Mari KOBAYASHI
Cultural Management, Professor
- Research on a broad spectrum of systems and frameworks that support or inhibit the development of art and culture (for example, laws, ordinances, planning, subsidies, incorporation, designated administrator systems, administrative evaluation).
- Studies on rules and principles as well as the methodology in initiating cultural policies in the real world as public policy (includes matters concerning the operation and management of public cultural facilities).
- Issues of “expression,” “culture,” and “the law” seen from various angles.
- Studies on institutions that enforce cultural policies, and administration itself as an initiator; art institutions such as theaters and art museums; and “private citizens.”
What interests me most at present is the issue of how cultural policies are enforced at city and community levels and the types of decision-making procedures for policies that are involved. In recent years, I have been deeply involved in the formulation and evaluation of ordinances for the promotion of culture and plans at several local government offices as well as initiatives for reform at foundations and other such organizations which operate public cultural facilities at a research level. What I am partial about is promoting the arts (culture) and how to promote through the arts (culture).
My position is that both are important. I believe that culture always exists where people are alive and where they live, and it is the private citizen who takes responsibility for it.
In addition to providing research guidance for dissertations at graduate school, I offer seminars and special classes on cultural management. Each year, I present our achievements from group work conducted by the Japan Association for Cultural Policy Research at poster sessions. For undergraduates, I hold sociology seminars (the same classes as cultural resources seminars up until this fiscal year) while discussing art management, art projects, and cultural policy. Furthermore, this is a curator qualification course—we offer cultural facility management theory featured in a lecture format on fundamental systems and challenges concerning the management of public cultural facilities (such as art galleries, museums, and cultural halls). Our undergraduates in fiscal 2019 were very enthusiastic, and we began preparations in fiscal 2018 to conduct an art project on campus. It turned out to be a satisfying initiative where we held a reporting meeting with external parties who had been invited, after which we went on to compile an archive book. Both graduate school students and undergraduates go to seminar camps in the summer. In fiscal 2019, our graduate school students went to Nagasaki to examine the issue of “Hidden Christians” at a UNESCO world cultural heritage site while the undergraduates visited Kanazawa and Gifu Prefecture to inspect various facilities. It was an interesting experience, with impressive tours to see the Hoo-za playhouse and the cormorant fishing on the Nagara River.
I would like to welcome people who can leverage what they learn (i.e., those with a strong desire to do so) at the Cultural Resources Studies laboratory in specific sites of society. I would like people who are interested in a broad sense in the systems and mechanisms of cultural administration to come and join us.