B5670 - Regional Cultural Policies

Learning outcomes

The course focuses on cultural policies. In particular, at the end of the course, the student is expected to: - learn about cultural economics and public funding - compare issues and crucial aspects of cultural policies - understand case studies on culture, heritage and local development - learn the methodologies for an economic impact evaluation - be familiar with the cultural observatory phenomenon - understand the challenges for research and evaluation of network, systems and milieu.

Course contents

This module introduces students to why and how cultural policies are shaped and implemented, with particular attention to the regional and sub-national scale. It presents culture and the arts as social phenomena that are deeply entangled with political debate and with transformative ambitions, and it invites future arts and cultural managers to recognise and critically appraise the policy dimension of their field.

Cultural policy is examined from historical, comparative and practical perspectives, with a focus on the key public and private players, on the intersections with other public policies, and on the strategic challenges that regions and cities currently face. Throughout the module, theories and practices of cultural policy are situated in relation to territorial planning and development, public administration, cultural and creative industries, international and intercultural relations, and local social movements.

The module is organised in five thematic blocks:

1. The culture of cultural policy. Which cultural forms and practices have historically fallen within the remit of cultural policy, and which have not; the high/low culture debate; how cultural activity has been conceptualised over time (cultural industries, creative economy, creative industries, cultural consumption, cultural capital).
2. The policy of cultural policy. Cultural policy as a form of public policy; who makes cultural policy, and how; cultural policy as text, discourse, process and practice; how, where and why cultural policy models travel between places.
3. The regional and urban scale. Why regions and cities invest in culture; the variety of ways in which territorial policymakers mobilise culture within wider agendas (economic development, quality of life, place branding, regeneration, cohesion of inner and peripheral areas); what is at stake, and at risk, in the instrumental use of culture.
4. The national scale. From the direct management of arts and culture to arm's length arrangements; typologies of national cultural policy; individual country cases and cross-national comparison; the interplay between party politics and cultural policy.
5. The international scale. Cultural trade, cultural diplomacy and cultural diversity; the agencies of international cultural policy; European frameworks and funding programmes as they shape action at the regional level.

Readings/Bibliography

The following text is required for the module:

Bell, D. and Oakley, K. (2015), Cultural Policy, London: Routledge.

Further optional readings supporting each thematic block — including policy documents, evaluation reports and journal articles — will be indicated during the lectures and made available through Virtuale.

Teaching methods

The module combines lectures with active learning. Lectures introduce the key concepts, debates and cases; these are complemented by the guided discussion of policy documents and case studies. Students are encouraged to draw on contemporary debates in the media and on their own professional and personal experience, and to test their interpretations with their peers.

Assessment methods

Assessment consists of an oral examination and a group work assignment. Detailed requirements, criteria and weighting will be presented at the beginning of the course and published on Virtuale.

Teaching tools

Lectures are supported by slides, audiovisual material, policy documents and case study materials. All teaching materials, reading suggestions and instructions for the group work are made available through the Virtuale platform.

Office hours

See the website of Manfredi De Bernard