Cultural Leadership in Practice

What do cultural leaders really think about the problems they, and the arts and cultural sector, face? This book brings global leaders in the cultural field into dialogue with academics and experts to offer profound insight and perspectives on the complex issues the cultural sector faces in a rapidly accelerating and destabilising twenty-first century context. The book engages directly with leaders in the arts and cultural sector, bridging the gap between academia, policy and practice. Each chapter sheds new light on national cultural policy contexts, offering different perspectives on arts subsidy, audiences, the cultural workforce, heritage, artform development and how cultural leadership functions in a fast-changing local, national and international context. Interviews are conducted by academics and experts with significant knowledge and understanding of the arts management and cultural policy field, who ask critical and probing questions. Featuring interviews with an impressively international range of senior figures from the cultural sector, from the Royal Opera House, BMW, Bloomberg and Onassis Foundation and covering countries including the UK, Germany, Chile, Singapore, Greece, USA, Serbia and Ireland, the book gives a truly global overview of cultural leadership from leaders who are open to question, critique and challenge. Each chapter offers a unique and fascinating insight into the mind of a leader in their field, with their experience ranging from huge participatory events featuring tens of thousands of people to the visual arts, opera, the Turner Prize and the #blacklivesmatter movement. This book will be essential reading for reflective cultural leaders around the world, as well as a useful resource for students and scholars involved with arts and cultural management and policy.

Steven Hadley is an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and a Visiting Lecturer at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany. Steven also sits on the Steering Committee of the Cultural Research Network, the Editorial Board of Arts and the Market and is Policy & Reviews Editor for Cultural Trends.

1. Cultural Leadership in Practice; 2. Public Monuments and Cultural Leadership - fayemi shakur, Director of Arts & Cultural Affairs, City of Newark, New Jersey, In Conversation (USA); 3. Philanthropy and Cultural Leadership - Christos Carras, Senior Consultant, Onassis Stegi: In Conversation (Greece); 4. Artistic Directors and Cultural Leadership - Helen Marriage, Director of Artichoke and Former Creative Director of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture: In Conversation (UK); 5. Post-Capitalism and Cultural Leadership - Milena Dragicevic seSic, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management: In Conversation (Serbia); 6. Media Policy and Cultural Leadership - James Hickey, European Film Academy: In Conversation (Ireland); 7. Museums, Decolonisation and Cultural Leadership - Esme Ward, Director of Manchester Museum: In Conversation (UK); 8. Corporate Engagement and Cultural Leadership - Thomas Girst, Global Head of Cultural Engagement, BMW Group, In Conversation (Germany); 9. Artists and Cultural Leadership - Array Collective, 2021 Turner Prize Winners: In Conversation (Northern Ireland/Ireland); 10. Opera and Cultural Leadership - Oliver Mears, Director of Opera, Royal Opera House: In Conversation (UK); 11. The Global South and Cultural Leadership - Julieta Brodksy, Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage: In Conversation (Chile); 12. Cultural Policy and Cultural Leadership - Kenneth Kwok, Ministry of National Development: In Conversation (Singapore); 13. Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Leadership - Mark Katz and Junious "House" Brickhouse, Next Level: In Conversation (USA); 14. Mega-Events and Cultural Leadership - Philippe Blanchard, International Olympic Committee: In Conversation (France)