CULTURAL POLICY TRACKER - ISSUE #12

The 12th issue of the ENCATC Cultural Policy Tracker takes its title and inspiration from Jorge Cerveira Pinto’s thought-provoking contribution, “Why Cultural Risk Matters”. This edition explores one of the most pressing questions facing cultural systems today: how can institutions and policymakers balance accountability with experimentation, ensuring that culture remains a living, learning force in society? In a rapidly changing world—marked by digital transformation, climate urgency, and shifting social contracts—risk is no longer a liability to be managed away, but a resource to be cultivated. Pinto’s article invites us to reframe cultural risk as a condition for creativity, resilience, and public trust. By examining how institutions can build psychological safety, learning cultures, and adaptive governance, he reminds us that without risk, culture becomes administration.