Małgorzata Kaczmarek

The high degree of the environment instability generates the need to apply not only a strategy, but also a range of management practices as well as tools to the day-to-day operations of cultural institutions. Strategy can therefore be seen as a modern way for continuous adaptation to the environment. Having and implementing a strategy, including marketing strategies, is important not only from perspective of the declining participation and attendance in cultural events in the Polish society, but also because of the need to meet the requirements of effective operation. Hence the emerging question: how to manage a cultural institution whose survival nowadays is more than ever dictated by an unclear future scenario? This paper will present the strategic concepts of the Polish philharmonics and orchestras, which are a response to the challenges of the environment with different attitudes and activities.

Qualitative research in form of the individual in-depth interviews (IDI), which form the basis of the study, was conducted between May 2022 and May 2023. They were concerned with management tools currently used by managers and directors of public cultural institutions – in case of this study, these were philharmonics and orchestras. Transcripts of a total of 25 in-depth interviews were analysed, then categorised and compiled using qualitative research support software.

The conclusions that emerged from the literature review and qualitative research indicate a strong diversification in the attitudes of philharmonic managers. The hybridisation of artistic activities means that, as never before, philharmonics are diversifying not only their identity, but also the range of activities as well as their effect. The environment plays an increasingly important role in this process.

Since March 2020, cultural institutions have become a field of social, economic, and legal experiment in terms of content, management strategies, and ways to implement a new work model. The governmental regulations have put the flexibility and strength of so-far firm public sector structures, with its resources and finances, to the test. The wide scale of positive and negative consequences of the limited operations of cultural institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic shows well the complexity of managing change during uncertain times. The change has also become synonymous with moving activities to the Internet, which often is an ad hoc and last-resort measure. The scope of dilemmas and adaptations introduced in the economic and financial repertoire as well as the legal department of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lodz may constitute an interesting case study of a cultural institution operating in an existing and much disintegrated economic and financial ecosystem. The aim of the work is to analyse the situation in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Lodz divided into three dimensions: legal, financial, and accounting. Each of them have generated new problem areas. The material for the study consists of interviews with the Philharmonic’s heads of departments (interview disposition). In the interviews, both detrimental and valuable effects of the pandemic are presented, and a new approach to the problems described.