European cultural institutions increasingly operate under conditions that require the
simultaneous fulfilment of public cultural missions and financial sustainability through
revenue diversification. Cankarjev dom, Slovenia’s central cultural and congress
centre, is a hybrid organization in which public cultural service intersects with congress
and commercial activities, generating institutional complexity shaped by public, artistic
professional and market logics. The thesis develops an analytical framework to assess
the effects of this mixed model on programme stability, the financial complementarity
of congress activity, and the operational efficiency of infrastructure use. It combines a
literature review with quantitative analyses of programme records, annual financial
statements and venue utilization data. Programme stability is assessed with diversity
and variability indices; financial effects are examined through scenario modelling using
the coverage gap concept and allocating indirect costs according to time based space
usage; operational effects are analysed through a comparative analysis of data for
2022 and 2023. Findings indicate that programme stability is maintained alongside
dynamic structural shifts, that congress activity contributes to covering fixed
infrastructure costs and thereby supports the public service without additional budget
resources, and that the relationship between congress hours and costs is multifaceted,
depending on technical requirements and capacity utilization. The study also highlights
risks of mission drift, fragmented decision making and the need for clearer governance
of tensions between institutional logics, and it offers methodological and managerial
guidance.
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