module specification

The arts, museums, galleries and heritage comprise a major part of the tourist offer of any city or nation.  More than that they embody a society’s sense of the past, its identity, while shaping social memory.  As such, they need to be managed with sensitivity but also with critical awareness of the sector as an ongoing project continually created and recreated for current purposes, as society’s preoccupations, priorities and needs evolve.  This may involve challenging long-held beliefs and national narratives.  This module covers management issues in museums, galleries, and heritage (both tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage) and the institutions and organisations that shape the wider environment in which they operate.  You will be engaging with contemporary issues, practice and debates in the sector, applying the principles of best practice to management challenges and developing analytical skills that will equip you to critically evaluate management practices with a view to identifying strategic directions in which those organisations should move.

Global issues in Culture and Heritage Management is a core module for the MSc in Culture, Heritage and Leisure Management.  The aims of the module are to equip you with an understanding role of the cultural manager in the arts, museums, galleries, heritage sites and historic environment; and to make cross cultural comparisons of international practice.  In doing this you will examine the increasingly diverse role which cultural insitutions are now playing in society from an economic, social, political, commumnity and welfare perspective.  You will develop an understanding of the role managers in museums, galleries, the performing and visual arts, heritage sites and historic environment.  You will become familiar with the codes of conduct and ethncial principles required to operate within the cultural sector and recognise when action is required to achieve the change that might be required.  Finally you will analyse those aspects of the dynamic environment in impinge on the management of cultural organisations.  From this you can critically assess the available cultural strategies within public, private and voluntary organisations and be able to identify areas requiring change and the options available to cultural managers

No pre-requisites; available for Study Abroad: YES

This module covers management issues in the arts, museums, galleries, and heritage (both tangible heritage and intangible cultural heritage) and the institutions and organisations that shape the wider environment in which they operate.  This encompasses collections of contemporary and classical art, objects from archaeology to living collections of plants and animals, historic sites and the historic environment. Specific topics include:

1. The key management roles and functions within cultural sector management (funding and fundraising, marketing, event programming, interpretation, outreach and education, services management) LOs 1,2,3.

2. Defining heritage, intangible cultural heritage, contested heritage and the Authorised Heritage Discourse; accompanying ethic issues and codes of practice as well as the emerging debate of decolonising heritage and museum collections. LOs 4 5

3. The management of sensitive cultural sites and collections – dark heritage, sacred sites and religious objects  LOs 2, 5

4. The instrumental use of the cultural sector in community engagement, social inclusion and diversity (in audiences and the workforce), public well-being, and new ways of working including co-curation, digital platforms, and working with those engaged in popular forms of history such as genealogy, metal-detecting and re-enactments), virtual working and other post-covid forms of audience engagement. LOs 2,4,5

5. Safeguarding heritage and collections – the legal frameworks at national and international levels including UNESCO conventions and protecting heritage in times of war LOs 2,4,5

6. Organisation audits and strategic planning in the cultural sector LOs 6,7

The module makes use of a range of teaching and learning methods.  The module will be delivered over a 15-week period, with 3 hours of face-to-face contact each week. Lectures will deliver key theories, models and concepts with seminars used for applying these ideas to case studies through discussion, small group tasks and in class activities.  Engagement with industry professionals will be sought through guest speakers and/or site visits where analysis of the organisation will be complemented by a talk from a member of staff. You will be encouraged to visit cultural and heritage sites during the module and provided with a list of the principle sites in London to encourage this activity.  You will be encouraged to share your experience of such visits in class.  You will be alerted to any professional events taking place in London and available to PG students to encourage immersion in and engagement with the industry.

You will use the directed learning hours to prepare for and follow up on class sessions.  To this end you will be recommended materials to consult linked to the weekly sessions.  These will be found on weblearn, e-books, online journals and other materials from the library as well as sources from the web including professional organisations, cultural organisations, national and international bodies.

The learning,  teaching and assessment strategy for this module will enable students to develop their capabilities in digital literacy and information handling appropriate to professional/master’s level study as outlined in the Open University Digital and Information Literacy Framework (DILF: available to view at https://www.open.ac.uk/libraryservices/pages/dilframework/)

At the end of this module you should be able to:

1. Apply management theory to cultural management practice. Recognise principles of best practice within cultural sector management and show an understanding of how these can address the very real practical problems that exist within the sector

2. Understand the distinct role of the professional disciplines within cultural organisations and the work practices, careers and professional training development associated with them.

3. Make cross cultural comparisons of international practice within the cutural sector and evaluate the role of interantional organisations in shaping the evolution of management practice.

4. Apply the codes of conduct and ethncial principles required to operate within the cultural sector and be sensitive to the changing relationship between the sector and the public with a view to recognising when change is required

5. Systemmatically evaluate the operations of a cutural orgaisation and its fitness for purpose in its current economic, social and political environment. Create a well-argued plan of strategic action for an organisation within the public, private or voluntary sector in order to achieve sustainable operations and development goals.

