Data provided by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage revealed that cultural events organised by Local Councils reached 489 last year.

Last year 489 cultural events were organised by local councils across Malta and Gozo, with 13 per cent being “Commemoration” days. Arts festivals and music events also proved popular, making up 11 per cent and 10 per cent of the total respectively. The Southern Harbour District organised the largest share of events, amounting to 121. These were followed by events organised by local councils in Gozo (96 events) and the Northern District (92 events).

The total expenditure of local councils on the organisation of cultural events in 2012 reached nearly €1.1 million. Forty per cent of this expenditure went on staff wages or hiring of ‘other’ staff, while 18 per cent apiece went to administrative costs and purchase of materials. The highest share of expenditure was attributed to the Southern Harbour District with 32 per cent, followed by Gozo with 27 per cent.

On average each local council organised seven events, with the majority organising more than five. Mellieha, Mosta, Qormi, Valletta and Vittoriosa turned out to be the localities that organised most cultural events, and shared between them 115 or nearly one-quarter of total events organised during 2012.

Events held on an annual basis stood at nearly 57 per cent, while 43 per cent were one- off events. The majority of local councils did not hold any town-twinning projects; in fact only 3 per cent reported that the events were organised through town-twinning projects with another locality. The largest proportion was aimed at families and the general public, making up 78 per cent of the total.

Events which targeted child and youth audiences and adult audiences both constituted 9 per cent, while those aimed at senior citizens made up 4 per cent. June, December and September were the most popular months for local councils to hold cultural events, with 70, 66 and 63 respectively. January was the least popular, with only 13 events.

In 2012, organisers involved in cultural events for the general public reached 1,448. The majority of these organisers were involved in arts festivals, followed by religious events. Participants in all cultural events stood at 11,802, with arts festivals and religious events once again having the largest share of participants.

Cultural events were attended by 356,629 persons, with religious events having the highest turnout, amounting to 63,974, while arts festivals reported 61,523 attendees (Table 4). Sixty-three schools participated in the 22 school events organised by local councils in the year under review, with student attendance reaching 2,462.

Permalink: Gozo Local Councils organised 96 cultural events in 2012