Dr. Biljana Tanurovska Kjulavkovski wins the 2019 ENCATC Research Award
On 3 October in Dijon, France, ENCATC, the leading European network on cultural management and policy, announced Dr. Biljana Tanurovska Kjulavkovski is the 2019 winner of the ENCATC Research Award on Cultural Policy and Cultural Management for her doctoral thesis “Theory of institutions and cultural policies for contemporary performative practices” obtained from the University of Arts in Belgrade, Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Serbia.
The 2019 Award winner was revealed at the official ENCATC Research Award Ceremony held at the Burgundy School of Business during the 27th ENCATC Congress “Diversity and sustainability at work. Policies and practices from culture and education.”
A global audience of leading academics and renowned researchers, policy makers, cultural operators, and artists were joined by representatives from UNESCO and the French Ministry of Culture, for the Ceremony of the only international Award recognizing excellence in cultural policy and cultural management research.
Speaking on behalf of the Award’s International Jury, Francesca Imperiale, President of ENCATC said: “The topic of institutions is a central concept in the context of cultural policies. This research provides valuable knowledge about institutions in the cultural sector. Furthermore, the concept of post-institution applied to Biennale or Museums to explain the New Public Management, where ‘the role of the managers, programmers in culture, or the professions managing the programmes and structures in arts and culture, gets new highlighted values, or characteristics’, it’s an original contribution. The New Institutionalism as a proposition to redefine the contemporary art institution, constitutes a very important reflection about the establishment of new and different cultural policies for the sector.”
The winner, Dr. Biljana Tanurovska Kjulavkovski expressed her deep gratitude for the ENCATC Award’s prestigious international recognition: “I would like to thank ENCATC and the Research Award’s international jury for this great honour. My gratitude also goes to my PhD mentor, Professor Milena Dragićević Šešić. I believe that besides scholars dealing with issues concerning the notions of institution in culture, cultural policy, governance, contemporary dance and performance, diverse communities of practitioners, researchers, cultural workers and artists can also find interest in this interdisciplinary research which includes strategies, tactics, case studies, artistic, curatorial practices and theoretical propositions.”
On this occasion, ENCATC was honoured to have Louise Haxthausen, Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office in Brussels and UNESCO Representative to the European Union announce the winner. To follow will be the winner’s doctoral thesis published in the ENCATC Book Series on Cultural Management and Cultural Policy Education by the international publishing house, PIE Peter Lang.
“This year I consider that the selection process was very interesting. The six doctoral theses have an outstanding level of quality. They are also remarkable contributions to Arts Management and Cultural Policy. I was impressed by the capacity of the network to attract interest and talents from so many different countries: Brazil, Finland, North Macedonia, and Switzerland. This clearly shows the trend of the network becoming an international arena for emerging and confirmed researchers.” said ENCATC Secretary General, GiannaLia Cogliandro Beyens.
Alongside the 2019 winner, the finalists were applauded for their relevant contributions to the field of cultural management and policy research: Dr. Annatina Aerne, for her doctoral thesis: “The Creation of a Public Sphere through a Network of Art Publics in Bogotá” obtained from the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland; Dr. Karla Nunes Penna, doctoral thesis:“A critical autoethnographic study of context-related influences on cultural heritage preservation education of World Heritage sites in Northeastern Brazil” obtained from Murdoch University in Australia; and Dr. Minna Ruusuvirta, doctoral thesis: “Does sector matter? Plural characteristics and logics in third sector festival organisations” obtained from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.
Launched in 2014, the ENCATC Award exists to stimulate academic research in the field of cultural policy and management, to explore contemporary issues at stake and possibly anticipate new cultural policy orientations through comparative and cross-cultural research. Moreover, it contributes to the process of creating an infrastructure, a network of researchers who are doing comparative research projects in cultural policy and management issues. The Award also has the generous support from the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.