Paradigms of contemporary cultural management in Poland

Abstract

The author of the article analyses the issue of two different academic approaches in contemporary research on cultural management in Poland. Peter Bendixen describes them as the two paradigms—Platonic (instrumental) and Aristotelian. According to the German researcher, the Platonic approach is dominated by elements of company management, in both quantitative and qualitative aspects, while the Aristotelian approach assumes that the only role of cultural management is to support art. Researchers classified by the author as followers of the Platonic approach support the idea of transfering organizational solutions and principles of the new economy of the public sector into the cultural sector. Professor Jerzy Hausner criticizes weak points of the public cultural institutions, such as deficiencies in employment policy, lack of incentives for improved performance, bureaucratic behaviours, avoidance of risk, lack of competition, great influence of political factors. Professor Pawelska-Skrzypek points out the necessity to introduce indicators of effectiveness in the area of culture, which would enable proper assessment of the functioning of public cultural institutions. According to research workers supporting the Artistotelian approach to cultural management, ‘instrumentalists’ transfer management tools that are effective in other sectors of economy too mechanically. Opponents of the Platonic approach stress out the immeasurable character of cultural values as well as the existence of conflicting ideas within this theory, i.e. simultaneous growth of the commercial function and extension of the scope of artistic creation in public cultural institutions. Moreover, they talk about negative external factors influencing the society’s access to culture, which require serious changes in the system.