Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Institutions and Cultural Policies

Institutions and Cultural Policies
3
10959
1
First term
OB
Main language of instruction: English

Other languages of instruction: Spanish

Introduction

 

 

Culture is at the heart of any community and cultural policy is a framework that guides its development.

It acts as a roadmap presenting how a community invests in its identity, cultural industries, and social cohesion. Cultural policy should foster creativity and expression, safeguard preservation of heritage, advance diplomacy and stimulate the economic growth.

Over the years the cultural policy rationales differed a lot, reflecting challenges and opportunities of the successive historical periods.

From the elite approach in the 1940s-50s when access to culture had an intrinsic and “civilising” value, via egalitarian practice in the 1970s based on strong beliefs in transformative potential of ‘cultural democracy’ and active participation, to then economy driven policies in 1980s-1990s when culture was considered an engine of economic development and marketing, up to building a cultural identity and a sense of belonging popular in the 1990s.

One of the turning points in the discussion on culture was the 1998 UNESCO conference in Stockholm when delegations from 145 countries agreed that economic development is not possible without cultural development and advocated creativity and cultural participation, protection and restoration of tangible and intangible heritage, development of cultural industries as well as cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity.

And thus trying to “modernise” their cultural policies according to the Stockholm recommendations, countries all over the world entered the 21st century with big optimism and hope. Soon, however, they were confronted with the brutal reality and a series of unwanted developments on the global scale: financial and economic crisis, immigration, pandemics, crisis of legitimacy of international and European institutions and political shift to the extreme right and populism. Their answers to global challenges varied depending on the political traditions and wealth of each country.

Nowadays the biggest challenges include not only crises of trust, hope, morality, truth, language, political ideologies but also ethnic competition for diminishing welfare resources, divisive ethno-nationalism and attacks on “the other”.

Culture has become a new concept of race, says Unni Wikan1 and knowing it we should treat all cultural tasks and obligations with a special attention and care to avoid even more cultural tension.

Current paradigms of community policies present bigger focus on heritage and flagship projects, encouragement of passive consumption more than active participation, further commodification and branding, crisis of multiculturalism and reduced role of culture in public policy. Do we accept these models and follow the general trends in mass culture depends on us, our knowledge, sensitivity and vision of a future community in which we would like to live. 

This course provides the basics of cultural policy and practice, outlining coordinates in which we can act and ideas that cultural practice should follow.

 

1

 

Pre-course requirements

Those required for the Master. 

Objectives

The course has the following objectives:

  • To become familiar with the basic concepts of cultural policies, instruments and agents involved.
  • To understand the diversity of policy models, instruments and agents.
  • To understand current debates about cultural policies.
  • To gain a deeper understanding of the wider design and implementation of cultural policies and institutions (economic, social and/or political purposes).
  • To be able to analyse, design and evaluate cultural policies.

Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • CB6 - To have and understand knowledge that provides a basis or opportunity for the student to develop and/or apply original ideas, often in the context of research.
  • CB7 - Students should be able to apply their knowledge and ability to solve problems in new or little-known environments, within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study.
  • CB8 - Students should be able to integrate their knowledge and cope with the complexity of issuing judgements based on information that, though incomplete or limited, includes reflections on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgements.
  • CE3 - To identify, analyse, design, plan and assess cultural policies, and recognise the role of the agents who take part in cultural actions in a specific environment and the tools for planning such cultural policies.
  • CG1 - To analyse and interpret social and cultural environments to identify needs, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths.
  • CG2 - To lead, coordinate and form part of interdisciplinary work teams.
  • CG6 - To demonstrate an ability to be open and flexible with regards to cultural and social diversity.
  • CT1 - To design, direct, produce and assess cultural projects, programmes, strategies, policies or actions that involve a number of different numerous professional profiles, agents and institutions.

Learning outcomes of the subject

At the end of the course, the student is able to:

  • Understand and describe the institutional and organizational framework in which cultural policies are developed.
  • Understand the nature, scope and interrelationships of the various actors involved in cultural activities. 
  • Identify the various forms of management of cultural projects.
  • Understand the fundamentals, methodology and application of planning techniques political and cultural projects. 
  • Analyze and discuss strategic plans and processes of cultural planning.

Syllabus

CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES UIC 2026:

2 thematic blocks:

1. Cultural Policy and Development

2. Cultural Policy, Cultural Diplomacy, and Civil Society

dr Danuta Glondys and dr Michalina Sablik

Lp.

Date

Teacher

Topic

1

September 30

(4 hours)

Danuta Glondys

Lecture:

Cultural Policies and Institutions. Important concepts.

Contents: definitions, models and characteristics of cultural policies on international, European Union, national/sub-national, and city level.

Advocating change: from elite to egalitarian practice in cultural policy today. Cultural institutions. Types and missions. Key characteristics.

 

Exercise: Blueprint for urban cultural policy.

