Master Cultuurwetenschappen Alumni Ervaringen

Discovering & shaping my interest in the cultural sector

“As a student in the Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship Master’s degree programme I had many enriching and memorable experiences that I will cherish for a lifetime. The programme provided me with valuable knowledge on theory and research in cultural economics and cultural entrepreneurship and offered me the freedom to apply this knowledge to my areas of interest within the cultural sector. I particularly enjoyed learning about the societal impact of culture and exploring this in applied research during my academic experience. This also helped me discover my interest in the relationship between culture and regional development, and the facilitating role of public policy in the process. It is worth mentioning that the curriculum was highly demanding, making the programme challenging and intense at times. Nonetheless, there was much support available at all stages of the learning process. Apart from academic knowledge, all programme activities and assignments helped me grow on a personal level, by helping me develop valuable interpersonal skills, shaping my interests and by exposing me to a beautiful and diverse community of students and teachers.”

From music creation to implementing the Commission’s public policies

“Since finishing my studies in July 2021, I was fortunate to gain valuable work experience in both the public and the private sectors. Shortly after my graduation, I landed a full time position as an A&R for Global Records, the biggest independent music label in Romania. Here I contributed to the music creation and release processes by coordinating songwriting sessions according to the record label’s priorities, critically assessing and selecting music for releases. Being directly involved in the music making and release process was a unique and rewarding experience for me, and I was very happy to find that much of the knowledge and skills I gained during the master’s proved to be useful in my daily tasks, in particular with regards to strategy-making and critical analyses of potential releases.

More recently, I started a new position as a Blue Book trainee at the European Commission in Brussels, working for the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) towards implementing the Commission’s public policies relating to culture and education. I find this role incredibly rewarding and exciting as I get to contribute to the support of and to witness the progress of many initiatives that promote positive social development at European level through culture and education.

I owe my current role to my master’s experience, as it was through my studies that I discovered and developed a strong interest for the public cultural sector and a strong passion for facilitating positive societal impact through culture. The knowledge and skills I gained during my master’s studies motivated me to explore career opportunities in this direction and enabled me with the confidence to apply for this role.”

My advice

“If you are a current or prospective student for the Master’s programme in Cultural Economics & Entrepreneurship, I believe you chose or you are looking at a great place to cultivate your interest in the cultural sector. Take this as an opportunity to explore your career options in the cultural sector and to grow, both personally and professionally.“

• Education: Tourism (BA); Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship (MA)
• Graduated in: 2014
• Current job: Cultural Strategist at Region of Halland, Sweden

“I chose the Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship master due to the fact that it offers an international and economic perspective on culture. My goal was to obtain a master that could open many doors for my future career and the combination of culture and economics seemed like the best choice for the ambitions I had. At Cultural Economics I learned how to think critically and analyze situations and context. I now understand the greater view, which consists of details. These are some of the skills that I developed during university and that I now continue to develop at my job.”

Working as a cultural strategist

“Before I graduated, I already found a job. When I was writing my master thesis, I contacted a Swedish cultural association and told them I could organize a seminar/workshop for them about the subject of my master thesis. They invited me over and among the guests were representatives of the city council. The next day I received a phone call: they offered me a job. From the city council I moved on to the regional council of the Region of Halland within a year after graduation. This is where I still work, at the cultural department as a cultural strategist. This means I work on strategic developments and the planning and implementation of cultural policies.”

Proactive

“I felt quite prepared when I started my first job. The master gave me great confidence. Also, I was very eager to start working as soon as I finished my master. My advice to current and prospective students would be: don’t wait for your master to finish before you start looking for a job. Start looking right away and contact all kinds of interesting people and organizations where you’d like to work.”

I started with the programme Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship in 2011. It was the perfect master for me because of its international character (half of my classmates came from abroad) and the focus on entrepreneurship.

Besides the cultural sector I had an interest in researching the rise of the creative industries. This was also the area I graduated in, my Master thesis was about start-up incubation in the tech and creative industries. A subject that is still, and maybe even more, relevant today. I wrote my thesis in 5 months during my internship at Mediaguild, an incubator that was part of Waag Society.

After completing my Master, I worked as a consultant for many different companies in both the private and cultural sector, including the Rijksmuseum. I also founded a social enterprise that is aimed at teaching kids about entrepreneurship: Tom & Thomas. CEE definitely inspired me to start my own business.

At this moment I am about to embark on a new adventure in Rotterdam. I am actually going to work together with someone I met during my CEE research internship! We are founding a new company called the Prototype Hotel. Here we specialise in building innovative software in a matter of days instead of months.