How do training programs in cultural management innovatively address contemporary challenges?

The 2025 Global Conversation explored how contemporary issues impact education and training. Cultural management education is undergoing a significant transformation to address global challenges that increasingly affect the creative and arts sectors. Programs are responding to pressing concerns such as climate change, digital innovation, cultural rights, migration, and shifting geopolitical contexts. There is a need to examine international case studies with experiential and practice-based methodologies, and curricula that integrates knowledge of sustainability, diplomacy, community engagement, and digital strategy. With goals of encouraging critical reflection on equity, ethics, and cultural responsibility, while fostering the adaptive leadership capacities required for uncertain futures. This session will examine emerging models of training that emphasize the capacity of cultural managers to act not only as administrators of institutions, but also as agents of change, capable of balancing artistic vision with organizational sustainability and contributing to globally relevant, socially responsive cultural ecosystems.