Training in cultural policy and management: international ... - Encatc

Survey on institutions and organisations ...
Survey of institutions and organisations providing training for
cultural development personnel in Western Europe
Patrick J. Boylan
Professor of Heritage Policy and Management,
City University London, United Kingdom
The cultural sector in the 21st century
By most measures, the cultural sector is now among the top five or six areas of the global economy,
employing millions of people across the world and having a turnover measured in terms of many tens,
perhaps hundreds, of billions of dollars. To give just one example, a further important landmark in the
rapid growth of the cultural sector was reached in 2001 when the international trade in cultural
services and products moved to the top of the league table of the United States of America’s foreign
trade earnings.
The 20th century in particular saw major developments in public support for cultural services and
institutions - theatres, cultural centres, orchestras, opera and dance companies, museums, galleries
and heritage sites and buildings, among other things. This has been accompanied by the
establishment or major expansion of supporting cultural administrations and agencies such as cultural
ministries, arts and cultural offices and arts, heritage and cultural councils to develop, promote and
finance these initiatives, at the national, regional and local levels.
Also, modern concepts of democratic accessibility, communication and public accountability have all
been significant growth points and pressures on both new and long-established cultural institutions
alike. The past 20 or so years have also seen many challenges to long-held assumptions about the
proper levels and nature of taxation in democracies, and the abandonment of the systems of State
control and financing common to the former Socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe.
The great majority of the now more than 40 independent states of present-day Europe are to a
greater or lesser extent following the lead set by the United States and United Kingdom in the 1980s
and 1990s in terms of reducing taxation and many areas of public spending, and in seeking far greater
“accountability” and “value for money” from public sector organisations in most sectors, including the
arts and heritage, often accompanied by significant reductions in public financial support at the same
time.
Also, previously very clear boundaries between the (rapidly expanding) commercial “cultural
industries” sector and the public (or subsidised NGO) sector arts and heritage institutions and services
have become increasingly blurred with the apparently ever-expanding programmes of public-private
financial and business partnerships, ranging from sponsorship deals through the partial or even total
privatisation of services previously provided and managed by the cultural institution itself, such as a
wide range of technical support services, the box office, catering and publicity. To this must be added
the increasingly widespread use of private sector management and financial consultants, brought in to
assist in programmes of reform.
The changing nature of cultural management and professional work
Another marked trend of recent years, especially in Europe, has been the move towards
decentralisation and delegation of power, responsibility and accountability at all levels: from highly
centralised national governments to regional and local government autonomy under the principle of
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