Who is the IETM Advocacy School for?
The Advocacy School is intended for IETM members with substantial experience of advocacy or direct engagement with policymakers and public institutions. It is designed for participants working in contexts where advocacy can influence decisions affecting the performing arts — including public funding, cultural policy, legislation and institutional frameworks.
What do we mean by ‘advocacy’?
In this context, advocacy means activities aimed at influencing public policies and political decision-making that affect the broader cultural sector - not only your organisation’s individual relationship with a funder or policy-maker, but the conditions for the performing arts as a whole. This can be at the local, regional, national, or international levels.
This is not an introductory course to advocacy. Participants will be expected to bring a concrete advocacy goal, challenge or situation they are currently working on and to engage actively with the cases of others. Peer learning will be as important as expert input.
Join us on 14 October to discover the programme, meet the team, hear inspiring stories from the field and find out whether the Advocacy School is for you. Applications will open on 14 October 2026.
What will the Advocacy School focus on?
The School will move from defining an advocacy goal to developing a concrete strategy for achieving it. Across five online training days, participants will work on questions including:
What exactly are you trying to change?
How can broad ambitions, such as stronger support for the arts, fairer working conditions or greater recognition of culture, be translated into specific and achievable advocacy goals?
What arguments can help you get there?
Participants will explore dominant narratives around culture, identify their strengths and limitations, practise storytelling and develop arguments suited to different audiences.
How do you communicate in difficult political environments?
The School will address message-building, recurring counterarguments, defensive and aggressive communication, political polarisation and ways of communicating with actors who may not already support your position.
Who has the power to make change happen?
Participants will map interlocutors, allies and potential opponents, and learn how to build relationships with policymakers and wider coalitions.
How do you turn strategy into action?
The final stages of the School will bring these elements together into a concrete roadmap for participants’ own advocacy work. The programme will combine expert inputs, practical exercises, examples from the field, peer-to-peer exchange and work on participants’ real advocacy cases.
Get ready to apply
The application form will ask about your:
- current advocacy experience and engagement;
- concrete advocacy goals, challenges or situation;
- motivation for joining the School and how you hope it can help advance your work.
We therefore encourage prospective applicants to already start thinking about one real advocacy challenge they would like to work on throughout the programme.
Applications for the Advocacy School will open after the introductory session, on 14 October.