20446 - MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS - MODULE II (COMPARATIVE CULTURAL PUBLIC POLICIES AND FUNDRAISING)

This course gives you the opportunity to apply past management and entrepreneurial knowledge to the creation of your own cultural business. Fundamentals of management are therefore basic requirements to attend classes and develop the field-project.

Cultural entrepreneurs – who use arts, culture, and creativity to profitably confront social problems such as discrimination, poverty, and inequality – have attracted considerable interest as actors who create community impacts. In today’s society, cultural entrepreneurs might even supplement the role of public policy makers in solving some of the most pressing social challenges in both developed and developing countries. They do so by applying entrepreneurial thinking to create cultural products and services, by balancing the organization’s mission with its profitability, by engaging with multiple stakeholders (i.e.: international organizations, government agencies, NGOs and grassroots organizations), by attracting funds from donors and investors, by measuring and communicating their impacts. On this basis, this course enables students to gain knowledge about cultural and social entrepreneurship and hands-on experience when developing social and cultural venture plans within teams.

The course is divided in three parts: 

1. A short journey in cultural entrepreneurship 

In this module students will learn what is cultural entrepreneurship, how to assess social problems and find creative solutions for them, how to conceive a social venture plan and the business model behind it, how to define key metrics – both financial and social – to monitor performances. 

2. Attracting capital and fundraising 

In this module students will learn how to attract money from donors and investors. We will explore some advanced topics in fundraising with the aim of highlighting best practices in attracting gifts from corporations, public and private grant makers, major donors. We will also explore new impact investing techniques which rely on the capacity of entrepreneurs of creating impact as well as generating revenues. 

3. Developing your cultural venture plan.

In this module students will apply their knowledge and they will challenge themselves as cultural entrepreneurs. Their task will be to develop a cultural venture plan.  

• Describe cultural entrepreneurship and the characteristics of cultural entrepreneurs;
• Understand the skills needed and the challenges faced by cultural entrepreneurs;
• Identify the main techniques that cultural entrepreneurs use to attract funds and generate revenues.

• Demonstrate skills of system and design thinking for social innovation
• Use the business model canvas
• Develop, write, and present a social/cultural project proposal and venture plan
• Work collaboratively in teams

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments

The course has an applied approach: students will have the opportunity to discuss case and experiences, meet cultural entrepreneurs, to engage with professionals and policy makers in the field. Due to this teaching methodology, heavily based on interaction and class discussion and participation, attending is strongly recommended.

With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, attending students’

assessment is based on two main components:

1. Group project  (50% of the final grade) aimed to test the students’ ability to apply knowledge accrued during the course

2. In class quizzes  (50% of the final grade)  consisting of exercises and open questions aimed to assess students’ understanding of the topics discussed in class and in the readings

Students’ assessment will be based on the written exam to assess students’ understanding of the topics discussed in the readings.

• Slides uploaded on the Bboard platform.
• Selected readings  available on the Online Course Reserve.

• MacMillan, I. C., & Thompson, J. D. (2013). The social entrepreneur's playbook, expanded edition: pressure test, plan, launch and scale your social enterprise. University of Pennsylvania Press. ALL
• Yunus, M. (2010). Building social business: The new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs. PublicAffairs.ALL
• Pecoraro F., Turrini, A. , Volpe, M. (2023) Fundraising for the Arts (extracts), EGEA