The Spanish cultural professionals have a high level of knowledge of their cultural or artistic fields (86.7% good or very good) and management of cultural activities (83.3% good or very good), according to the new report by Fundación Contemporánea of the cultural management company La Fábrica. In the report a total of 141 cultural professionals valued "the skills of cultural professionals, their training needs and motivation as industry professionals.” According to them, the three factors in need of improvement are marketing and cultural communication (56.0%), languages (55.2%) and, especially, budget management (69.3%). Furthermore, when asked about the specifics skills that their teams need more training in, the most mentioned budget management, marketing and cultural communication, languages, administrative management, management of cultural project, social media, new technologies and the Internet, and international relations.
Regarding the second issue analyzed, training, the report shows that most of the institutions and organisations offer some kind of professional training activities, although not sufficient nor planned. Thus, 21.3% say that there is a formal and ongoing training for all staff; 19.7% that there is no formal plan, but adequate training is planned; 44.3% attend some specialized courses, and 14.8% say that there is no training. On the other hand, when asked about what formats are considered the most appropriate for complementing professional training, most prefer practical orientations, workshops and short seminars, work placements and exchanges, specialized courses compatible with the work schedule and extensive courses and full time master programs. In regard with the support provided by the institutions, many offer economic and other types of support (like adjustment of work schedule). 58.4% offer a flexible schedule as regards training programs, 24% offer financial support and often cover partial costs, 20% cover costs in full, 14.4% offer leave of absence for training, and 6.4% report no type of support. Finally, the third subject, motivation, was valued highly.