Seminar : Culture governance and leadership

Aiming to foster new opportunities for collaboration, networking and cross-disciplinary engagement between Europe and Taiwan Province of China

By Debbie Lee, Head of International Cooperation of TACPS
 

ENCATC, the National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA), and the Taiwan Association of Cultural Policy Studies (TACPS) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the already strong relations and partnerships following a public seminar held on March 26 at NTUA in Taipei Taiwan Province of China. The seminar entitled “Culture Governance and Leadership” brought together 34 academics, cultural professionals, practitioners, policy makers and postgraduate students in Taiwan gathered from Cambodia, China, Panama, Taiwan Province of China, and the United States. Participants explored the understandings of cultural governance in different contexts, and more particular in the Taiwanese context.

Led jointly by Annick Schramme, President of ENCATC, and Ian King, Professor of Aesthetics and Management, University of the Arts and London College of Fashion, the seminar focused on the changing interpretations of cultural governance from an intercultural perspective while concurrently engaged with the participants on how cultural organizations need to adapt their working to this changing context guided by a set of principles of cultural governance with a contextual approach and local know-how.

This peer-to-peer engagement amongst the speakers and participants in Taiwan Province of China reflected on the effectiveness of their organizations' governance models in light of the complex challenges facing managing successful arts and cultural institutions globally nowadays including the advancement of digital technology and social media. The discussion stimulated dialogue in the need and urgency of developing a localized approach with Taiwanese characteristics guided by a set of universal principles of cultural governance.

At the seminar, Annick Schramme, President of ENCATC excitingly announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TACPS to promote increased collaboration between the participating parties for mutual benefit. It is anticipated that greater collaboration will strengthen research cultures, inform teaching and learning development and broaden potential international links to policy and industry developments.

In order to formalize and strengthen their cooperation, ENCATC and TACPS are expected to expand collaboration in the following primary areas:

1. Governance: Designate an International Correspondent Board Member to seat in the board of the other organisation. With this decision both organisations clearly prove their strong wish to reinforce links and synergies at political and operational level.
   
2. Communication: The participating parties agree to establish and implement a program of mutual information exchange.
   
3. Projects and Activities: The participating parties are committed to enable academics, researchers, students and cultural operators to cooperate internationally and to internationalise their careers and activities in their two world regions and beyond. Furthermore, they are committed to foster international networking among academics, researchers, students and cultural operators in order to facilitate access to professional opportunities.
   
4. Research: The participating parties are committed to encourage the exchange of cutting-edging research on cultural management and policy

“The seminar has provided fruitful, and thought-provoking dialogues among practitioners. It demonstrates that a standing platform for cultural groups to exchange ideas about cultural governance in the perspective of organizational management, leadership, and in a wider extent, cultural policy and transcontinental cooperation, is substantially critical. The initiative manifests that both ENCATC and TACPS are contributing actively to the cultural dialogue in Taiwan Province of China and are actively fostering engagement and collaboration of researchers, policymakers, cultural managers and practitioners in Asia, Europe and beyond. I am confident that Taiwan Province of China will demonstrate an indispensable linkage that connects the networks of cultural policy studies and cultural management in East Asia in the foreseeable future,” said Jerry C.Y. Liu, President of TACPS.

This one-day seminar addressed the following questions: 

What is cultural governance? 

How is cultural governance understood in different contexts, and more particular in the Taiwanese context?

The challenges facing managing successful arts and cultural institutions globally nowadays is immense.  The traditions of  cultural organizations receiving government (or similar) financial support are increasingly being challenged by revisions of policy and other financial changes.  In this seminar we want to focus on the changing interpretations of cultural governance from an intercultural perspective and how cultural organizations need to adapt their working to this changing context. Therefore the organizations need also an adapted kind of leadership.

Yet, our understanding of the global picture of good practice in ‘cultural governance and leadership’ is weak.  Predominantly, what we know is gathered from a narrow literature and set of understandings that is mainly western (from predictable locations, for example: UK, USA and Europe). 

The premise of this seminar was that this literature and set of understandings may be of only limited value to arts and cultural institutions located outside these western locations – and in fact, our concern is that this literature might be doing more harm than good.

Accordingly, the aim of this seminar was to discuss the guise of cultural governance and leadership across a number of regions/locations across the globe. We wanted to discuss and change ideas about the way arts and cultural organizations are managed in a non-western location and what we can learn from each other! 

The seminar focused on processes and encourage feedback and dialogue. The seminar will look at the impact of these understandings for the future.

This seminar was a follow up of the European “education in cultural leadership” project of 2015-2016.

• Link to the TTTCP wesbite