Cultural Partnerships Manager

We're Hiring: Cultural Partnerships Manager

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a globally focused organization committed to building meaningful relationships across cultural, creative, educational, community, government, and international networks. Our teams work with cultural institutions, artists, heritage organizations, foundations, businesses, communities, and public-sector partners to develop collaborative programs that create long-term cultural and social value.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Cultural Partnerships Manager to develop, manage, and expand strategic partnerships with cultural institutions, creative organizations, artists, community groups, foundations, educational institutions, government entities, tourism organizations, and commercial partners.

The ideal candidate will combine strong relationship management with partnership strategy, program development, negotiation, stakeholder engagement, sponsorship, cultural programming, and cross-functional project delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement cultural partnership strategies aligned with organizational objectives and cultural priorities.
• Identify, research, evaluate, and prioritize potential cultural partners across local, regional, and international markets.
• Build and maintain long-term relationships with museums, galleries, heritage organizations, arts institutions, foundations, universities, cultural associations, and creative organizations.
• Develop partnerships with artists, cultural practitioners, creators, community leaders, and other cultural stakeholders.
• Manage the full partnership lifecycle from prospect identification and outreach through negotiation, activation, delivery, evaluation, and renewal.
• Develop partnership proposals, concepts, presentations, business cases, and collaboration frameworks.
• Lead discussions regarding partnership objectives, scope, responsibilities, resources, timelines, benefits, and success measures.
• Negotiate partnership agreements, memoranda of understanding, sponsorship arrangements, and collaboration terms.
• Coordinate with legal and commercial teams to ensure appropriate contractual, intellectual property, compliance, and risk requirements.
• Develop mutually beneficial partnership models that create cultural, community, educational, audience, and commercial value.
• Manage cultural sponsorships, strategic collaborations, grants, co-productions, exchanges, and institutional partnerships.
• Develop joint programs, exhibitions, festivals, educational initiatives, cultural exchanges, public events, and community projects.
• Coordinate partnership activations across marketing, communications, programming, content, events, education, digital, and operations teams.
• Establish clear project plans, milestones, responsibilities, budgets, deliverables, and approval processes for partnership initiatives.
• Monitor partner commitments and ensure agreed deliverables are completed on time and to the required standard.
• Serve as the primary relationship manager for key cultural partners and strategic accounts.
• Conduct regular partner meetings, business reviews, planning sessions, and performance discussions.
• Maintain accurate partnership records, contact databases, agreements, project documentation, and performance reports.
• Identify opportunities to expand successful partnerships into additional markets, programs, audiences, or platforms.
• Develop regional and international cultural networks that strengthen organizational visibility and influence.
• Build relationships with government agencies, embassies, cultural missions, tourism authorities, and international cultural organizations where appropriate.
• Support cross-cultural collaboration and ensure partnership programs are respectful of local traditions, communities, and cultural contexts.
• Develop community partnerships that increase participation, representation, accessibility, and cultural inclusion.
• Work with internal teams to identify organizational needs that could be addressed through external cultural partnerships.
• Collaborate with marketing and communications teams to maximize appropriate visibility and storytelling opportunities from partnership activities.
• Coordinate partner branding, communications approvals, media opportunities, digital content, and promotional requirements.
• Work with fundraising and commercial teams to identify sponsorship and revenue opportunities associated with cultural programs.
• Prepare partnership budgets, financial forecasts, funding proposals, and resource requirements.
• Track partnership costs, contributions, sponsorship value, and financial performance.
• Identify grant, philanthropic, sponsorship, and institutional funding opportunities.
• Manage external consultants, agencies, cultural advisors, event partners, and service providers supporting partnership initiatives.
• Conduct partner due diligence and assess strategic, financial, reputational, operational, and cultural risks.
• Establish partnership governance, reporting structures, escalation procedures, and performance standards.
• Measure partnership outcomes through participation, audience engagement, cultural impact, financial contribution, stakeholder satisfaction, and strategic value.
• Prepare regular reports and presentations for senior management covering partnership pipelines, active collaborations, performance, risks, and opportunities.
• Research cultural trends, emerging institutions, new creative networks, and international collaboration opportunities.
• Identify innovative partnership models involving digital platforms, technology, education, tourism, creative industries, and community development.
• Represent the organization at cultural forums, conferences, networking events, industry meetings, and institutional engagements.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, professionalism, mutual value creation, and long-term relationship development.

Key Performance Indicators

• Number and quality of strategic partnerships
• Partnership pipeline value
• Partnership acquisition rate
• Partnership renewal rate
• Partner retention rate
• Partnership revenue and funding secured
• Sponsorship value generated
• Grant funding secured
• Partnership activation rate
• Joint program delivery rate
• On-time partnership deliverables
• Partner satisfaction
• Stakeholder satisfaction
• Audience participation
• Community engagement
• Cultural program reach
• International partnership growth
• Partnership expansion opportunities
• Cost efficiency
• Partnership ROI
• Contract and agreement completion
• Partner compliance
• Risk mitigation
• Brand and communications performance
• Event and program attendance
• Digital engagement generated through partnerships
• Funding diversification
• Cross-functional collaboration effectiveness
• Project budget adherence
• Partnership reporting accuracy
• Strategic objectives achieved

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate should have strong experience in cultural partnerships, arts management, institutional relations, business development, sponsorship, cultural programming, community engagement, or strategic relationship management, preferably within cultural institutions, museums, arts organizations, entertainment, tourism, education, government, foundations, or international organizations.

The candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong understanding of cultural ecosystems, institutions, creative industries, and community networks.
• Proven experience developing and managing strategic partnerships.
• Excellent relationship-building, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Experience managing partnership agreements, sponsorships, grants, or collaborative programs.
• Strong understanding of cultural sensitivity, cross-cultural communication, and community engagement.
• Experience working with senior executives, government representatives, institutional leaders, artists, and external stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness and ability to develop mutually beneficial partnership models.
• Excellent project-management and organizational capabilities.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and analytical skills.
• Ability to manage multiple partnerships, projects, priorities, and deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to develop persuasive proposals, partnership concepts, and executive presentations.
• Experience with international or cross-border partnerships is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with cultural events, exhibitions, festivals, educational programs, or creative initiatives.
• Strong research and opportunity-identification skills.
• Ability to manage sensitive relationships and complex stakeholder environments.
• Experience working with international and distributed teams.
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial, and continuous-improvement mindset.