Cultural management without borders: the internationalization of cultural management and cultural management education

With significant restructuring of international arts and cultural exchange, especially due to the digital revolution and the shifts in European societies caused by immigration, the field of cultural management is challenged to adopt an open attitude and explore new questions. Europe has witnessed incisive phases of internationalization through colonialism and post‐colonial theories. Simultaneously, it is experiencing dynamic changes led by the influences of technology and the exponential growth of the cultural and creative industries. So questions regarding the role of European culture and the international perception of Europe are pivotal. Some of the numerous questions that have to be addressed in the context of the 9th annual conference of the Association of Cultural Management are therefore:

What key competencies does a cultural manager require to work as a broker between different cultures and different cultural value systems?
How can future cultural managers be prepared for tasks in an international environment?
What roles do European cultural goods and national cultural management approaches play in the globalized world?
Who holds the interpretive power over what we transport abroad as culture and hence as an image of ourselves? Is culture constrained by the role of the soft diplomat?

Consequently the aim of the conference is threefold:

To critically scrutinize cultural management training to date, with a view to expanding baseline requirements, testing fresh perspectives and gaining new inputs (e.g. cooperation projects).
To learn from scientists who are developing new cultural management approaches and thought patterns in national contexts that can be applied internationally, as well as from practitioners successfully working in international organizations or projects.
To reflect on the role of (European) culture as well as that of common external cultural policy in the context of globalization.