A grant to study AI advancements in the cultural sector: the experience of Matina Magkou
In autumn 2024, I had the opportunity of being a Visiting Scholar at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development/Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions in New York and at Carnegie Mellon University’s MA programme on Entertainment management in Los Angeles. This opportunity was made possible through the Fulbright Schuman Program, a unique funding initiative for European citizens aiming to conduct research or teach on topics related to US-EU relations, EU affairs, policies, or institutions.
My research has focused on how the creative sector is collectively responding to advancements in AI, particularly from the perspective of creative labor. This research began in 2023-2024 while being a Visiting Researcher at the Brussels School of Governance, where I concentrated on the European cultural and creative industries sector. However, it quickly became apparent that there were significant interconnections with US-based creative workers’ organizations and parallel dynamics worth investigating.
During this period in the US, I received invaluable support in deepening my understanding of the arts and creative industries ecosystems in the United States and benefited greatly from access to extensive library resources, which enabled me to identify key articles and books on unions, collective organizing, and past experiences of collective bargaining in the cultural and creative industries. Additionally, access to press articles and key people interviewed proved instrumental in analyzing recent developments in this area.
I was also able to identify key resource individuals for potential interviews. While I wasn’t able to conduct all interviews during my stay, I look forward to following up in the coming months, as these experts would provide valuable perspectives for my research. Furthermore, I had the privilege of engaging in insightful conversations with esteemed NYU and Carnegie Mellon colleagues.
This experience was made possible, in part, through my involvement with ENCATC, the European Network on Cultural Policy and Management, where I first connected with Richard Maloney from New York University and Dan Green from Carnegie Mellon over the last years. ENCATC has facilitated invaluable professional connections and fostered opportunities for comparative research in the cultural and creative sectors, an area we should further advance.
Teaching in such an international environment about European cultural policies has been an incredibly stimulating experience. Engaging students with topics from another continent, explaining the diverse cultural policy paradigms, and unraveling the complexities of EU cultural policy has been both challenging and rewarding. I was genuinely impressed by the students' eagerness to learn more, draw comparisons, and explore how collaborative bridges can be strengthened between the EU and the US. I hope to have the chance to reconnect with them in the future and follow their professional journeys as they evolve.
Dr. Matina Magkou
Researcher at University Côte d'Azur (GREDEG/ CNRS)