The Musicians Association of Gibraltar have issued a statement disagreeing with the Equality Rights Group and Action On Poverty's recent comments on events. 

A statement from MAG follows below:

The Musicians Association of Gibraltar would like to point out that whilst we respect the views of the Equality Rights Group and Action On Poverty, we cannot agree with their stance against events.

Our community has suffered two long years without these events and the most affected are those businesses who rely on such events to make a living. All but one of the events mentioned are privately funded and a lot of people have worked really hard to organise them. It is unfortunate to see that a "group" is calling for our community to not support said events without taking into consideration the economical impact on our businesses and artists.

Last month we started a campaign which states "Local Culture is OUR Responsibility". The aim is not to rely on Government funds in the next few years whilst we recover economically, therefore we are inviting the community to invest in culture which is what we have seen happening lately. Getting sponsors is difficult enough and all we ask is for everyone to work together and support these events so that more businesses can in turn, invest in culture. It is a real shame that an Equality Rights Group will not be supporting the first Pride Parade in Gibraltar, creating division between organisations that should be working together, standing against discrimination.

MAG understands about supporting the most vulnerable members of our community, however we must understand that in order to recover economically, we need to return to normality as soon as possible, this includes events. We need to get people to spend locally and attract tourism to Gibraltar, to do so we need events. We have plenty of talent in Gibraltar in all the ARTS to have a variety of events without the need to stick our hands in the public purse. Slowly but surely we are seeing businesses supporting local events. Instead of discouraging the community from attending these events, I suggest both the ERG and AOP reflect on the consequences for such request and to make sure they get all the facts right before making such statement.

Local Culture is OUR Responsibility!!!!!