Module 4

Unit 4.1

Project Management & Cultural Perspectives

Part I Introduction Module 

University of Malta
Institute for Tourism, Travel & Culture

Project management: an introduction

  • Management of projects
  • An introduction to management of projects from a creative perspective
  • Blue economy tourism from a cultural perspective
  • Production aspects in close conjunction with the arts
  • A look at territorial development as a means of enabling social interaction with a focus on cultural routes

Main references

Theatre management: models and strategies for cultural values (2018) Lluís Bonet, Héctor Schargorodsky

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The Phoenician Cultural Route as a Framework for Intercultural Dialogue in Today’s Mediterranean: a Focus on Malta (2020), Marie Avellino, Karsten Xuereb

more info

Beyond the Blue Economy. Creative Industries and Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States, Peter Rudge (2021)

more info

Important, constitutive elements, of institutions

-Juridical form conditions the governance of an institution

Governance:
– The relations and forms of exercising power
– Representativeness
– The systems of control
– The systems of participation
– Internally
– Externally

General institutional principles

  • Reference will be made to general institutional principles and structures inspired by, and taken from, the field of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), particularly those relating the arts to tourism, and applied to general contexts that may include those related to the blue economy tourism sector.
  • In the light of recent publications, some of which are referred to at the beginning of these slides, and current debate, links between the creative sectors and the blue economy are being sought in order to learn lessons, apply them cross-sectorially, and build synergies and consensus towards the maximisation of best practice.

Governance and administrative structures and levels

The circles of governing and management roles

Project management pyramid

An example of creative governing & management structure

  1. An introduction to management of projects

The main job and duty of the management (strategic) of a cultural / tourism organisation consists of the following:

-Understanding the vision, by

-Interpreting the mission, by

-Outlining the objectives

-And delivering them through clear strategies

The management needs to transform the mandate received – contained in the vision, expressed in the mission and sustained by the values – into a comprehensive management project.

Components of management: the project strands

From the perspective of cultural events and tourism, such a management strategy (strategic because oriented towards delivery) focuses on three interdependent strands of the project:
The creative project
-The production project
-The territorial project

More about the 3 project management strands

The creative project: this defines the aspects related to the programming on offer

The production project: this area and the team related are responsible for the technical, logistic and constructive aspects and other programmed activities

The territorial project: the territorial development project links the cultural organisation with the different ‘territories’, or camps, or areas of interest and markets, be they spatial, virtual or social, related to the place/s where it is located. This includes work with the community/ies (e.g. in agrotourism), tourism agents, park managers, itinerary developers, investors & other stakeholders (including accommodation & restoration, & transport / travel / adventure / exploration / crafts / experiential service providers) as well as any artistic collectives & educators.

E.g. Meraki, Greece: art journey

A project is…

One way of defining a project is by saying that:

A project is a work plan or scheme that will guide a process through which an idea or set of ideas will materialise / put into action until they form a practical / tangible / concrete reality.

The development of a project consists of different phases, the successive and successful fulfilment of which, lead to completion.

Fuelling the project

These projects are fuelled by the mission and establish their strategies according to the orientation taken:

Social
Creative
Touristic
Profitability
Prestige
International dimension
Community
Other

Factors influencing the positioning of the project

The pressures and demands of the environments surrounding the project need to be taken into consideration:

Political
Professional
Socio-economic
Technological
Imaginary projected / reinforced / challenged to tourists / audiences

Tensions are inevitable, but so are synergies…

The logics inherent to each aspect / strand of the project (artistic, production, territorial) inevitably generate tensions between the different teams responsible. These stem from the ideological, technological, productive or relational realities therein.

However, they also allow meaningful synergies to develop that should be picked up on and nurtured.

A way of doing this is through enabling dialogue and coordination in a dual approach:
-Picking / separating the different factors
-Showing how they interrelate in a matrix of interaction of teams, project & functions

End of Unit 4.1

Module 3
Unit 4.2