How a cultural policy can address the questions of:

- Equity, skills, opportunity

- Space, planning, infrastructure

- Climate, tourism, sustainability.

 

2

October 7

(4 hours)

 

Danuta Glondys

Lecture:

Strategic planning in the cultural field. Structure and steps: SWOT analysis, SMART goals, stakeholders, Actors and key performance indicators. Cultural institution and strategic plans. Opportunities and challenges. Balancing goals with financial sustainability.

 

Exercise:

Group work: elaborating a draft of a strategy of a museum, a gallery, an orchestra, or a theatre.

 

3

October 14

(4 hours)

Danuta Glondys

Lecture:

From cultural identity and vision to cultural practice. Actors of cultural change. Stimulating sustainable development of a city.

Strategic vs. operational plans and programmes. Action plans for culture.

 

Exercise:

Group work: Translate cultural visions into concrete priorities for a city, a region branding, a country branding.

Task/programme management: elaborate operational action plan for a municipal culture department.

 

4

October 21

(4 hours)

Danuta Glondys

Lecture:

European Capitals of Culture (ECOC). Rules and regulations. Criteria of evaluation: contribution to the long-term strategy; - European dimension, - cultural and artistic content; - capacity to deliver, - outreach, - management.

ECOC issues and challenges. Opportunites for sustainable development of a city and region based on local-european cultural policies, cultural participation and outreach.

 

Exercise:

Group work: prepare ECOC application (city European or non-European), max 3 pages plus visual components. Deadline 2 December.

 

5

October 28

(4 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

Cultural Diplomacy and Its Institutions. Key concepts: public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, propaganda, soft power and nation branding. Introduction to arts councils and other cultural diplomacy institutions, including the Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes, British Council, EUNIC and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies.

 

Exercises:

- Introduction to the Barcelona Institutional Dossier, the group assignment running through all the sessions.

- Group work: preparing an application for PICE AC/E funding.

 

6

November 4

(2 hours)

Danuta Glondys

Lecture:

Solidarity and the cultural sector. Arts for change.Transformative potential of culture and artistic leadership.

 

Exercise:

presentation of ECOC proposals.

 

7

November 11

(2 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

UNESCO and global cultural governance. Key concepts: global cultural governance, norm-setting institution, Outstanding Universal Value, World Heritage Committee, List of World Heritage in Danger and delisting, cultural landscape, intangible cultural heritage, safeguarding vs preservation, Memory of the World, UNESCO Creative Cities Network, heritage and armed conflict.

 

8

November 13

(2 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

Participation, Diversity and Cultural Rights. Cultural rights as human rights: access, participation, contribution. Democratisation of culture and cultural democracy. Degrees of citizen power: tokenism, consultation, co-creation, governance. Defining audiences and evaluating participation. Barcelona's cultural rights plan.

 

9

November 18

(4 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

NGOs, civil society and the third sector: legal forms, money and independence. Key concepts: NGO / CSO, social enterprise, legal forms, association vs foundation, core funding vs project grants, overhead, endowment, public–private partnership, philanthropy, patronage and tax deduction, project-based logic, NGO-ization. Cases: foundations, gestió cívica, self-managed spaces in Barcelona.

 

Exercise:

Group work: mapping the funding landscape for local NGOs.

 

10

November 25

(4 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

The creative turn in cultural policy. Terms: cultural industries, creative industries, knowledge economy, intellectual property. Regulating and protecting creative sectors. Creative Europe Programme and French cinema policy.

 

Exercise:

Group work: designing a programme for local audiovisual creative industries, based on the Strategy to Boost the Audiovisual Sector, a government measure of Barcelona City Council, 2024.

 

11

December 2

(4 hours)

Michalina Sablik

Lecture:

Crisis as impulse: creative and institutional strategies in the face of contemporary challenges. Key concepts: financial crisis and funding cuts, political pressure, the paradigm shift brought by COVID, climate change, decolonial critique, questions of representation.

 

Exercise:

Final group presentations: Barcelona Institutional Dossier.

 

12

December 9

Michalina Sablik &

Danuta Glondys

Final evaluation

 

Teaching and learning activities

In person



The general methodology of the course is a combination of conceptual presentations from lecturers and experts in the field accompanied by core reading assignments on specific areas to complement the concepts discussed in class.

Students will be set mini-assignments to collect and share case studies from their own countries. Enriching discussion in class with international examples to illustrate issues.

The course has a coordinator who teaches many of the sessions, but is complemented by additional specialists on different topics and practical sessions.

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person



The evaluation of this course consists of four parts:

1) Assignment 1_ represents 40% of the final grade (application for ECOC = max 40 points )

2) Assignment 2_ represents 40% of the final grade (Barcelona Institutional Dossier = max 40 points)

3) Assessment of students participation in classes_ represents 10% of the final grade (11 meetings, 10 obligatory = max. 10 points)

4) Assesment of students contribution in class _ represents 10% of the final grade = max. 10 points

 

 

Bibliography and resources

Bibliography:

Ahmad, Y. (2006) 'The Scope and Definitions of Heritage: From Tangible to Intangible', International Journal of Heritage Studies, 12(3), pp. 292–300.

