Artistic and cultural mediation: emergence of a profession in Portugal?

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5216/sec.v29.82542

Abstract

The changes in paradigms in cultural policies and in the relationships between people, arts and cultures stimulated the emergence of new needs and respective responses offered in a professional manner. To better understand these professionals and their intervention practices in artistic and cultural mediation implemented in Portugal, we carried out a questionnaire survey. The results showed that professionals in artistic and cultural mediation have a high level of qualification, in areas ranging from the arts to social sciences, but also in artistic and cultural mediation, leading us to consider the possibility of the emergence of a uniform group professional, but characterized by the inter/transdisciplinarity of their training and skills that include flexibility, variability and adaptability to face complex situations.

Keywords: artistic and cultural mediation; profession; professional group; Portugal.

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Author Biographies

  • Cristina Barroso Cruz, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), Lisboa, Portugal, cristinac@eselx.ipl.pt

    Cristina Barroso Cruz is an anthropologist and a professor at the Escola Superior de Educação, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa. She coordinates the Centro Interdisciplinar em Estudos Educacionais and serves as the editor of the scientific journal Da Investigação às Práticas: Estudos de Natureza Educativa. She also led the project “Entre: Research in Artistic and Cultural Mediation”, an area in which she is furthering her research. Recently, she co-authored a publication with Laurence Vohlgemuth: Cruz, C. B., & Vohlgemuth, L. (2022). Licenciatura em Mediação Artística e Cultural: Percursos de Construção e Afirmação de uma Área de Transformação e Desenvolvimento Social. In M. M. Baptista, A. R. A. Almeida, and R. A. Gracie (Eds.), Estudos Culturais em Portugal: Cartografia, Desafios e Possibilidades (pp. 139-149). Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/37156.

  • Joana Campos, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), Lisboa, Portugal, jcampos@eselx.ipl.pt

    Joana Campos is an Assistant Professor at the Lisbon School of Education, in the undergraduate courses in Sociocultural Animation, which she coordinates, Artistic and Cultural Mediation and Basic Education, and in the master's degree in Social Education and Community Intervention, and a collaborating researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES) at ISCTE-IUL. PhD from ISCTE-IUL, with a thesis entitled "Teachers and professional knowledge", she has published several articles and book chapters on professional insertion and development, namely of sociocultural animators and teachers.

  • Laurence Vohlgemuth, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), Lisboa, Portugal, laurence@eselx.ipl.pt

    Doutora pela Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Espanha, e Professora do Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Portugal.

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Published

2026-05-13

Issue

Vol. 29 (2026)

Section

Free Articles

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How to Cite

BARROSO CRUZ, C.; CAMPOS, J.; VOHLGEMUTH, L. Artistic and cultural mediation: emergence of a profession in Portugal? Sociedade e Cultura, v. 29, 13 May2026.