News > 2013 > A UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management at HEC Montréal

A UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management at HEC Montréal

May 10, 2013

HEC Montréal and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO officially announced the creation of the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management at the Leadership Nouveau event held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York today. Myriam Montrat, Secretary General of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, HEC Montréal Director Michel Patry, and François Colbert, holder of the new UNESCO Chair, were all on hand for the presentation of the new Chair’s goals. It will be offering arts management programs for southern hemisphere countries.

“HEC Montréal has a worldwide reputation in the field of cultural management,” explains François Colbert, who also holds the Carmelle and Rémi Marcoux Chair in Arts Management. “The School aims to train cultural managers in best practices in management and this new Chair will allow us to share our skills and knowledge even more widely around the globe.”

Some twenty professors are associated with the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management. Its objectives are:

UNESCO sees international Intellectual cooperation as a powerful force for lasting peace. Since its creation, UNESCO has encouraged opportunities for dialogue among academics who now belong to a multitude of international networks. The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs program was conceived as a way to advance research, training and program development in all of UNESCO’s fields of competence by building networks and encouraging international cooperation through the transfer of knowledge across borders.

“Managers in the arts and culture field come to HEC Montréal for advanced training, based on current practice and responding to their expectations,” explains Michel Patry. “We already have several students in our PhD in Administration program from Latin America, Asia and Europe who are particularly interested in the management of cultural organizations. I am pleased to say that the announcement of this new UNESCO Chair confirms the relevance of this kind of training.”

The UNESCO Chair in Cultural Management plans to work with university institutions in various countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa: the School of Management at Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia, the Urban Research Plaza at Osaka City University, Japan, and the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, ISCTE, in Lisbon, Portugal.

About UNESCO and the Commission
UNESCO (United Nations Educational Social and Cultural Organization) works to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples, based upon respect for commonly shared values. The mandate of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO can be summarized as advisory and consultative, providing liaison and coordination with respect to UNESCO programme activities in Canada, and as Canada’s contribution to UNESCO’s worldwide work. The Commission is an independent division within the Canada Council for the Arts.