The network seeks to understand the role of arts and cultural managers as intercultural brokers in our context of globalisation, internationalisation and global migration. Intercultural understanding suggests capacity for appreciating, recognising and relating to different world viewpoints and experiences. Historical and empirical research recognises the role arts and cultural objects and expressions, like fine and performing arts and heritage, play in political, cultural and ethnic relations. Yet, little is known about the role of arts and cultural managers, their practice and education, in this process.

In fact, arts and cultural managers shape and structure intercultural exchange. They direct and administer arts and cultural projects between nations, and devise, plan and develop arts and cultural programming to attract and include growing migrant populations as audiences, participants and creators within nations. Global, cultural, post colonial, and intercultural studies show that mechanisms for fostering or hindering intercultural understanding are often based on long standing terminology, institutional structures, and habits upheld by practices and pedagogies within specific professions.

We will integrate and apply this research to the traditions, institutions and actions of arts and cultural management to extend awareness of the part arts and cultural managers play in intercultural exchange with 5 goals:

- Gather international, multidisciplinary researchers with arts and cultural management practitioners, policymakers, educators and students to share knowledge and uncover new areas of research about intercultural understanding in arts and cultural management education and practice

- Learn how arts and cultural management practitioners, policymakers, educators and students perceive and experience intercultural exchange within international arenas of practice and education

- Apply ethnic, historical, postcolonial, global, intercultural, and cultural studies to these perspectives to examine dominant terminology, structures and traditions shaping arts and cultural management practice and education

- Share findings, bibliography and documentation widely to students, practitioners, educators, policymakers and researchers to foster policy impact, further study and networking

- Enable new research projects examining intercultural work in arts and cultural management

During the few years of its existence the network already succeeded to bring together more than 150 arts managers, researchers, and policy makers from more than 30 countries – apart from the intensive research sessions that have been hosted at Heilbronn University, Goldsmith College University of London, Queen’s University Belfast and at the University of the Arts in Zurich the first Winter School ‘Brokering Intercultural Exchange within Societies’ for Master and Ph.D. students has been organised in cooperation with MitOst e.V. and the Robert Bosch Cultural Managers Netwerk in November 2019 with 30 selected students from 16 countries. The second Winter School will take place again in Berlin in November 2019.

The founders Victoria Durrer and Raphaela Henze have been frequently invited to present the network and its research at international conferences.

All resources and further information on the network activities and its members can be found on www.managingculture.net.

By the end of the year the edited volume with numerous contributions from network members ‘Managing Culture: Reflecting on Exchange in Global Times’ will appear in the sociology of the arts section of Palgrave

Leitung (HHN): Prof. Dr. Raphaela Henze

Laufzeit: verlängert bis 2022

Mittelgeber: Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) and Würth Stiftung