Programme and Structure

The Master in European Cultural Governance aims at providing students with:

• Comprehensive understanding of Europe’ s culture to build the values and ethics of the 21st century necessary to deal with the ecological and digital transitions.
• Learning how Europe could be a model of cultural policies for sustainable development
• In-depth knowledge of how the cultural heritage relates with the wider world at all levels, with a specific focus on climate change, social and diplomatic cooperation.
• The ability to shape policies for creativity in the digital environment
• The hands-on competences that are necessary to manage cultural projects and relations in a professional setting.
• The study of the terms of cultural agreement and negotiation essential today with the multiplication of Regional and bilateral agreements and the proliferation of cultural conflicts.
• The cultural and creative industries’ dynamics and market in the digital economy
• Learn about financial institutions and crowdfunding platform rules and actors.
• A compelling vision of contemporary artists in dealing with shared social and ecological responsibilities.
• Learn the professional skills in cultural exchange and diplomacy as a catalyst of connectivity among policymakers.

Unique Features

• Embark on a cultural “Grand Tour of Europe” with immersive experiences in culturally significant locations in Rome, Berlin, Nice and Paris.
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of European cultural heritage and its challenges in light of the twin ecological and digital transitions.
• Study the new policy opportunities and challenges raised by artificial intelligence. 
• Learn how Europe’s cultural policies can be a model for global sustainable development.
• Comprehend the legal and economic dynamics of the modern cultural and creative industries in the EU.
• Equip yourself with the professional skills to fundraise, budget and manage European cultural projects.
• Meet and exchange with key actors in the culture sector, such as artists, museum curators, policy-makers and academics.

Academic Programme:

The programme consists in four modules and visits in cultural hubs offering the unique opportunity of a Professional cultural Grand Tour in Europe. 

I Module:

Luiss SoG in Rome – “The framework of cultural policies ” – October 2024/January 2025

Course : European Institutions

This course provides students with broad yet specific proficiencies in the working procedures of European institutions and in policy areas linked with the EU, such as Migration, Security, Euro- Zone Politics and the Common Market. Combining theoretical and practical approaches, the course enables students to understand the political, economic and cultural dynamics among the EU actors, as well as between the EU and external actors.

Course : European Union policies & programming

 The starting point will be the integration process before and through the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Energy crisis, Regional divide and structural causes of delay and the implementation of the Resilience approach towards pathcleaners. Then, the financial instruments will be considered such as: the European multiannual financial frameworks: starting points, regional analysis , EU budget. And regulation. Key rules and eligibility criteria. Main chapters (MFF 2021-2027), NextgenerationEU, RepowerEU and National Recovery and Resilience Plans .Finally the main instruments for EU planning: scenarios, goals and targets; measure & project design: logical framework and institutional framework; Local analysis and local strategic planning

Course : EU Funding for Culture

This course will introduce students to: a)The EU policy background: Integration process before and through the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Energy crisis,. The impact of the EU Resilience approach towards path cleaners; b) EU financial Resources for culture: The European multiannual financial frameworks EU budget and the specific programs for culture and a comparative approach to the Recovery and Resilience Plan cultural investments.; c) Measure & project design: Logical framework and institutional framework, Relationship between policy, programs, and projects, The Project cycle management and the cycle key highlights, The Logical Framework Approach

The Cultural Heritage of Mediterranean Europe

Valorization of the mediterranean cultural heritages with an holistic approach. The investment into a sustainable and multimodal mobility, the promotion of integrated turistic packages (culture-foo&-wine), the promotion on internal areas and islands. How to link the minor cultural sites to big attractors. How to face climate adaptation in the mediterranean area through hydrogeological prevention. 

