The notion of ‘governance’ integrates all governing processes, and may involve a multiplicity of agents and instruments in the construction of an organised society. Being the Government the most formal model of governance, there are multiple possibilities of articulation between public power, the private sector and civil society in the processes of creation and maintenance of social norms and institutions.

In recent decades, traditional, market-oriented public governance systems have proved inadequate to respond to growing political, social, cultural and environmental challenges. There is a demand for a “social turn” (to use Claire Bishop’s term) and even a participatory turn in the exercise of politics, which brings citizens closer to governance and decision-making processes.

Also in the cultural sector, the failure of public policies and market failures have led to the emergence of collaborative experiences that challenge traditional models of cultural governance: collaborative practices, non-hierarchical organisations, new institutional models, decentralised networks and civic participation in decision-making processes contribute to an understanding of culture as resource sharing from a common perspective.

For this edition of the Encounters, we felt urgent to address the theme of participatory cultural governance, calling for different perspectives and emerging practices that give us a new understanding on the management of common cultural goods.