INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
15-16. April 2025. Kotor, Montenegro
English & Montenegrin (ex-Yu languages, Serb/BiH/Cro)

Recent cultural policy developments in East European have taken place within the shift into a digital and globalised political economy and culture. In the second half of the twentieth century, this process of policy development can be analyzed through the lens of modernity and a process of modernization which, rather than being disrupted by authoritarian state socialist regimes was, in contrast, intensively pursued (Rindzevičiūtė, 2021). This has led the countries of the former Yugoslavia, including Montenegro, to follow Western policy processes and to adopt similar instruments and systems in their own policy frameworks (REF). Alongside the policy transfer process as a direct application of instruments and tools, many Balkan countries have also experienced multi-decade long processes of “soft” or “indirect” policy transfer through the active processes of Europeanisation exercised mainly via the EU pre-accession (IPA) instruments (2006).

These processes of cultural development have taken place alongside various international programs to create new and diverse forms of cultural diplomacy, cultural exchange and models of  international cultural cooperation. Yet the ways in which these cultural policies function across institutional, political and social paradigms has received little attention. As Outhwaite and Ray (2005) discuss in their work on social theory, whilst it may be the case that ‘we are all postcommunist now’, this is not the ideological demobilization of what Habermas called ‘the exhaustion of utopian energies’, but rather the sense that the EU – and Europe more broadly – have been radically and irrevocably transformed by what the processes of European integration and development. This conference provides an opportunity to critically reflect on these themes and processes of policy development and transfer and to find optimal frameworks for strengthening and directing future cultural policy.

By highlighting the developmental issues of the Balkan regions and engaging in dialogue with cultural policy discourse in Western Europe and further afield, the conference aims to introduce a broader form of joint reassessment of the principles underpinning the current European cultural policy environment. To bring academics, funders, policymakers, artists and managers into a broader dialogue, the conference is designed as a multi-disciplinary platform and includes a number of sessions addressing topics of concern to the sector. This includes a specific focus on the tension between organizational culture (within the bounds of the institution) and the broader civic ambitions necessary for any future articulation of cultural policy.

Conference Themes:

• European cultural policy development
• Models and methods of cultural policy transfer
• International cultural cooperation and policy development
• Cultural diplomacy and cultural exchange
• The role of cultural value(s) in policymaking
• Organizational culture, managerial ideology and the dominance of instrumental values
• Creativity and Innovation in the service of organizational change
• Cultural awareness (cross-cultural competence)
• Cross-cultural narratives in cultural policy
• Global vs. Local: experiencing globalization through policy
• Cultural democracy and social justice
• Power, public management and cultural policies
• Development of cultural institutions and governance of culture
• Subsidy for the arts and public financing alternatives
• Cultural worker, status of the artist and socioeconomic conditions of culture
• The role of civil society organizations in the cultural life of societies
• The future of cultural policy

These are just some of the issues that this event would like to address with invited guests and participants. We warmly welcome submissions which explicitly adopt a trans and/or inter – disciplinary approach. The workshops and panels will be in English and will be organized according to the submissions received during the open time of this call.