Arnstein, S.R. (1969) 'A Ladder of Citizen Participation', Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35(4), pp. 216–224. doi:10.1080/01944366908977225.

Barbieri, N. and Fina, X. (2012) 'Culture and Urban Policies: Dynamics and Effects of Cultural Third Sector Interventions in Barcelona', Métropoles, 11, pp. 2-18. Available at: https://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/4605 (Open Access).

Belfiore, E. (2002) 'Art as a Means of Alleviating Social Exclusion: Does It Really Work? A Critique of Instrumental Cultural Policies', International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8(1), pp. 91–106. doi:10.1080/102866302900324658.

Bell, D. and Oakley, K. (2014) Cultural Policy. London: Routledge.

Biondi, L., Demartini, P., Marchegiani, L., Marchiori, M. and Piber, M. (2020) 'Understanding Orchestrated Participatory Cultural Initiatives: Mapping the Dynamics of Governance and Participation', Cities, 96, art. 102459.

Bonet, L. and Négrier, E. (2018) 'The Participatory Turn in Cultural Policy: Paradigms, Models, Contexts', Poetics, 66, pp. 64–73.

Corry, O. (2010) 'Defining and Theorizing the Third Sector', in: R. Taylor (ed.) Third Sector Research. New York: Springer, pp. 11–20.

Degen, M. and García, M. (2012) 'The Transformation of the "Barcelona Model": An Analysis of Culture, Urban Regeneration and Governance', International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(5), pp. 1022–1038. Available at: https://www.ijurr.org/article/the-transformation-of-the-barcelona-model-an-analysis-of-culture-urban-regeneration-and-governance/

Donders, Y. (2019) 'Cultural Rights in International Human Rights Law: From Controversy to Celebration', Japanese Yearbook of International Law, 62, pp. 61–84.

Durrer, V., Gilmore, A., Jancovich, L. and Stevenson, D. (eds.) (2023) Cultural Policy is Local: Understanding Cultural Policy as Situated Practice. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Open Access (CC BY 4.0). doi:10.1007/978-3-031-32312-6.

Durrer, V., Miller, T. and O'Brien, D. (eds.) (2017) The Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315718408.

Figes, Orlando (2020), The Europeans. Three Lives and Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture, Penguin Books.

Florida, Richard (2004), The rise of the creative class and how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. Basic Books. ISBN: 0465024769.

Galloway, S. and Dunlop, S. (2007) 'A Critique of Definitions of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Public Policy', International Journal of Cultural Policy, 13(1), pp. 17–31.

Hadley, S. (ed.) (2024) Cultural Leadership in Practice: Beyond Arts Management and Cultural Policy. Abingdon: Routledge.

Hadley, S. (2021) Audience Development and Cultural Policy. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hagoort, Giep,Cultural Entrepreneuship. An Introduction to Arts Management.

Hofstede Geert, Hofstede Geert Jan (2005) Cultures and Organisations. Software of the Mind

Jin, D.Y. (2016)New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

KEA European Affairs (2006) The economy of culture.

Kong, L. (2014) 'From Cultural Industries to Creative Industries and Back? Towards Clarifying Theory and Rethinking Policy', Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 15(4), pp. 593–607.

Marmion, M., Wilkes, K. and Calver, S. (2009) 'Heritage? What Do You Mean by Heritage?', in: S. Lira and R. Amoêda (eds.) Sharing Cultures 2009 / Constructing Intangible Heritage. Barcelos: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development, pp. 575–584.

Menger, P.-M. (2013) 'European Cultural Policies and the "Creative Industries" Turn', in: K. Thomas and J. Chan (eds.) Handbook of Research on Creativity. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 479–492.

Meskell, L. (2018) A Future in Ruins: UNESCO, World Heritage, and the Dream of Peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Murawska-Muthesius, K. (2022) 'The Critical Museum Debate Continues', in: A. Jakubowska and M. Radomska (eds.) Horizontal Art History and Beyond: Revising Peripheral Critical Practices. London: Routledge, pp. 15-25.

Nye, J.S. (2004) Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. New York: PublicAffairs.

Palmer, Bob, (2004), European Cities and Capitals of Culture, volume I, II, Palmer/Rae Associates, Brussels.

Salamon, L.M. and Anheier, H.K. (1997) 'The Civil Society Sector', Society, 34(2), pp. 60–65. doi:10.1007/BF02823101.

UNESCO, Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies for Development, Stockholm, 1998, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000113935

Varbanova, L. (2013) Strategic Management in the Arts. New York and London: Routledge.

Wikan, Unni, (1999),Culture: A new concept of race, Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/social-anthropology/article/abs/culture-a-new-concept-of-race/0EE97F0E325F27665613F6351F431ED9

 

Teaching and learning material


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