Cultural Management Education in Ecuador. Cultural Manager Profile: La formación en Gestión Cultural en el Ecuador. Perfil del Gestor Cultural

Abstract

The purpose of this text is to conduct a general analysis of the academic training of cultural managers in Ecuador in educational institutions of Higher Education. In working life, many of the cultural managers did not obtain a diploma endorsed by an IES; because the training programs are new and because other professionals from careers in the related social sciences deal with cultural management, promoting the practice of empirical self-education. Training in cultural management in Latin America had a clear influence from Spain, where international organizations, public institutions and private organizations promoted educational models and Cultural Management programs, which resulted in a training model for a "type profile" of the cultural manager. In Ecuador, some higher education institutions have developed training programs; however, there is still a long way to go in the professionalization of managers in charge of cultural policies and institutions, even more so if entrepreneurship and the development of cultural industries are considered. The challenge of this study involves analyzing the academic offer of the programs, since, after the effervescence of the programs, it is important to identify whether these programs were proposed based on an analysis of the reality of cultural management in the country and the training needs of local managers.