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2023 ENCATC Academy on sustainable cultural management and policy

ENCATC ACADEMY. A holistic space to exchange, learn and thrive in sustainable change-making for culture


ENCATC is proud to launch the 2023 edition of the ENCATC Academy taking place in Santander (Spain) from 24-27 April. Focusing once more this year on sustainable cultural management and policy, this educational activity is the instrument by which ENCATC wishes to contribute to a climate-neutral and sustainable future. By enhancing knowledge, skills and competencies in the field of sustainable management and policy, by promoting exchanges, mutual learning and sharing of good practices, this 4-days educational program is designed for academics, researchers, artists, practitioners and policy makers from Europe and beyond. 

The principles at the roots of the Academy: educating, re-shaping, empowering 

The ENCATC Academy is the space for the cultural management and policy community to come together for learning and adopting a new behavior as a professional and as a citizen. In this sense, the Academy facilitates exchange and insight through some key pillars: educating and training those who will be teaching the future generation of cultural actors (training the trainers), empowering cultural managers and operators with new practices for their sustainability efforts, and equipping policy makers with new knowledge for developing new sustainable policies. 

The background of the Academy: ENCATC’s push for sustainability 

As an organization, ENCATC has embarked on a green path since 2011 by developing a Green Policy of its own, molding events to be compliant with sustainable goals, partnering with key players on the topic, and joining key initiatives, such as the Climate Heritage Network and its manifestos. 

But the collective dimension of any substantial action in the realm of sustainability cannot be overlooked. In this sense, the Academy was developed to allow and enact the mission of involving other actors in the efforts for climate resilience. For this reason, the Academy is open to all those who have stakes in the field and recognize the challenges ahead for cultural sustainability: uniting forces and collaborating are the way to achieve tangible, significant results.

A unique set of partners and a key location

By bringing together a rich community of education, research, practice and policy actors, the Academy covers the sector from all angles, ensuring a 360° view of issues and potential solutions. Furthermore, by teaming up with the most relevant stakeholders, Goldsmiths University, NEMO, Future for Religious Heritage and Julie’s Bicycle, ENCATC crafts a meaningful and impactful programme from different perspectives. 

What’s more, in 2023 the Academy will take place in Santander, a city thriving with actions towards sustainable principles and taking key strategic initiatives for culture and tourism. Santander is looking up to the new challenges that local communities face in terms of climate change, and it is eager to take on the goal of sustainability for its future planning. ENCATC offers participants the opportunity to contribute to the making of a long-lasting legacy for Santander’s cultural development.

 A legacy that stretches in time

The strength of the ENCATC Academy is that its legacy goes far beyond the days of the event itself. By stimulating peer learning, the exchange of practices and joint reflections on the challenges and their potential solutions, ENCATC sets the foundations for the groundwork that will be conducted later on by cultural institutions and individual professionals, enabling useful connections for further collaborations. This way, whoever joins the Academy will always leave not only with more knowledge than before, but also with a lot more potential for effective and successful initiatives. 

The Academy proposes itself as the dedicated place for the cultural management and policy community to come together to become a thriving force of change. For every new acquired skill or behavioral change, participants will be able to create impact and trigger colleagues, institutions and network of contacts to adopt green practices.