The Summer School ADESTE+ is aimed to culture professionals, organisations, institutions and cultural policy makers that will gather at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon for five days to work on audience development and reflect upon strategic guidelines for cultural policies that will face new challenges. During a whole week, this summer school will offer a wide variety of workshops, labs, debates and lectures to hundreds of speakers and professional of all over Europe in a unique opportunity to exchange ideas in an inspiring atmosphere.

On 25 and 26 September the international conference “Empowering audiences, reimagining culture” will discuss the most recent challenges and perspectives on cultural participation in contemporary society. The challenge on the first day involves grasping how the participation paradigm is changing culture. Beyond the presentation of case studies, the public gains the chance to listen to Mercedes Giovinazzo, a master’s degree holder in Arts Management who has worked at institutions such as the Council of Europe and the Universal Forum of Cultures, speak about the importance of public participation in cultural activities.

On the second day, the theme expands to developments ongoing in audiences and their influence on democracy. Wayne Modest, curator and head of the Research Center of Material Culture, brings a heated issue to the table in a speech he entitled “Perpetual return or on being included: again, and again and again…”.

The Lisbon ADESTE+ Summer School is the first in a cycle of three ongoing to 2021 within the framework of the ADESTE+ project of which the Gulbenkian Foundation is a participant member.

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