Dagmar Abfalter, Professor of Cultural Management at the Department of Cultural Management and Gender Studies (IKM)

Dagmar Abfalter has been Head of the Department of Cultural Management and Gender Studies (IKM) at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 2023 and holds a Professorship in Cultural Management since 2024. After completing her studies in International Economics, including a study period in Nice, she worked at the Department of Strategic Management, Marketing & Tourism at the University of Innsbruck until 2013. Her dissertation “Measuring the Immeasurable? The Construction of Success in Music Theatre” (2008) and her Executive MBA in International Arts Management (ICCM Salzburg, 2007) mark early intersections of her academic interest in art and management. She also held a visiting scholar position at HEC Montréal.

At mdw, she was appointed Assistant Professor in 2013, completed her habilitation in Cultural Management Studies in 2018, and became Associate Professor in 2019. Her research focuses on leadership, strategy development, and business models in the cultural sector, as well as on qualitative and hybrid research methodologies, including arts-based research.

From 2019 to 2022, Dagmar Abfalter served as Chair of the Association for Cultural Management and has been Associate Editor (Management) of the International Journal of Arts Management since 2021.