Cultural Project Management course

The "Direction de projets culturels" (DPC) course is one of the oldest of the university diplomas dedicated to cultural professions that appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, to promote the professionalization of facility and event management in a variety of fields. They were also a response to the growing interest of many students in the professions that had gradually developed around artistic activities. The DPC program takes two forms: initial training (the "Métiers de la culture" option, within Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA), over two years, and continuing education (the "Cadres culturels territoriaux" option, in partnership with the Observatoire des politiques culturelles).

At a glance

Admission

Competition

Language

French

Terms and conditions

Face-to-face

Description
Program
Skills
Job opportunities
Contact
Further information

Description

The DPC course is designed to train cultural public policy players, working directly or indirectly on behalf of public authorities, or in institutions and organizations working with the State or local authorities on sectoral or cross-sectoral cultural issues. The aim is to train managers capable of thinking about, and even implementing, public actions that enable public authorities and institutions to respond appropriately to new challenges, in line with the major changes that have taken place in contemporary societies' relationship with culture. While cultural democratization has long held a virtual monopoly on the legitimization of public intervention in this field, it is no longer the sole frame of reference. The preservation of cultural diversity, the attractiveness and dynamism of territories, support for cultural industries, the recognition of cultural rights, the challenges of ecological and social transition, artistic and cultural education and mediation are other legitimate aims today, and are all themes addressed in the course.

The Cultural Project Management (CPM) course is open to continuing education students:

● With the "Métiers de la culture" option: This option corresponds to a traditional university curriculum. Learners are integrated into a class of students in initial training, and follow the two years (or the final year only) of the 2nd cycle of the Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA Diploma in the usual university timetable, with no special timetable for continuing education students.

● With the "Cadres culturels territoriaux" option: This program is offered in partnership between Sciences Po Grenoble and the Observatoire des politiques culturels, on a sandwich course compatible with professional activity. It is aimed at continuing education students with solid experience in cultural professions. Students join the program in the 5th year of their degree. The course comprises 12 one-week sessions spread over two years.

Find out more on the Observatoire des politiques culturelles website: https: //www.observatoire-culture.net/formation/master-direction-projets-culturels/

Next recruitment for the CPD course - "Territorial cultural managers" option : spring/summer 2025 for a start in January 2026.

Program

The second semester of the first year of the program (Cultural Professions option at IEP Grenoble) is dedicated to an internship in a local government or private cultural organization in France or abroad, or to writing a university dissertation. The internship in a cultural organization or company in France or abroad gives rise to a report.

The second semester of the second year is dedicated to a compulsory end-of-studies internship in a cultural organization or administration in France or abroad. This internship leads to the writing of a professional thesis.

Skills

The aim of the Cultural Project Management program is to enable students to develop key professional activities over the course of their training. A set of skills is associated with each activity. The skills repository sets out in an orderly fashion the steps required to successfully carry out the activity.

Reference lists of activities and skills targeted by the training program.

1. Analysis of local cultural policies

Skills repository

● Give a synthetic representation of a cultural policy by mobilizing public action analysis tools;
● Build a structured and synthetic representation of multi-level governance within a territory;
● Build a structured and synthetic representation of cultural perspectives on a territory, constraints and resources;
● Build a structured and synthetic representation of an individual professional situation.

Skills block associated with the activity: RNCP34024BC01 - Conduct a reflective and distanced analysis, taking into account the complexity of a request or situation

2. Express thoughts clearly and concisely in a professional cultural context, both orally and in writing, in French and English.

Skills repository

● Writing and sourcing a written argument for a cultural project ;

● Communicate in English on cultural themes ;

● Give a structured, synthetic oral presentation of a personal reflection on a cultural policy or project.

Skills block associated with the activity: RNCP34024BC02 - Express your thoughts clearly and concisely in writing and orally, in French and English

3. Adapt working methods and tools to the cultural and political context of the region

Skills repository

● Gather, using social science methods, the decisive data on a territorial context (economic, social, political, cultural);

● Identify the elements of adjustment or maladjustment of a cultural project to a territorial context. Make recommendations accordingly;

● Identify the elements of a context likely to undergo decisive changes in terms of cultural policies;

● Analyze the demands and political will for culture in a given territory;

● Propose and build tools adapted to the demands and political will in cultural matters on a given territory.

Skills block associated with the activity: RNCP34024BC03 - Organize work according to context and demand

4. Analyze the management of a cultural policy project

Skills repository

● Analyze the financing and/or economic model of a cultural project, drawing on specialized knowledge;

● Setting a cultural project in the context of changes in public action (decentralization, Europeanization, transition);

● Setting a cultural project in the context of changes in public cultural action;

● Analyze the performance and limits of multi-level cultural governance.

Skills blocks associated with the activity : RNCP34024BC04 - Managing a project

5. Develop a collaborative working framework for a cultural policy or project

Skills repository

● Mobilize oral and written listening and argumentation skills;

● Identify the cross-disciplinary (inter- and trans-sectoral) dimensions of a cultural project;

● Identify the resources and partners to call upon and the conditions for mobilizing them;

● Communicate with all partners about collaborative working methods;

● Deploy collaborative working methods within a department [Only for FC].

Skills block associated with the activity: RNCP34024BC05 - Working in a collaborative environment.

Job opportunities

Various positions and functions with public authorities or institutions and organizations in the cultural sector in the broadest sense:

Director of cultural affairs in a local authority; attaché in a cultural department, project manager in a regional or departmental cultural agency, cultural advisor to an elected representative, cultural officer in a decentralized international cooperation department, officer in charge of European cultural funding, etc.

But also : administrator, general secretary of a cultural organization; or project manager in a dance or theater company or a cultural enterprise, cultural development officer, heritage officer, manager of a heritage facility or site...