Women in public cultural organizations and their professional paths strategies : a rhizomatic approach

The aim of this article is to explore the rhizomatic nature of the professional development strategies used by the female workforce of public cultural organizations. The research problem of this study are (1) the challenges of women who work in public cultural organizations and (2) ways of dealing with them by women. The empirical material was collected between January 2021 and January 2022 through 20 in-depth interviews with female managers of public cultural organizations in Poland. The findings are presented in three sections: (1) specificity of work in culture, (2) twists and configurations on the way to grow, and (3) communities. In this way, it was possible to capture the specific strategies used by the female workforce for the development of their professional paths. To illustrate the complexity of these strategies, the concept of Rhizome—a root structure that grows in unpredictable and manifold directions—developed by Deleuze and Guattari was used. It also highlighted the fact that the professional development strategies used by women develop in a strong relationship with their environment and constantly evolve according to the needs of the women who decide to undertake them. The results of the research illustrate the impact of the far-reaching gendered nature of work in cultural organizations on the professional development of women in this sector. Moreover, this reveals that to achieve their professional ambitions, women in cultural organizations co-create complex informal organizational constructs, rhizome-like in structure, which help women cope with the challenges that arise along their professional paths. These findings contribute to the theory of gendered organizations and the knowledge of gender inequality in cultural organizations

The professional paths development in Polish cultural organizations from female perspective

The last decades have been characterized by numerous changes in the functioning of the organizations. One of them concerns the understanding of the organizational roles of women who, initially identified with lower administrative staff, began to use specialist and managerial positions more and more often and more effectively. Despite what numerous studies have highlighted the increase in the participation of women in leadership positions in organizations is still slow, even in sectors with high feminization rates. This paper focuses on one of the most feminized organizations in the economy – public cultural organizations. On the one hand, they are perceived as traditional, stiff, boring, and by some, even unnecessary organizations. On the other hand, people perceive them as progressive, inspiring, and extremely important from the viewpoint of broadly understood social development and thus consider them as ‘friendly’ for marginalized groups, including women. This paper presents the findings of a research conducted between January 2021 and April 2022 among cultural workers in Poland. The research was based on a survey among 512 public cultural organizations and 20 biographic interviews with female managers working in various cultural organizations in Poland. The purpose of this research was to map the organizational environment of Polish cultural and arts managers. The study provided rich empirical material documenting the impact of the far-reaching gendered nature of work in public cultural organizations, which influences the professional development of women in these workplaces. Additionally, and what makes Polish case interesting to study, is the context of the research. As proven by this study, although, previously functioning in Poland socialist system, supported the professional activization of women, the transformation period 1989 significantly slowed down those processes and consequently in some sectors of economy even deepened existing inequalities. Public cultural organizations, according to participants of those studies, are its example. The findings presented in this paper broaden the knowledge about both gender inequality in cultural industries and theory of gendered organizations. The main contribution of the study revealed career development challenges for women working in public cultural organizations

To what extent is the heritage management system in Poland really participatory?

The participatory approach towards management seems to be adopted, to a certain extent, in different spheres of public space, including heritage management. The experts seem to believe that the participation of stakeholders in each phase of a proposed project’s development will assist in building trust and confidence between the affected community and local government authority and will encourage community participation in future phases of the project. As a consequence, it will also help to satisfy the expectations of different groups of interest and in a longer perspective facilitate the sustainable development of a region. The aim of this article is to provide a critical reflection on the contemporary Polish cultural heritage management system as seen from the perspective of active citizens as well as on the role of local communities in this system. Attention is also paid to the relationships that exist between the social and public sector in heritage management processes

Cultural heritage as a shared resource : the role of collaboration between stakeholders in cultural heritage management

A particularly important issue in the context of cultural heritage management is currently the question of sustainable development, in which cultural heritage objects are analyzed in terms of their economic, social and cultural values. Most accepted perspective in the current discussions focuses on the formulation and implementation of cultural policies. While on the other hand much less space is given to local communities, their needs and expectations in relation to the available resources of cultural heritage. In this text I will discuss the issue of the functioning of various objects of cultural heritage within local communities and management of those objects at the local level. Particular emphasis will be placed on the issue of multiplicity of cultural heritage stakeholders and interactions between them

The phenomenon of women in managerial positions in public cultural institutions

The purpose of this paper was to explore the organisation of a support system for the professional development of women in public cultural institutions. The deliberations in this paper are based on qualitative research. The research included biographical interviews with ten women who currently work in managerial positions in public cultural institutions in Poland. This research strategy made it possible to get to know the experiences of women who reached managerial positions in their professional career in culture and to attempt an explanation of the observed phenomena as they are seen by people who were part of the system. Research has shown that the support system for the professional development of women in public cultural institutions seems to be largely based on informal solutions initiated within the personal support networks of women who are part of the system, its foundation being interpersonal relations. The main contribution of the paper is the interesting dataset gathered. Moreover, the proposed rhizome metaphor enriches the field of organizational research by suggesting new ideas that contribute to expanding on how we can see and perceive the complexity and variation in organizational phenomena of women in leadership positions and therefore opening up new interpretations and directions

