From Ideas to Concrete Projects

Gerhard Kowař

Implementing Strategies at KulturKontakt Austria

This issue of our magazine focuses on future concepts for education and culture and their implementation. It stands to reason that the first place to start is with our own institution. In 2008, the Board of KulturKontakt Austria instructed the management to draw up proposals for a strategic reorientation of the organisation for the years 2010 – 2015. Now, just over two years later, the first results of this work are at hand.

Changed Framework Conditions in Educational and Cultural Policy

The dynamic changes taking place in cultural and educational policy in Europe and in Austria are described elsewhere in this magazine in the articles dealing with systemic issues of the future. What ought to be mentioned here is that, as a learning organisation, KKA has to stand the test of time and offer suitable programmes in the context of these processes of change. The willingness of our organisation to develop in response to the challenges presented by such changes requires periodic pauses for reflection in order to break out of our necessary, but also beguiling, everyday routines and gain fresh perspectives. The strategic reorientation of the organisation has been not only a necessity, but also a regular practice over the years.

Strategic Perspectives

The current activities of KulturKontakt Austria are based on several strategic objectives, which were discussed in the 2009 autumn issue of this magazine. Now it is time to present the results of the work processes.
The heart of our strategy is the further development of flexibility and innovativeness as a learning organisation. As in all organisations, this grows, first and foremost, out of the creative potential of the staff and is based on appropriate organisational provisions. The appointment of a secretary general in 2008 created more scope for detail work by the management. In addition, a small unit devoted to programme development in the institution as a whole was established in order to strengthen KKA’s general programmatic competence. The central focus, however, has been on designing a sustainable personnel development concept, which was presented in the first half of 2010. The concept was developed by a focus group in consultation with the works council. Now that the personnel development concept has come into effect and the first steps in its implementation have been taken place in the autumn of 2010, an important connection has been created between the strategic objectives presented by the Board, the competences required of the organisation for their realisation and the resulting future-oriented projects.
KulturKontakt Austria’s focus on diversity, participation and sustainable development is an essential element of an organisation working towards the realisation of equal access to education and culture for all. In light of the organisation’s overall social responsibility, it was important to ask the basic question of whether the existing programmes measured up to this ambition. Here the concept of managing diversity proved highly useful as a way of examining the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation in a screening process. The resulting analysis served as a basis for decisions on necessary structural measures. In this respect, the acquisition of necessary know-how, the development of a tailor-made concept and the integration of KKA into existing networks of large Austrian and international organisations were just as important to us as specific implementation in project work. The first programmes to be developed, for example the support of diversity-promoting cultural education at Austrian Federal Museums, or dealing with diversity in the field of bilateral cooperation on further teacher training in Russia and Romania, are proving successful.
The importance of an ongoing network with Austrian and European partners in order to create synergies through cooperation has always been a central concern at KKA. The new concept for kulturkontakt Magazine (launched in the summer of 2009) and the relaunch of the KKA website as a networked medium (planned for the winter of 2010) were initiated in order to position KKA’s work more strongly vis-à-vis its partners. The reactions of our partners have been encouraging. In a networking project at EU level, KKA is developing modules for the training of artists working as cultural educators in schools. Thus, KKA is not only contributing its longtime experience but also integrating its network of artists in South Eastern Europe in the context of an international consortium.
KKA has become involved in new, forward-looking issues and has consolidated relevant activities in each area: a revitalisation of the discussion on corporate cultural responsibility in Austria, support of closer cooperation between schools and cultural institutions, and the commencement of intensive collaboration with the universities of education in the area of further training for teachers are just a few examples. The new emphasis on Turkey in the departments of Cultural Cooperation + Arts Sponsorship and Educational Cooperation is enabling us to focus more intensively on the targeted reciprocity between the organisation’s work in Austria and abroad. There is great potential for development in this respect.

Concluding Remarks:

Sometimes, when I am asked how KKA is progressing with the realisation of its strategic objectives in everyday practice, I notice a slight undertone of scepticism, the implicit reservation being: “A lot of things look good on paper, but the proof is in the pudding.” The difficulties of innovative practice do not lie in the ideas and proposals, but above all in their institutional implementation. For this reason, let me take this opportunity to express my special thanks to the staff of KKA, who are participating in creative processes of change with a well-developed sense of responsibility and commitment – and at the same time are continuing to accomplish their daily work successfully. We all know that there is still much more to be done.