The governance and management of national cultural institutions: From the opposition between art and economy to the relationship between cultural policy and management

Abstract

In the twentieth century the debate on governance and management of national cultural institutions has been largely focused on the problematic relationship between art and the economy. However, several changes have made this a discussion outdated. The loss of autonomy of the art world, the transformation of cultural production and distribution, the instrumentalization of cultural policies generate a new context, in which the role of the art manager rises. Currently, the governance and management of the national cultural institutions is in a problematic articulation between cultural policy and art manager replacing the previous binomial art versus economy. The article shows the change in the case of Barcelona, analyzing the discourses of politicians and managers of national cultural institutions.