Marie Schürmann is a PhD candidate and member of the IKM research team at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, specialised in Cultural Management. Having graduated in Theatre and Orchestra Management from Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with a study abroad in Valencia, Spain, as well as Art, Music and Media: Organisation and Communication from Marburg University her research has been focused on the intersection of Cultural Management, Musicology and Gender Studies. She worked as a dramaturg in concert programming for the Konzerthaus Berlin and most recently as a project manager and scientific researcher for the Archive of Women in Music on the topic of Women’s Orchestras.

Since March 2026 she is undertaking her PhD in Cultural Management at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna being supervised by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Abfalter.
 

Economic Power and Cultural Equality

This doctoral research project focuses on mechanisms of exclusion and the resulting representation of marginalised composers in the repertoire of European, publicly funded symphony orchestras. Building on existing studies that document these dynamics and thus the underrepresentation of marginalised composers, the fundamental question of canon formation can be approached by focusing on the aspect of cultural funding and financing. The aim therefore is to investigate the interplay of cultural funding models in various European countries and the concert planning and repertoire formation of professional orchestras for the seasons 2016/17 to 2025/26, with regard to the in- or exclusion of underrepresented composers on the basis of gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background.

Using a mixed-methods approach the study will make an important contribution to understanding repertoire formation, institutional barriers to access, and potential avenues for intervention to promote a diversified repertoire practice among professional symphony orchestras.