Mission Statement

The Master of Arts in Cultural Leadership & Management prepares students to lead with cultural grounding, ethical integrity, and organizational capacity in mission-driven settings.

Building on the principles of cultural sustainability—a generative, reciprocal research practice that fosters relationships, engenders knowledge about sociocultural systems, and guides ethical interventions—the program develops students' ability to:

• Lead through understanding of culture as lived experience and system of power
• Navigate organizational contexts while maintaining community accountability
• Build partnerships based on reciprocity and shared decision-making
• Conduct research that generates knowledge with communities, not just about them
• Translate values into action through effective collaboration and ethical intervention
• Communicate clearly and culturally across diverse stakeholder contexts

The program prepares students to work effectively as leaders, facilitators, researchers, advocates, educators, program directors, and organizational strategists in museums, cultural agencies, nonprofit organizations, community-based institutions, advocacy groups, and mission-driven settings where culture, equity, and community vitality matter.

The program is oriented around these fundamental outcomes:

Collaborative Community Partnerships

Graduates will be able to identify strategies for cultivating a network of practitioners and organizations in support of community-driven cultural sustainability and a community of practice.

Community-Based Research

Graduates will be able to design and implement projects using diverse methods that apply knowledge of cultural practices to contemporary issues in cultural leadership and management, with results that are meaningful and valued by communities.

Ethical Action

Graduates will be able to evaluate actions, programs, and policies that honor local voices, foster community self-determination, and empower community efforts towards cultural leadership and management. 

Professional Leadership

Graduates will be able to demonstrate a range of professional management skills that contribute to organizational sustainability, foster ethical partnerships and collaborations, and align with community practices.

Communication

Graduates will be able to apply relevant and effective oral, written, and visual communication skills to their cultural leadership and management work, including the presentation of their research and other projects to diverse audiences.

For additional information, visit Goucher's Learning Goals and Outcomes page.

Updated: August 2025