CEU Visiting Professor Dragan Klaic Dies at 61
Dragan Klaic, visiting professor in CEU’s Department of Public Policy since 2006, died on Aug. 25 in Amsterdam. He was a recognized authority in the fields of cultural policy and international cultural cooperation.
Born in Sarajevo in 1950, Klaic was a theater scholar, cultural analyst, commentator, and educator who specialized in contemporary performing arts, European cultural policies, strategies of cultural development, and international cultural cooperation and memory.
He founded and managed the Cultural Policy stream of the MA program of the Department of Public Policy and most recently taught courses on the key concepts of cultural policy and on the challenges facing cultural institutions in light of globalization, the development of “cultural industry,” and reductions in cultural spending. He also advised CEU’s Center for Arts and Culture and was active in cultural policy matters at the Open Society Institute.
In January 2011, Klaic was interviewed about his work at CEU. Video excerpts are posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otyBfpadG4I.
Apart from his work at CEU, Klaic was a permanent fellow of the Felix Meritis Foundation in Amsterdam. He lectured at the University of Leiden, the University of Arts Belgrade, and the University of Amsterdam, and was a research fellow of Collegium Budapest and Interarts, Barcelona. He led the Theater Instituut Nederland, co-founded the European Theater Quarterly Euromaske, and served as president of both the European Network of Information Centers for the Performing Arts and the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage. He moderated the Reflection Group of the European Cultural Foundation and wrote its final report, Europe as a Cultural Project. He also studied the emerging alternative cultural infrastructure in Istanbul and its connectivity with EU cultural institutions; worked with the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality on the cultural dimension of its policies; and created and chaired the European Festival Research Project, an initiative devoted to cultural studies of European festivals.
Klaic wrote several books, most prominently Mobility of Imagination: A Companion Guide to International Cultural Cooperation; Reform or Transition: The Future of Repertory Theater in Central and Eastern Europe; and Terrorism and Modern Drama. He also wrote hundreds of articles published in the former Yugoslavia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, and Norway.
Faculty and staff members in CEU’s Department of Public Policy cite his friendliness, enthusiasm and curiosity for his subject matter, and ability to speak nine languages fluently. Klaic is survived by his wife, Julia, and daughter, Nora. He also leaves behind mourning colleagues, students, and friends across the CEU community.