Reinventing leadership in the cultural sector

The Oxford Cultural Leaders programme is helping museum heads around the world to innovate in the face of challenges facing the arts sector. The devastating fire at the National Museum in Rio revealed the range of issues facing cultural leaders as they grapple with funding and political challenges alongside increasingly complex internal demands and changing audience expectations. These multi-layered challenges require leaders who are dynamic, flexible and responsive, and who are able to steer their institutions successfully through change. Oxford Cultural Leaders is a unique programme for directors and senior managers in cultural organisations, who want to redefine their identity as leaders and their vision for their institution at a time of increasing challenge and complexity for the sector. Designed and delivered by Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries & Museums, in partnership with Saïd Business School, the programme brings together expertise from the cultural and business sectors to encourage participants to explore how cultural organisations can reinvent themselves as not-for-profit hybrid businesses, with entrepreneurial ways of thinking and behaving. 'For some time now, the clear message from government's around the world has been that cultural organisations need to look beyond the state for their income, to demonstrate their commercial capabilities and ability to deliver new and creative business models,' said the programme's director Dr Lucy Shaw. 'Oxford Cultural Leaders is delivered through a unique partnership between Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries and Museums and Saïd Business School.