art is expected to ask awkward questions and can make us deeply uncomfortable.”

The organisation tied artistic freedom to education, saying that students must question assumptions, take creative risks and find their own voices.

“That freedom is at the heart of what we teach when we encourage students to question assumptions, take creative risks and find their own voices,” the statement continued.

PEN Malta concluded:

“It is precisely the freedom a culture minister should defend.”

The funding dispute

At the Festival of Ideas, Agius Galea questioned why productions expected to draw large audiences needed government assistance when ticket sales could cover their costs.

PEN Malta answered him directly. It argued that public funding supports creative projects that may never be commercially profitable, including work whose audiences cannot cover production costs through ticket sales alone.

“Public funding exists to make artistic work possible, including work that could never cover its costs through ticket sales alone – that happens all over the world,” the organisation said.

It described support for such work as a core ministry duty.

“Supporting such work is a core responsibility of his ministry.”

Responses and pressure

The statement, signed by Kurt Borg and PEN Malta, was among the strongest responses yet, according to Lovin Malta, which also reported criticism from the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association.

MEIA had already questioned whether Agius Galea was fit for the role and said he failed to understand the sector he leads.

Shadow Minister for Arts, Culture and National Heritage Justin Schembri told Lovin Malta that some form of political responsibility should be taken over the remarks. He stopped short of calling for resignation and said any decision belonged to Agius Galea and Prime Minister Robert Abela.

PEN Malta, however, made its position explicit: the minister must step down.

What does this change for Malta’s artists?

PEN Malta said thousands of people depend on the creative sector for their livelihoods and argued that culture matters to Malta’s economy and public life. It said those professionals deserved a minister who understood their work rather than one repeatedly making controversial statements about the industry.

“They deserve better than a succession of public gaffes from a minister who lectures artists on morality and tells them how to create,” PEN Malta said.

For artists who depend on public support, the immediate effect is political pressure on the minister, not an announced change in funding policy. PEN Malta’s position gives artists two tests for any future decision: defend creative freedom and sustain work that ticket sales cannot cover.

According to Schembri, any decision about resignation belongs to Agius Galea and Prime Minister Robert Abela. PEN Malta’s demand makes artistic freedom and support for noncommercial work the measure of that choice.