The Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (YCI) is an annual series of Salzburg Global Seminar, held at Schloss Leopolskron, Austria. The forthcoming YCI takes place October 14-19 2017 and is currently accepting applications from eligible candidates from Japan and from Salzburg.

Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators (Session 583) brings together fifty of the world's most talented young innovators from the culture and arts sector at Schloss Leopoldskron to help them develop the dynamic vision, entrepreneurial skills, and global networks needed to allow them, their organizations, their causes and their communities to thrive in new ways.

The artistic disciplines represented by the young innovators range from the visual and performing arts, literature, and cultural heritage, to foods, fashion, architecture, and design. The YCI Forum represents a major commitment by Salzburg Global Seminar to fostering creative innovation and entrepreneurship worldwide with the intention of building a more vibrant and resilient arts sector and of advancing sustainable economic development and positive social change agendas worldwide.

Applications are currently being accepted from Young Cultural Innovators living in the following areas:

Call for applications from Salzburg

Call for applications from Japan

The deadline for applications is June 30, 2017.

Participant Profile

Each annual YCI cohort is comprised of ten expert facilitators and approximately fifty young cultural innovators between the ages of 25 and 35 from around the world. The group are balanced in terms of gender, genre, and geographic representation. Most of the participants come from “YCI hubs” that Salzburg Global Seminar is currently developing with partners in cities around the world, including Adelaide, Athens, Baltimore, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Phnom Penh, Plodiv, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Seoul and Tokyo. The “YCI hubs” form the core of the YCI multi-year program. Participants are  selected through a highly competitive application and nomination process, to ensure outstanding quality and diversity of professional knowledge and experience within the Forum.

Selection Criteria

• 25-35 years of age;
• Proficiency in English;
• At least 2-3 years of professional experience in the cultural sector;
• Creativity in approach to work, openness to innovation and risk-taking, action-orientation, and demonstrated entrepreneurial practice;
• Interest in creating social change and strengthening the position of the arts and cultural institutions within communities, demonstrated through an example of one project led or in planning;
• Proclivity to communicate (social media savvy, etc.) and cooperate with others across sectors;
• Passion, enthusiasm, and leadership potential – with recommendations confirming these qualities and/or external recognition of  accomplishment in this area: prize, award, citation;
• Desire to become an active member of a global network and willingness to commit time, energy, and resources to sustaining such a network, both at the global and hub level.

Program Format

Forum components include the one-week annual program in Salzburg combining theory and praxis, with capacity building sessions focusing on: effective communication, entrepreneurial thinking, organizational management and new business models, risk-taking and innovation, and comparative styles of leadership.