The Management of Cultural Heritage

The teaching, between lectures, laboratories and testimonies will focus on five key topics:

a) The Economy of Culture. Actors (production chains, labour market, cultural districts, ecosystems in the strategy of smart growth), the market (cultural products-services and their use), development models and metrics (multipliers and attractors)Public private partnerships, credit dynamics

b) the local historical heritage: the types of heritage, the museums’ network, the literary parks,  the institutional databases and observatories, the UNESCO sites and Unesco Cities, internal areas and marginalized areas, the  Contribution to sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda targets

c) Conservation, restoration and digitization of real estate and archives thanks to new technologies. New professions and old crafts

d) Enhancement and cultural tourism. The dynamics of cultural tourism, the contribution to the seasonal adjustment of flows, the contribution to educational processes

e) European investments in public and private cultural heritage

II Module:

CIFE Berlin– “Central & Eastern European Culture and Sustainable Development” – February/April 2025

Students will attend general courses on Central Europe and its cultural heritage (history, institutions, politics and policies) with a particular focus on its cultural world’ s drive to expand on mitigation and adaptation practices which can help achieve the ambitious objectives of the green transformation of our society. They will also attend a professional guests seminar series, and intensive laboratories: cultural heritage in Central European and Cultural Institutions and Diplomacy. These courses, seminars and laboratories are aimed at providing students with solid theoretical and practical foundations.

Course: Cultural Heritage of Central & Eastern Europe:

This course offers an in-depth exploration of Eastern European Heritage by focusing on the concept of heritage, both tangible and intangible, its historical development, its international conventions, and the role of society and history in its past, present, and future. Students will be asked to engage critically with contemporary heritage concepts such as authenticity, ownership, assessment, value, and preservation that form much of our global understanding of the field of cultural heritage studies. Through case studies, lectures, discussions, readings and visits, students will explore Eastern European heritage policy as structured by the institutional complex and consider both its local and global impact.

Course: Cultural Institutions and Policies for Sustainable Development

Our cultural heritage, including cultural landscapes, are severely threatened by climate change. But the cultural world, with its wealth of traditional knowledge and skills, can also be used to further expand on mitigation and adaptation practices which can help achieve the ambitious objectives of the European Green Deal. You will learn how cultural institutions and artists are engaged for a „green recovery‟ and the immense potential of cultural heritage to help achieve it.

Course: Art & Leadership, learning Sustainability from visual art

The course aims to introduce its participants to art's many benefits regarding leadership skills and team building processes. Whereas the theoretical part introduces topics like innovation, creativity as well as perception in art and business-related contexts, the second part will be held in museums to dive into an intensive dialogue with art to train one's leadership skills.

This course is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings and how we interact with art, this course will almost certainly change the way participants work with art. By the end of the event, students will be competent to communicate works of visual art in a new way, which means to bring engagement with works of art into business contexts. The course invites the participants to pioneer new ways of co-creation, leadership, and problem-solving for the major challenges of our time.

II Module:

CIFE Nice - “Western European culture and the digital transition” - April/June 2025

Europe plays a leading role in digital cultural heritage and has the potential to forge ahead with new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning based on humanistic and ethical principles. Cultural services and network, Artificial Intelligence and digital are the new frontier of culture and represent the most dynamically growing part of creation. Digital provisions of cultural services are fundamentally different from the historical focus on preservation in the context of Western European and French cultural heritage. New forms of cooperation agreements and experimentations increasing cultural exchange and network may enable countries in their policy space to promote cultural creations, to safeguard universal heritage, and to pursue inclusive development goals.

Course: Cultural Heritage of Western Europe, enhancing opportunities from cultural differences: how to work in a multicultural world?

This course aims to foreground necessity and benefit of integrating multicultural perspectives in management policies and decision-making processes of Cultural institutions. Drawing on selected readings and study-cases from one major expression of multiculturalism (i.e., Indigenous Peoples cultures vs. Western values and practices), students will explore, across time and geographical contexts in the Americas, discussions such as colonial history, State-building processes, Indigenous perspectives, different types of reclaiming, cultural institutions and diplomacy, the openness to otherness, and biodiversity and cultural diversity. The main objective is to provide students with tools to analyze cultural difference and offer common grounds where cultural diversity can be turned from a challenge to an asset.

Course: Cultural Diplomacy and Policies for Digital Cultural Heritage and Contemporary arts

Cultural heritage ensures the link between our roots, identities, and traditions and the wider European and global picture. Participation in, and engagement with, cultural heritage also enables us to embrace our diversity and to use it as a source of enrichment and creativity. Students will learn  how European diplomacy and policies feel and understand their shared heritage, and how this process of heritage interpretation is critical for the future of Europe.

