Maldives vows to resolve difficulties faced by local creatives

An aim of the government is to aid and advance talents in the music industry, stated Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Yumna Maumoon on Monday.

At a forum held in the Youth Centre, talents currently active in the field of music and dance discussed a plethora of issues and difficulties that they face.

Minister Yumna emphasised the importance of feedback from talents for the further development of the industry, and expressed her commitment to gain insight into their opinions by holding more forums, conducting individual interviews with talents, and other various methods

“We have been planning work on nurturing talents. We have been listening to their concerns and helping them through their setbacks. Although immediate solutions will not present themselves, we will start by first resolving the most common problems they face, and subsequently the bigger issues over time,” asserted Minister Yumna.

Of the discussed problems, a major component was the shortage of opportunities for local artists at touris resorts, nominal pay by resorts, and outsourcing work in these fields to foreign artists.

Furthermore, some raised complaints that the value of Maldivian musicians' work was not recognised adequately by the government, and that the unavailability of pensions for veterans of the music industry, even at the age of retirement, is a major concern.

Some of the attending artists further voiced concerns about the lack of an archive for talent registry and official regulations to protect talent identities. They stressed that precautions against acts that cause confusion in Maldivian tradition need to be taken.

Moreover, attendees expressed the need to improve the operations of the National Centre for the Arts (NCA).

Some of the talents also stated that the lack of practice places and the process of selection for fairs in Maldives were unjust.

Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed expressed his resolve to provide solutions to problems faced by local artists at resorts. He assured that an inspection of tourist facilities would expose the reasons behind the problems.

Minister Waheed also guaranteed to protect the rights of local artists, and iterated that the selection process for traditional groups sent to international expos would be investigated by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), and that the issues will be rectified.