The 11th Annual Conference of the Association for Arts Management (Fachverband Kulturmanagement for Germany, Austria & Switzerland) takes this observation as a starting point for an interdisciplinary, international gathering of researchers and practitioners in the field of arts management. The conference focusses on two different aspects, reflecting two different readings of the concept of “cultural leadership”: Firstly, “cultural leadership” is often used as a (usually not clearly defined) term for management and leadership processes in cultural organizations in general. Secondly, the term can also refer more broadly to processes of cultural development and cultural exchange on a bigger social or even international scale, for example in the context of cultural diplomacy.