This course will present a “success story” illustrating the integration of Culture in Sustainable Development could among others be a very relevant topic. It would also highlight the new skills and competences required by culture-related jobs in Cultural Heritage and Creative Industries

Course: Cultural public policy and sustainability, implementing the ecological transition of culture

The issues related to the ecological emergency, the climate change, the biodiversity collapse and the necessary energy and digital transitions, call into question cultural policies, the practices of actors in the cultural sector as well as the sustainability of cultural action. Faced with these major challenges, the world of culture must react and adapt in order to ensure the continuity of cultural actions on the one hand and contribute to building the sustainable world of tomorrow on the other hand.

Based on the French case, through the action of the Ministry of Culture and the mobilization of all French and involved international cultural actors, the course will discuss the operational way to transform, related to ecological transition and sustainable development, the world of culture, in all its dimensions : protection of heritage, architecture, production and dissemination of works of artistic creation, design, transmission of knowledge, development of media and cultural industries such as cinema, audiovisual and publishing. The course will discuss the way in which governance can be influenced, both by defining new objectives and by developing new tools, in particular legal and financial. Finally, particular attention will be paid to the territorial issue by reflecting on the construction of the notion of “ Territory of sustainable culture ”, where culture articulates territorial dynamics around it, by working as closely as possible with cultural actors and public established in the territories.

IV Cross-Semester Module – Applied Research

The Applied Research occurs across the Roma, Berlin and Nice/Paris sessions. It consists in Master thesis work and laboratories and practical case studies, where students will implement their learnings in simulated (laboratories) or real-life (case studies) situation.

This term is dedicated to the applied research and project management. The Laboratorie enables the students to build their professional policy-making skills over the different terms in Berlin and Nice/Paris sessions. CIFE and LUISS facilities will be open to professionals that will discuss practical case studies and workshops of applied research and projects in policy affairs.

Thesis

The final thesis work will be focused on three areas of the Master. At the beginning of the academic year students will be asked to choose a topic and they will be divided into three groups. Students will have to work on the project work throughout the entire academic year. Each group will have to submit (in writing) or present (orally) progress reports on a regular schedule.

Laboratory, Case study and Workshop form an integral part of the programme throughout the academic year.

• Laboratories and case studies will cover topics over the different terms such as   
  • The role of Culture in Local and Regional Development. The starting point will be the analysis of the impact of regional divide among EU countries, the role played by cultural attractors and the use of cultural multiplier models at local level. The workshops will then involve key contributing partner that will introduce students into an ongoing local development project.
  • Identity and Memory of Culture in Europe. This course will address the question of European Identity and whether there can be a common narrative, a European memory that reconciles national memories. Can the European Union be more than just an operational community of national interests? Should it be more?
  • EU-Culture, Multilingualism and Language Minorities. Departing from Wilhelm von Humboldt´s (1836, 50) quote “language is the formative organ of thought” we will focus on the role of language in society in the EU, Europe as well as on other continents, especially with regard to its role as intangible cultural heritage asset. This will help to understand linguistic heritage as a crucial compound of cultural heritage in times of massive loss of linguistic diversity worldwide. What is the implication of language loss or simply feeling ashamed of one’s language or linguistic variety? How can we foster multilingualism, manage linguistic diversity in a respectful way, and guarantee the survival of (minority) languages currently endangered?

• Workshops give the opportunity to students to discuss with experts transversal topics, which require complex and system thinking, and represent the opportunity to meet and discover the world and creation of major artists of the 21. Century in visual arts during Master classes. Artists and producers developing their creative vision of the world and its future will present their work and have a direct exchange and Q&As with the Master students.

 Degree and recognition

Students who successfully complete the programme are awarded three certifications at the end of the academic year:

• Master in European Cultural Governance: This is the diploma of CIFE as private institute of higher education, certifying the successful completion of the academic curriculum and granting 60 ECTS credits at Master level.
• Master in European Cultural Governance: This is the diploma of LUISS University as private institute of higher education, certifying the successful completion of the academic curriculum and granting 60 ECTS credits at Master level.

The degree qualification Chargé de mission en organisations européennes et internationales (Policy Officer in European and International Organisations): This qualification is recognised by the French state as a degree at Master level (level 7 of the European Qualifications Frame- work EQF).