Arts and cultural entrepreneurship

Abstract

The topic of arts and culture in entrepreneurship holds great interest to scholars from many disciplines and to policymakers keen on “Creative Class” development and revitalizing local communities. Much research has explored the role of cultural amenities and milieu in fostering entrepreneurial activity. Having artists and cultural sector workers around provides fertile ground for entrepreneurship. Yet when one looks beyond the highly aggregated correlations and case studies of entrepreneurial artists, research on the roles played by arts workers and the creative sector as entrepreneurial agents remains underdeveloped. This special issue advances the entrepreneurship literature through a collection of articles that explore the entrepreneurial roles, natures, and practices of artists. These articles address fundamental questions about the roles of creativity, entrepreneurship, and psychology as well as more applied questions about the use and implications of online crowd funding platforms and how arts entrepreneurs adapt to their experiences and environments. The excellent work by the contributors to this special issue contributes to the literature with rigorous scholarship and set the stage for more to come.