Die Anmeldung endete am 07.4.2026 um 23:59 Uhr

This is a bi-weekly postgraduate seminar that provides a brief overview of cultural entrepreneurship and introduces students to the case study of the Edinburgh Festival to gain a deeper, hands-on understanding of creating and legitimizing cultural organizations. Festivals have become common world-wide. The 2015 UNESCO report stated that Germany hosted 240 festivals, France approximately 1000, Spain 700 and Italy 200. Not all festivals are the same – they range from dramatic arts and cinema to the visual arts and music. Moreover, some festivals focus on one theme (e.g., music) whereas others, including our case study of the Edinburgh Festival, are composed of several different disciplines. The importance of festivals is not only their economic impact but also their role in giving a sense of identity, shared value and belonging, in preventing exclusion. Given these important social and economic effects, it is not surprising that the UNESCO report calls for more research into understanding how festivals can be successfully structured and designed. The Edinburgh Festival, is the world’s largest arts festival and has a 76-year history. In 2019, 4.9 million people attended festival shows, generating £313 million in revenue. Edinburgh has been internationally acclaimed as an exemplary festival city. We will explore the phenomenon of the Edinburgh Festival in detail, discuss learnings and critical aspects to its organization.

Theoretically, we will focus on cultural entrepreneurship as an active and fast developing area of research in the social sciences, with challenges and opportunities for organizations as well as society. This course aims to give students an overview of cultural entrepreneurship with real life application by diving into the case of the Edinburgh Festival. Students are encouraged to apply theoretical and empirical ideas to their own life. Each introduced idea should be examined with the following questions in mind: How do I understand the topic for myself? How does it matter for my own life and my studies/future jobs? What is/are the overarching question(s) with which the idea is concerned? What are the key concepts? What are the assumptions about causal forces? How far is the empirical evidence convincing? A sub theme that you should consider is why some ideas seem to convince you more than others. That is, pay attention to the crafting and composition of ideas from YouTube videos to academic papers. Lastly, this course is about reflecting on your experiences and to formulate your own research questions and perspectives.

The Master’s Program has three learning goals: (1) Acquiring advanced knowledge; (2) Creating knowledge; and (3) Preparing students for research and industry. This seminar primarily helps students acquire advanced knowledge by introducing them to central topics in cultural entrepreneurship. This seminar secondarily helps students create knowledge by developing their skills for solving challenges in theoretical and practical ways and provide students with insides into potential future areas of interest.

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