Prof. Dr. Volker Kirchberg

Member in the Institute of Cultural Theory, Research, and the Arts 
Sociology of the Arts and Culture Unit

[Translate to Englisch:] Kirchberg Adresse

Prof. Dr. Volker Kirchberg
Scharnhorststr. 1, C5.222
21335 Lüneburg
Fon +49.4131.677-2726
Fax +49.4131.677-2689
kirchberg@uni.leuphana.de

Since October 2004 University Professor for Cultural Distribution and Cultural Organization in Applied Cultural Sciences of the Leuphana University Lüneburg.

1985-1988 Research assistant at the Urban Research Unit, University of Hamburg. 1988-1992 Research at the Institute for Policy Studies at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Followed by doctoral and post-doctoral work (German Marshall Fund) in Baltimore. Head of the Basica Research Institute in Hamburg (1995-2000). Adjunct lecturer at the Institute for Sociology of the Free University Berlin with a focus on urban research (1996-2000) and habilitation at this university (2003). 2001-2004 Assistant professor for Sociology at the William Paterson University in New Jersey. Numerous publications on culture and urban sociology at the interface of market, state and the non-profit sector.

Curriculum Vitae

•  2005-2007 : Chair of the Sociology of the Arts Research Network (European Sociological Association)

• 2003: Habilitation in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the Free University of Berlin: Habilitation dissertation: Social functions of museums. Macro-, meso- and microsociological perspectives. Habilitation lecture: On the ambivalence of trade and social structures: Sociological actor models between homo sociologicus and homo economicus

• 2001-2004 : Assistant Professor, William Paterson University, New Jersey, Department of Sociology

• 1996-2000 : Adjunct faculty lecturer at the Free University Berlin, Institute of Sociology

• 1994-2000 : Managing director of the Basica Research Institute. Strategic concepts on urban and community development. Motives and problems of citizen involvement. Planning consultancy in the new German federal states after reunification. Analyses of economic and social consequences of poverty alleviation projects in Hamburg (for Hamburg government agencies). Impact analyses and audience analyses for Hamburg cultural institutions, concept development for cultural projects, strategic consulting for cultural sponsoring and fundraising. Collection of non-visitor data for analysis in cultural marketing and cultural management (for the Haus der Geschichte – House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany). Conducting nationwide tests on visitor orientation (service quality) of museums and theaters (also for the Bertelsmann Foundation). Collection and analysis of expectations and attitudes towards the new Jewish Museum in Berlin, quantitative and qualitative data collection (for the Jewish Museum in Berlin)

• 1992-2000 : Adjunct faculty lecturer at the University of Lüneburg, Department of Cultural Sciences, Cultural Work, and the Department of Social Sciences

• 1992-1994: Researcher at the konsalt social research institute. Responsible researcher in projects by the urban planning authorities of Hamburg concerning citizen involvement in communal urban development projects of the Hamburg district Neustadt-South

• 1992 : Neue Kultur Foundation, Berlin. Development, implementation and evaluation of a qualitative empirical study on cultural sponsoring in the new German federal states; expert interviews and secondary data analysis on structural development and on sponsor preferences in Potsdam.

• 1992 : DuPont Fellowship: Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, Hagley Museum, Wilmington, Delaware. Expert interviews and content analysis of private and business correspondence of Pierre S. DuPont on business promotion of culture – a comparison of motives of the DuPont corporation through changing times (1917 to 1941, today)

• 1991: German Marshall Fund Scholarship: Visiting Scholar, Department of Government and Public Administration, University of Baltimore, Maryland. Development, implementation and evaluation of a secondary data analysis of cultural sponsoring by major corporations in the USA, impact on the attractiveness of selected American cities

• 1991: Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy of the University of Hamburg. Culture and urban society: Empirical case studies on cultural behavior of urban populations and the importance of culture for the city

• 1989-90 : DAAD dissertation scholarship: Visiting Research Fellow, William Schaefer Center for Public Policy, University of Baltimore. Development, implementation and evaluation of an empirical study on the behavior and attitudes of city dwellers towards urban cultural institutions in Baltimore

• 1988-89 : International Fellowship in Urban Studies, Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Development, implementation and evaluation of an empirical study on the importance of cultural institutions for the city, in Baltimore

• 1985-88 : Research assistant of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Friedrichs, Comparative Urban Research Unit, University of Hamburg. Development, implementation and evaluation of a study on the importance of the city center through suburbanization and changed urban employment structures, a case study of Wolfsburg

• 1984-85 : Final degree thesis at the Institute for Sociology, University of Hamburg: Empirical research on the political behavior of the inhabitants of the Hamburg Schanzen district (supervisor Prof. Dr. Jürgen Friedrichs)