This issue of the Cultural Policies and Management Yearbook 2012-2013, published by Istanbul Bilgi University Cultural Policy and Management Research Centre (KPY), focuses on the way in which cultural operators have been instrumental in bringing about change and renewal in the cultural scene in the context of and in response to the present situation of social change and crisis. The current crisis has both economic and political dimensions. On the one hand, there is the economic slowdown caused by the financial crisis in Europe and the United States; on the other, there is the political crisis, known as the 'Arab Spring', which began in 2011 with the overthrow of the governments in Tunisia and Egypt and which continued on into Libya. Whether economic or political, these crises have affected many countries from North Africa to the United States, including Spain and Greece.