Adrian Ellis has been appointed a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, New York for the academic year 2009-2010 and will teach a course in May 2010 on Current Issues in International Cultural Policy.

The course will examine the implications for the cultural sector of the rapidly changing political, economic and social context in which policies affecting cultural provision are formed and executed. The course moves from an overview of the objectives of cultural policy and the tools available to policy makers, to an analysis of the main changes in the environment in which cultural actors (policy makers, artists, funders and cultural institutions) operate, to a consideration of the changes the cultural sector itself has experienced in recent years. The course concludes by looking at developing federal cultural policy in the United States and returns to the opening theme of the ultimate ends of cultural policies. Guest speakers will include Ben Cameron, Kate Levin, Zarin Mehta, and Joan Shigekawa.

Update: The course lectures are now available on iTunes U.