In October 2017, eleven students of the Zurich University of the Arts, study programme Cast/ Audiovisual Media travelled to Hong Kong to take over the "Zurich meets Hong Kong" city festivals social media channels and report on around 50 events as an "embedded social media team".

While #metoo dominates the media, there is a growing debate about gender equality in the cultural field as well. But where do the German and international art scene stand when it comes to art and gender? Katrin Hassler's book (currently only available in German) attempts to explore this in a quantitative study and provides figures on the significance of gender for filling leading positions in the art field.

In October 2016, when the Goethe Institutes "Damascus in Exile" project was launched in a small shop in the center of Berlin, it was a structural novelty that brought a symbolic space and its political significance at the center of attention, and brought together people of different origins.

Located in the village of Zverino, 70km from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, Kamenov House is a place to think, write, create and live in an authentic rural environment, intended for creative people cultural managers, PhD students, academics and small-size creative teams. The House Launch day is 15 July 2018, applications can be send anytime.

Lukasz Wróblewskis book seeks to address a lack of basic theoretical knowledge in the areas of strategic and marketing management amongst those working in the cultural sector. For arts professionals from countries such as the UK - the reviewers home country - this diagnosis may seem outdated. Yet given that Wróblewskis main research interest is the Polish cultural sector, this assessment can at least partly be revised allowing for the differing trajectory of development in the countrys arts institutions in recent years. Wróblewskis book therefore provides an enlightening and empirically based introduction to the current status of Polish arts management.

Key questions in international arts management, e.g. on the communication between individuals from different backgrounds or the role of arts managers in challenging contexts, were addressed by the group of highly-qualified and experienced participants at the fourth workshop of the Brokering Intercultural Exchange Network that took place at Goldsmiths University of the London, November 15 - 17, 2017.

For this interview, our correspondent Lisa Harborth talked to Alejandra Solórzano, a cultural producer who is working for the Ministry of Culture and Youth in Costa Rica. They spoke about the local arts sector, the unique position of concert bands in this small country and their link to the non-existing army.

Feasible visions for the city of the future are the Senseable City Lab's main topic. The SCL is one of the interdisciplinary research and transfer centers affiliated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We talked with Prof. Dr. Carlo Ratti, founder and director, about how the SCL merges modern research and creativity in applicable developments.

In the cultural sector and in cultural policy, international cooperation is taken for granted. But to be truly fruitful, cultural exchange must be on an equal footing. But what does that mean? Are arts organizations really on a par with their partners? Is it really fair cooperation they pursue? With her award-winning doctoral thesis, Dr. Annika Hampel has triggered the discussion of a topic debated still much too rarely.

The third seminar of the network Brokering Intercultural Exchange taking place in Zürich, Switzerland was the best gathering of Arts/Cultural Management academics, practitioners, and students I have have ever attended. To this appraisement, I have identified eight qualities that continue to come up in conversations like a leitmotiv from a Wagnerian opera.

The 36th Annual AAAE conference was hosted by Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh between May 31st and June 2nd 2017. The fact, that the conference took place in Europe, surely resulted in several new faces. One third of the participants were so-called first timers (assumedly several of them Europeans who took advantage of not having to travel that far).

This research seeks to develop greater understanding of the impacts of globalization, digitalization, and (im)migration on the work of arts managers and arts management researchers. Different from studies that focus specifically on those who work exclusively in international contexts, this paper aims to present current research based on an international empirical study of arts managers who do not necessarily cross borders for their work and who would in most cases not even consider their work international as such.

Aaron Hernandez Farfan, a Mexican actor and cultural manager, together with his company Agua Quemada Creatividad visualizes problems affecting the Mexican society, such as violence and injustice. With Lisa Harborth, he talks about the cultural system in Mexico, how politics influence it and which challenges affect the work as an artist in Mexico.

This article presents the results of a research on the opinions of arts/ cultural managers around the world regarding their profession, working conditions, current challenges, required competencies, and training opportunities. Is cultural management getting harmonized due to cultural globalization? Or are concepts and practices of cultural management more influenced by the specific national or regional conditions?

In this interview, Alan Salzenstein (De Paul University, Chicago) and Martin Zierold (Karlshochschule International University, Karlsruhe) talk about the relevance of teaching transformation skills to arts management students.

This first workshop of the new network Cultural Managers as Intercultural Brokers took place 15-17 January 2017 at Heilbronn University, Germany. Its highly renowned international participants examined the role that arts and cultural managers can play in handling the challenges of globalisation. And they discussed the question how arts management is influenced by certain worldviews and how this in turn influences the fulfilment of its tasks in international contexts.

The second edition of Goethe-Instituts International Forum again brought together cultural experts from all over the world for two weeks in Munich, Germany for discussions and the development of ideas. And flanked by the presidential election in the US, the participants experienced that independently of their geographical and professional background they are connected by the vision to break down barriers and prejudices.

Our current context of internationalisation, globalisation, and the increasing global migration presents challenges and opportunities for the arts and cultural sector. With creative and aesthetic expressions inherently reflective of cultural ideas, knowledge and values, arts and cultural managers have a significant role to play in directing, administering and mediating intercultural understanding. This refers to the ability to know, accept, value, and empathise with alternative perspectives and perceptions of the world.

This article is about how leaders in the arts can upwardly manage stakeholders with a powerful impact on their work, and enable staff to upwardly manage their bosses as well.

The 24th ENCATC Annual Conference took place in Valencia, Spain, from 57 October, 2016. The event brought together about 160 academics, researchers and professionals from the cultural sector, policy makers, artists and students from over 30 countries. And with a more focused and application oriented program their debates about the new paradigm needed for cultural management and policy to face todays risk societies could have in fact been very fruitful and inspiring.