Storytelling and Organizational Heritage Communication: towards a critical development of a new corporate-cultural profession: Working Paper

Though culture-oriented study programs are on the rise across disciplines in higher education, graduates face challenges: there is a lack of clearly defined job positions for graduates aiming to work, predominantly, with cultural and historical competences. This issue, paradoxically, prevails despite an expressed need and openness by public and private sector towards cultural issues: the “cultural turn” has brought about manifold campaigns by large corporations expressing awareness of both cultural and historical ties and current practices of diversity and cultural sensitivity. However, job positions clearly dedicated to these very matters are lagging, especially in small and middle-sized organizations. An ongoing EU project on Organizational Heritage Communication is aiming at filling this void. We develop an educational post-graduate program aimed at university graduates from the humanities (or related disciplines), centering cultural heritage communication (CHC). In order to develop a) a skillset for the newly defined profession and b) an educational program mediating these competences, we sampled 33 European organizations and their stances on heritage communication. We employ questionnaires and thematic analysis in order to analyze what skills and qualifications executives wish for in an employee entrusted with CHC. From here, we move towards developing an adequate educational program. Our project contributes to both theory and practice by enriching the scholarly discussion about cultural competence development, and by benefitting both jobseekers and employers.