From practice to discipline: Arts management education in the Philippines

In the Philippines, arts and cultural management practice has long existed and is recognized as having diverse articulations in the field, brought about by developments in the practice and its ecology throughout the years. On the other hand, local arts and cultural management education has developed through a distinct trajectory shaped by networks and intersections among cultural institutions, higher education, government policy, and professional practice. Despite the establishment of undergraduate programs since the late 1980s and graduate programs in 2014, the field has evolved without a centralized curricular framework or a Commission on Higher Education (CHED) memorandum order specifically governing arts and cultural management programs. While previous accounts have documented the emergence of individual initiatives, very little scholarship has examined how the field became institutionalized as an academic discipline. Drawing on archival research, curriculum documents, institutional records, government publications, and interviews, this essay traces the development of arts and cultural management education in the Philippines from 1987 to 2023 through overlapping phases: 1) the expansion of cultural infrastructure, 2) institutionalization through higher education and cultural policy, and 3) diversification alongside the creative industries. It argues that arts and cultural management emerged through decentralized, institution-led initiatives rather than top-down educational reform, producing a field that has become increasingly professionalized while remaining institutionally diverse and partially consolidated as an academic discipline. By situating the Philippine experience within broader debates on disciplinary formation and professionalization, the essay contributes to scholarship on arts and cultural management education in Southeast Asia.