How the Financial Crisis Affected Models of Public-Private Partnership in the Cultural Sector: Empirical Evidence from France, Germany and Italy

In recent years, the challenges the crisis has posed on the cultural sector have speeded up the debate on the reforms of its governance systems and management models. Indeed, in many European countries the crisis has triggered a process of reduction of public funding to culture, causing cultural organizations to look for alternative resources, either technical, financial or human. Among the emerging models, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been increasing popular, overcoming the traditional interpretation of private partners as mere sponsors and involving them in the management and governance of cultural projects. By means on an analysis of three significant case studies in France, Germany and Italy, this paper aims at investigating the emergence of PPPs in the cultural field in Europe as a new model for cooperation and resource sharing, trying to understand their role in the process of rethinking of governance systems and management models in the cultural sector.