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Cultural Sector Leadership
This is an ongoing, group project for a course taking place at the University of Victoria, Canada as a part of a Graduate Certificate in Cultural Sector Leadership.

The cultural sector workforce encompasses a wide range of occupations, including but not limited to "heritage occupations (such as librarians, curators and archivists), cultural occupations (such as graphic designers, print operators, editors, translators and architects), and artistic occupations."

The role of leadership in the cultural sector is relatively new and emerging, and is a subject of ongoing debate and discussion. British cultural historian Robert Hewison has stated that the cultural sector struggles with a tendency to think of leadership as something that emerges “spontaneously, as part of the job” by allowing “charismatic and creative people” to stamp “their personalities on arts organizations” This tendency, combined with valuing “professional subject matter – be it curatorial scholarship or creative flair as an artistic director” over “the ordinary management skills associated with the efficient running of an organization” has played a part in creating the current “crisis of leadership” within the cultural sector.

Leadership training within the sector still tends to be “ad hoc rather than strategic and often ill-conceived and of poor quality.” A willingness amongst today’s cultural sector leaders to improve their leadership functions through more formal training and development and model the way for the up-and-coming leaders of tomorrow will be a key factor in ensuring the sector’s stability into the future.

Leadership Theories Relevant to the Cultural Sector
Competing Values Framework

This leadership approach defines eight different leadership roles (director, producer, mentor, facilitator, coordinator, monitor, innovator, and broker) within four different management models (Rational Goal, Internal Process, Human Relations, and Open Systems). Although the productivity and profit-obsessed Rational Goal Model with its emphasis on “the bottom line” is largely inappropriate for the cultural sector, the “team-oriented” Human Relations Model, the “innovative, flexible” Open Systems Model, or even the Internal Process Model, with its emphasis on “stability” and “continuity," could provide valuable insights to enhance and formalize leadership within the sector.

Cultural Sector Leadership Opportunities
Graduate Professional Certificate in Cultural Sector Leadership at the University of Victoria

http://publicadmin.uvic.ca/programs/graduate/graduateCertificates/graduateCertificates.php#section0-4

Getty Leadership Institute, Getty Foundation

http://www.getty.edu/leadership/

Cultural Leadership Programme, Arts Council England

http://www.culturalleadership.org.uk/

The Clore Leadership Programme

http://www.cloreleadership.org/

Cultural Leadership MA, City University London

http://www.city.ac.uk/study/courses/arts/cultural-leadership-ma-pgdip-cert%20.html

Manitoba Arts and Cultural Management Certificate Program, University of Winnipeg

http://dce.uwinnipegcourses.ca/main/professional-studies/manitoba-arts-and-cultural-management-certificate-program