Trust and Cultural Governance

Abstract

What is the role of governance in the cultural sector? Is governance simply a tool for measurement or can it prove to be a mechanism for support and dialogue? Evidence gathered from our empirical global study of 2017, indicates that most cultural governance approaches remain relatively crude and general and are only partially adapted to the local situation. We elaborate this claim through a careful and systematic examination of a theoretical diagram (Figure 1), which summarises the evolution of cultural governance through evidence collected from nine different geographical locations (across five continents). How governance can develop (we suggest, away from control and towards one of support and dialogue) depends upon a number of factors. These factors include attributes of confidence, cooperation, appreciating a variety of tangible and intangible features, and most importantly, institutional trust. Institutional trust should be understood as being different to the more widely discussed notion of interpersonal trust and furthermore, our understandings are further complicated by the broader cultural and political context of a country. With this article we want to claim that institutional trust is an important factor (or even condition) in the development of an effective cultural governance process.