iwEU Forum Valletta

Venue: The Plenary Chamber, House of Representatives, Parliament of Malta.
Time: 09:00 – 14:30

iwEU Forum Valletta is one of the prestigious events for the cultural programme in the framework of 2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU. The complementing events will be taking place in Valletta and Brussels under the overarching title of the project iwEU: jien l-Ewropa/aħna l-Ewropa which plays on linguistic differences between the Maltese and English languages. In Maltese, the verb to be in the present tense is conjugated as just jien, aħna – i.e. I, we. As such iwEU refers to I am Europe/we are Europe which in Maltese is translated as jien l-Ewropa/aħna l-Ewropa.

Forum Valletta will consist of a series of provocations and reactions addressing issues of cultural governance and public engagement followed by a debate involving artists, scholars, cultural critics, and the general public. As the heading Narratives of Governance, Narratives of the Public Sphere indicates, the Forum will look at a how cultures, people, cities, and regions function in relation to each other and how these inform and generate systems of governance which in turn determine the lives of people and the spaces/places they inhabit. Central to the Forum’s theme is Malta’s reality as an Island, a state, a region and how this impacts on the Island’s cultural, social, and political dimensions. Cultural narratives inform concepts of a united Europe. A Europe that feeds directly on the differences that constitute each nation, each region, each city, each individual.

Provocateurs:
Joan Abela: Historian and founder of the Notarial Archives Resource Council, Malta.
Christopher Balme: Professor of Theatre Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
Bernard Foccroulle: Artistic Director Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, France.
Reactions by:
Nymand Christensen: Deputy Director-General of DG EAC
Nele Hertling: Soul for Europe
Simon Mundy: A Soul for Europe
Vicki Ann Cremona (Chair, School of Performing Arts, University of Malta)

Round-table with Maltese Arts Practitioners – fully booked
Title: The Role of the Arts in Times of Political Challenge
Venue: Studio A, Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Valletta
Date: Thursday 26th January 2017
Time: 16:30–18:30

Workshop
Venue: Studio A, Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Valletta
Date: Friday 27th January 2017
Time: 16:00–18:00

Poetry Reading
By Simon Mundy and a young Maltese poet
Venue: Studio B, Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Valletta
Date: Friday 27th January 2017
Time: 18:30–20:00