Community-based heritage projects in Malta : challenges and potential

Abstract

The concept of community engagement with heritage came to prominence in the late 1990s. In the United Kingdom, an increase in attention to the relationship between heritage and community was closely tied to the election of the Labour government in 1997. On the international scene meanwhile, the concept was also becoming increasingly prominent, as reflected in documents such as the 2005 Faro Convention. Despite the international attention this concept has received, in Malta there has been very little work rlone in this area. This study aims to examine the present state of community engagement with cultural heritage in Malta and to analyse the potential benefits, pitfall and barriers to the success of community engagement in this area. This study presents cultural heritage activates in four localities, as well as one stand-alone project in, order to gauge the current level of community engagement with heritage in Malta.