The first objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the curricula offered by Polish higher education institutions aimed at future workers in the culture and creative sectors. Desk research is supplemented by a qualitative analysis of students’ needs on professional education and the perception of cultural labour in Poland, and concluding remarks attempt to provide a preliminary response to the key expectations and gaps highlighted in the reported analysis. The paper argues that to sustain the trends of growth and to support the professionalisation of managing cultural and creative initiatives, higher education institutions in Poland have to develop a more explicit balance between pure cultural studies and cultural management education approaches. The breakthrough achievements require support from a parallel breakthrough – formation tools that adapt alternative methods from organisation studies.