The article studies the use of project management technologies in educational training of specialists in the municipal field of culture of a large city in the Urals Federal District. The authors’ main task is to reveal the specific features of using project management technologies in a municipal university. According to the best national and international practice, the efficient training mechanism for the creative, independent thinkers generating constructive ideas, making decisions and pursuing the goals is the practice-oriented project-based learning involving regular projects of various complexity. Analysis of both Russian and international literature demonstrates that design objects in training are heterogeneous, variously subject-oriented and levelled. The research used such methods as document analysis, data integration, benchmarking, constructive matching and case-methods. The researchers ‘findings are also based on expert survey of leading cultural figures of a large city of the Ural and students of a municipal university. Results and scientific novelty: the research revealed that the management project practice, being the implementation of the locally connected projects based on network partnership and the principles of comprehensiveness, connectedness and complementarity, is the mechanism of sustainable reproduction of managers and those in the field of culture. The method of project training based on the regular fulfillment of management projects of increasing complexity by students is used to achieve a new level and quality of training in the field of art and culture and to develop competencies of international level.