Kulturowe i filozoficzne aspekty dziedzictwa kulturowego historycznego krajobrazu, parków i ogrodów

CULTURAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF HISTORICAL LANDSCAPES, PARKS AND GARDENS This article treats of parks and gardens as carriers of culture and philosophy. For thousands of years, a garden has been looked upon as an inseparable element of a human abode which bears in itself a testimony to the human development and way of life. Unfortunately the awareness of the role of gardens is currently perceived mainly by specialists from this field, and as a result of this, gardens are being shifted to the margin of issues for the promotion of cultural heritage. The aim of this text is to present some sociological and philosophical aspects of cultural heritage of parks and gardens. Such an approach to the topic allows one to perceive the special dimension of the cultural heritage of gardens, whose extraordinary character can be noticed only once it is understood what the art of gardening consists in

Ecology of heritage : introduction to the research problem

W niniejszym artykule została podjęta próba zaproponowania nowego spojrzenia na dziedzictwo kulturowe z perspektywy koncepcji ekologicznych. Na podstawie bogatej literatury przedmiotu oraz posiłkując się wnioskami z dotychczasowych badań własnych, autorka stara się na nowo zrozumieć fenomen dziedzictwa. W sposób szczególny zostały w tekście wyeksponowane te aspekty dziedzictwa oraz jego otoczenia, które zdaniem autorki stanowią o wyjątkowości tego zasobu dla budowania zrównoważonego rozwoju lokalnego.In this article the author has tried to propose a new approach to cultural heritage from the perspective of ecological concepts. The author, based on a rich literature and conclusions of her previous research, is trying to understand the phenomenon of heritage anew. In a special way within the text were exposed these aspects of heritage and its environment, which according to the author constitute the uniqueness of this resource for building a sustainable local development

Dziedzictwo kulturowe jako zasób wspólny. Rola współpracy między interesariuszami w zarządzaniu dziedzictwem kulturowym

Cultural heritage as a common resource. The role of collaboration between stakeholders in the management of cultural heritageCurrently, a particularly important issue in the context of cultural heritage management is the question of sustainable development, in which cultural heritage objects are analyzed in terms of their economic, social and cultural values. The most accepted perspective in the current discussions focuses on the formulation and implementation of cultural policies, while, on the other hand, much less space is given to local communities, their needs and expectations in relation to available resources of cultural heritage. In this text I will discuss the issue of functioning of various objects of cultural heritage within local communities and the management of those objects at the local level. A particular emphasis will be placed on the issue of multiplicity of cultural heritage stakeholders and the interactions between them

E-dziedzictwo – potencjał cyfryzacji w zakresie zachowania ciągłości przekazu niematerialnego dziedzictwa kulturowego

E-heritage – the potential of digitization for the continuity of transmission of intan gible cultural heritageFor centuries, the cultural heritage of many generations has not always been appreciated and the access to it was limited. Many cultural goods, especially those intangible ones, were lost forever. Today, we live in an age of digital revolution. Modern IT solutions not only make it possible to preserve the achievements of generations, but also enable their wide dissemination. This is creates an opportunity to save numerous places from oblivion as well as a chance for the virtual reconstruction of historic monuments. It also allows one to preserve written works, photographs, oral history, traditions, or music. These possibilities are more and more often used by museums, which are starting to digitize their collections in order to protect and increase the availability of cultural heritage resources. This phenomenon of ever-increasing presence of museums on the Internet is referred to as cybermuseology. However, in the context of the more and more dynamic development of digital cultural resources and the growing fascination thereof, the question arises as to whether one can use the IC technology to fully present the intangible heritage without losing its cultural content and whether it is possible to retain the traditions, customs, rituals, cultural practices and human experience in a digital form. The following paper will present both opportunities and threats which digitizing carries for the intangible cultural heritage resources. The author’s reflections will be complemented by the analysis of the selected projects concerning the creation of virtual resources of intangible culture in the educational, archiving and promotional aspect

The role of trust in sustainable heritage management networks : case study of selected cultural routes in Poland

Currently, the most common way of managing cultural heritage in a sustainable manner takes the form of cultural routes. The phenomenon of cultural routes mainly results from their innovative organisation, different from the previously adopted institutionalised and formalised heritage management structure that did not align with the contemporary discourse around cultural heritage, which currently constitutes one of the bases of sustainable development. The novel idea focuses on the active involvement of many diverse entities in heritage management: not only public sector organisations with their statutory appointment for this purpose, but, first and foremost, entrepreneurs who create heritage products, tourists visiting sites on the route, or people who create this heritage. Thus, the cultural route acquires the characteristics of a network-points (nodes) that are shaped depending on the needs of the region and its inhabitants, their knowledge, experience, current ideas about a given place, and the way in which specific communities would like to be perceived. The undertaken research problem explores what features cultural route networks have and how they are managed, as well as what values, including trust, are manifested in the mutual relations of route-related entities. An original concept of shaping trust within the network of cultural routes has also been proposed based on the research results