The concept of cultural participation has seen an increasing boom in recent years. But is this "career" just a fad of cultural policy and cultural management of our time or will it shape the future? A book from Switzerland addresses this question with articles in German, French and Italian.

Working in a foreign cultural context can open up a lot of potentials and new perspectives for arts managers. But it can also entail difficulties. Therefore, this issue reflects on internationalization in the cultural sector from the point of view of arts and cultural managers from different regions of the world and fields of practice report on their personal experiences made while spending a longer time in completely different cultural contexts.

Italian actor, artist and cultural entrepreneur Giovanni Morassutti and Bangladeshi curator and researcher Sadya Mizan have been collaborating in 2019 in the International project Uronto - an Artist-Led Open Collective in Bangladesh with a residential exchange program. In the following interview, they share its outcomes for international arts management, curatorship, cooperation, and similarities and differences between art practices in the Western and the non-Western world.

In early April, the English foundation NESTA published a comprehensive analysis of the likely impacts of COVID-19 on the world whose title is short and direct: There will be no 'back to normal'. Not returning to normal does not mean that there will be no future for humanity and within it for the cultural sector. But it means it can be radically different from what we thought. In the first of a series of three articles, I try to explain why the creative sector will be globally (but not equally) affected and what can we expect.

In times of crisis, the role of art and culture often becomes particularly clear, as they reveal new perspectives and create welcome distraction and positivity. Cultural institutions can now use this to strengthen their position in the long term.

We currently see how fragile artist careers can be when contracts and attention suddenly collapse. Talent therefore seems not to be enough to guarantee a long-term career as an artist entrepreneur. That’s why Marco Thom has developed a matrix of necessary management skills for self-employed artists and cultural entrepreneurs that is already used around the world.

Floods and storms, pandemics, destruction of environment, terrorism and so on. The number of risks and crises for the arts and cultural heritage is steadily increasing. Emergency management therefore should be a fix part of the process management of every arts institution.

With change as a given, plans ensure preparedness for artist entrepreneurs. This means being proactive rather than reactive. Plans ensure not panicking about what’s taking place around you. No matter the circumstances. Artist entrepreneurs, like many of us, often don't spend time to consider where they are going. If this is the case for you, how will you know how to get there?

The Master Program in Management of Performing Arts and Industries at the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts (NATFA), Sofia, Bulgaria has undertaken an initiative to establish a Resource Center in Arts Management at the Library of the Academy. It therefore kindly asks for online or print publications on cultural management and policy.

In November 2019 I was lucky to attend the International Winter School ‘Brokering Intercultural Exchange within Societies’. During the three days, I had a very warm feeling of being understood. Though the participants came from different countries and had different backgrounds, we were a community of like-minded people who are truly passionate for arts and culture.

The success of artists lies very much within their own mission. Often the struggle of earning enough money to live can mean that artists start working in ways that causes exhaustion and upset. anGie seah is an artist living in Singapore who follows her heart and measures success against her level of enjoyment. But, does this pay the bills? It seems that it can.

Hilary Carty is one of the most prominent voices in cultural leadership in UK and abroad. Beth Ponte had a chance to visit her in her office at Clore Leadership, located at Somerset House in London, for an interview and she talked with great clarity about changes in cultural leadership, the relationship between governance and diversity as well as trends in leadership training for the cultural sector.

Since 2012, SPACE has been leading partner on delivering artist professional development programmes for the arts sector in London. During this time, our focus has been on encouraging artists to reframe their practice as a business. Here is what the artists - and we as training providers - learned.

As the world becomes more globalized, more people interact with foreign cultures. But how are non-native art forms and institutions exported to and preserved in foreign contexts? The summer issue of the Arts Management Quarterly provides answers to this question.

The damaging nature of bullying behaviour, which can have both psychological and physical effects, makes dealing with it in the workplace an enormous challenge. Therefore, I collected some tips for cultural organisations, followed by a few pointers for individuals who are experiencing or witnessing bullying at their workplace.

Crises come in all shapes and sizes: they mean different things to different people. The #MeToo debate publicly demonstrates how destructive behaviours such as bullying and harassment can cause personal crises for individuals and group crises both within an organisation and at institutional level. Further, an entire sector can become contaminated by abuse, while persecution at national and international levels often leads to conflict and war.

Just two and a half years after its founding, the Network Brokering Intercultural Exchange has achieved to bring together arts and cultural researchers and professionals from numerous continents and countries and to address the difficulties of the international cultural sector. The Annual Gathering in May 2019 on "Democratizing the Arts and the Arts Sector" has once again put its finger on the wound and shown how far the international cultural sector, despite all its ambitions, is still from equal rights and participation.

‘Courageous Citizens’ aims to address the ‘role of culture in social change’ through interviews, excerpts from speeches, photographs and scribbles. Rather than a practical guide, it is an almost philosophical collection of observations and experiences of arts professionals on the question of how arts and culture besides institutional structures can help reflect current societies and create more equal ones by courage and empathy.

Pablo Picasso’s is an excellent example to show how art has the power to make us better people. The importance of combining art and critical thinking skills, in a myriad of formal and informal approaches, can prove very effective in improving the quality of life for individuals and societies. This article discusses how the creative/ artistic mind, in tandem with the problem-solving/ practical mind, can better serve pursuits of happiness, shape our values, and reach for higher goals, especially in times of crisis.

Do you sometimes feel like the world is getting worse and worse and you are surrounded by only negative news? Well, as studies have shown, we humans tend to overestimate negative developments and turn a blind eye to the positive ones. Therefore, with this issue of Arts Management Quarterly, we present you examples, experiences and approaches from arts professionals around the world that will help you when you feel helpless in the face of financial, political or even institutional crises.