This module is assessed through two assessment components:

• Component 1  Individual poster presentation outlining a critical issue in cultural and heritage management:  20% Week 7

• Component 2  An audit and strategic plan for a cultural organisation that falls within the remit of this module:  80%  Week 15

To pass the module you must obtain 50% on aggregate (combining the two components).

Component 1: individual poster presentation of a critical contemporary issue affecting the cultural sector.  The poster will identify and analyse the topic selected highlighting any conceptual or theoretical perspectives and indicate the importance and implications for the cultural sector.  Topics could include Black Lives matters, contested heritage, diversity in the workforce etc.  This assignment is designed to encourage students to identify and recognise societal issues which impinge on the cultural sector and to which cultural managers need to respond.

Component 2: Undertake an institutional audit and strategic plan for a cultural organisation.  This assignment requires students to apply their theoretical understanding, knowledge of best practice and an appreciation of the current issues facing the cultural sector to a cultural organisation of their choice (selected in conjunction with the tutor).  An internal audit will be conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation and its fitness for purpose in the current dynamic institutional environment.  Strategic options will then be identified to enable the organisation to address any internal issues while exploiting its strengths and the opportunities presented by the wider environment in which it operates.

Key reading:
Addis M, Rurale A (eds)  (2020) Managing the cultural business, avoiding mistakes, finding success, London: Routledge.

Black G (ed) 2020 Museums and the challenge of change – old institutions in a new world, London: Routledge

Chong D (2010) Arts management, London: Routledge 2nd edition

Lord D.G. and Markert K (2017) Manual of Strategic Planning for Cultural Organizations, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield

Additional Reading:
Akagawa N and Smith L (eds) 2018 Safeguarding intangible heritage: practices and politics, key issues in cultural heritage, London: Routledge
Bennett R (ed) 2017 New horizons in arts, heritage, nonprofit and social marketing, London: Routledge
Crooke E (2008) Museums and community. Ideas, issues and challenges, London: London: Routledge
DeVereaux C (2020) Arts and Cultural Management Sense and Sensibilities in the State of the Field, London: Routledge
Hadley S (2020) Audience development and cultural policy, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Harrison R, et al (eds) 2011 The Routledge companion to museum ethics, London: Routledge
May S, Morgan J and Penrose S (2020) Heritage futures – comparative approaches to natural and cultural heritage practices, London: UCL Press
Hill L., O’Sullivan C., and O’Sullivan T (2018) Creative arts marketing, London: Routledge 3rd edition
Hooper-Greenhill E (2007) Museums and education: purpose, pedagogy, performance, London: Routledge
Janes R.R. and Sandell R (eds) Museum Activism - Museum Meanings, London: Routledge
Kolb B (2020) Marketing strategy for the creative and cultural industries, London: Routledge 2nd edition
Labadi S and Long D (eds) 2010 Heritage and globalisation, London: Routledge
Logan W and Reeves K (2009)  Places of pain and shame.  Dealing with ‘difficult’ heritage, London: Routledge
Matt G.A. (2019) The art of museum management, Vienna: NWV Verlag
Meskell L (ed) 2015 Global heritage a reader, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell
Onciul B, Stefano M.L. and Hawke S (2017) Engaging heritage, engaging communities, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer
Palmer C and Tivers J (eds) 2019 Creating heritage for tourism London: London: Routledge
Proctoer (2020) The whole picture: the colonial story of the art in our museums and why we need to talk about it, London: Cassell
Sandis C (ed) (2014) Cultural heritage ethics between theory and practice Cambridge: Open book Publishers
Sargeant, A. and Jay, E. (2010) Fundraising Management, London: Routledge
Slack S (2020) Interpreting Heritage: A Guide to Planning and Practice. London: Routledge
Silverman H, Waterton E, Watson S (2017) Heritage in action: making the past in the present
Smith L (2006) The uses of heritage, London: Routledge

Journals:
Cultural Trends
Journal of Cultural Heritage
International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing
Intangible Heritage Messenger (UNESCO newsletter) https://ich.unesco.org/en/messenger (free access)
International Journal of Arts Management
International Journal of Cultural Policy
International Journal of Heritage Studies
International Journal of Intangible Heritage http://www.ijih.org (open access)
Museums Journal
Museum Management and Curatorship

Websites:
Arts Council of England www.artscouncil.org.uk
Arts Marketing Association
Culture 24 www.culture24.org.uk
DCMS www.culture.gov.uk
English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk
Heritage Alliance https://www.theheritagealliance.org.uk/
Historic England https://historicengland.org.uk/
International Council of Museums https://icom.museum/en/  
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) https://www.icomos.org/en
Museums Association www.museumsassociation.org  
National Museum Director’s Conference www.nationalmmuseums.or.uk
National Trust  www.nationaltrust.org.uk
United Nations Economic Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
www.unesco.org