Archive for: ROADS TO MANAGEMENT IN CULTURE – THROUGH EDUCATION TO PROFESSION

Participatory agenda in arts and culture represents a cutting-edge issue in the discourse of cultural policy. It has been seen as one which could fulfil the widening gap between the promise and failure of cultural democracy and influence democratic deficiencies that culture is facing. This paper focuses on clarification of the term participation and participatory governance in culture from its theoretical origin to its articulations and interpretations in the field of culture specifically. Methodologically, the paper builds on the analysis of literature and policy framework. In the literature analysis of the diverse conceptualisations of the participation in the field of culture, most specifically, participation in the sense of power devolution, the paper explores the repository of work by Milena Dragićević-Šešić and her contributions to the theoretical framework of the participation discussion. These contributions unravel the legacies and understandings of participation and participatory governance in culture and cultural policy from the perspective of (post)transitional context and countries in development.

The main goal of this paper is to point out the power of the alternative and independent theatre in changing society, based on the scientific research of prof. dr Milena Dragićević – Šešić. The first part of the paper offers deliberations on the theories of reflection and shaping of Victoria de Alexander, according to which art and theatre always reflect social events. In the second part of the paper, we will analyse the work of independent theatre troupes (Dah teatar, Mim Art.) during the nineties, and their resistance to the regime of Slobodan Milošević – a significant contribution to the struggle for freedom of thought and the right of every human being to take to the streets freely. And the streets were indeed cordoned by police during the student and civil protests. This paper wants to point out the importance of the applied theatre for spreading of culture and the influence of the theatre on the audiences. The work was written based on the sociological theories of art of Victoria de Alexander, the theory of applied theatre by August Boal, and also the studies of dr Milena Dragićević Šešić: Art and Alternative, Culture of Resistance and Indian Theatre.

The paper is dedicated to the work and research of prof. dr Milena Dragićević Šešić in the field of cultural heritage and memory studies. The paper analyses the key questions, topics and problems dealt within the work of Dragićević Šešić, contextualising them in relation to the broader socio-political transitions, as well as in relation to the international academic trends in the field of cultural heritage, cultural memory and cultures of resistance. The core research interest of Dragićević Šešić is linked with the critique of ethno-national politics of memory, marginalised and dissonant layers of heritage, heritage and memory of the marginalised groups within patriarchal nationalistic models of heritage, as well as to counter-cultural memorial practices of artistic collectives, lesser known artists and civil society organisations. By analysing the work of Dragićević Šešić in the field of cultural heritage it becomes obvious that the very core of her work is a particular kind of engaged scholarship and academic activism dedicated to non-authorised heritage discourses and memory politics, triggered on the one hand by the socio-political crises of the dissolution of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, and on the other hand by the engagement with contemporary socially relevant scholarship trends.