Monday, September 3, 2007

Meet the Fondation Marcel Hicter

The Fondation Hicter is a non-profit organization established in 1980. Its goals are : - the promotion and the public awareness of cultural democracy in Belgium, Europe and at the international level, by networking, analysis spreading and innovative actions ; - the empowerment of citizens thanks to an offer of cultural training programs and tools stressing interdiciplinary approach and co-operation at the European level. Training professionals to cultural management is, since the Fondation was established, one of its specialities. Its various training programs enable operators to build bridges between the evolution of cultural practices and new needs concerning working methods and skills to develop. The Fondation Hicter also promotes culture among decision-makers and fosters cultural co-operation enabling partners to undertake common projects taking into account all specificities. As a provider of life-long learning services, the Fondation Hicter plays the interface between field operators and cultural decision-makers. It informs and monitors cultural managers. The Fondation sometimes advises public cultural authorities. It plays a role in analysing actual and future policies and actions through action-research programs produced in partnership with European cultural organizations. The Fondation’s fundings come mainly from three sources : the Belgian French speaking Community, the European Union and incomes generated by services it provides.

The Fondation Hicter manages various projects in partnership with European cultural organizations. They deal with the production of innovative cultural management training tools and with studies on cultural trends in Europe as well as on the transborder cultural co-operation practices. The complexity of such projects needs the contribution of structures specialized on the issue, the subject and/or on the choosen territory. The Fondation Hicter is always very aware of the impact of such projects regarding both citizen involvement and territorial development.

Research on women access to key management job in the cultural sector
The number of women taking part to cultural management training programs constantly increases. However the number of them who reach a post equivalent to their training level remains lower. Artemis is a research project that aims to experiment various actions allowing women to reach the professional level of responsibility they wish to get according to their skills and competences. They concern the employers’ public awareness as well as taking on board the gender issue in the cultural sector. The study will identify the positive and negative elements influencing this highly sensitive equal opportunity topic. Concrete innovative proposals will be made to improve the situation. The Fondation Hicter is the leader of Artemis, an Equal project organized with as partners : La Vénerie cultural center, CESEP and FLORA, a gender network.

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