For art's sake! Artistic and economic logics in creative production

Abstract

SummaryIn creative or cultural production, work practices are shaped by both artistic and economic logics of practice. We apply a practice theory-framework to qualitative research in German theatres and analyse (i) the nature of the relationship between artistic and economic logics of practice and (ii) how art and business as reference points influence creative production. Exploring logics of practice in theatre reveals a central paradox of creative production: economic logics tend to crowd out artistic logics, and thus endanger the resources vital to creative production. Consequently theatre actors and theatres, as organisations, have to develop means of safeguarding artistic logics of practice in order to delimit the influence of economic logics. The article shows that despite of this need, no respective organizational routines have emerged. Rather, human resource management practices in theatres are highly personalized and theatre artists have to find their own, idiosyncratic ways of dealing with the tension between artistic and economic logics. We argue that the central paradox in creative production, which is caused by the necessity to manage and market habitually incorporated non-economic norms and values, is also of crucial relevance for other, especially knowledge-intensive industries.

A Cultural Quest: A Study of Organizational Use of New Cultural Resources in Strategy Formation

“…For example, the diversity of cultural resources in the organizational repertoire put a strain on the organization, as product development was influenced by multiple ways of thinking about its products, production saw increasing product-line complexity, and marketing and distribution struggled to communicate coherently about a diverse product portfolio. These observations about the challenges of incorporating new cultural resources confirm arguments in existing research that the use of diverse cultural resources is fraught with risks (Weber 2005) and tensions (Eikhof and Haunschild 2007;Glynn 2000). At Alessi, however, these challenges were managed, in part, through the process of cultural repertoire enrichment.…”

“…Further, to the degree that organizational use of cultural resources has been investigated, researchers have stressed the strains and challenges that such attempts pose (Eikhof and Haunschild 2007;Glynn 2000;Weber 2005). The theoretical model that emerged from our data articulates a set of relationships that explain how organizations can incorporate new cultural resources from outside their industry registers to devise new strategies of action, to effect strategic change, and gain beneficial strategic outcomes.…”

“…Oakes, Townley, and Cooper (1998), for instance, document the tensions arising from the forced introduction of business concepts in the provincial museums and heritage sites of Alberta. Similarly, arts organizations that try to incorporate business concepts into their repertoire to become more commercially focused have been found to experience internal tensions (Fine 1992;Glynn 2000) due to the conflict between commercial considerations and the expressive function of arts (Eikhof and Haunschild 2007;Hirsch 1972). This research similarly suggests that organizations tend to use primarily cultural resources from their industry registers, and that doing otherwise is difficult and costly.…”

Artists and Multiple Job Holding—Breadwinning Work as Mediating Between Bohemian and Entrepreneurial Identities and Behavior

“…The self-fulfilment and possibilities of generating meaning in creative work thus seem to function as justifications of the often precarious work experiences artists face. As artists typically find themselves in precarious conditions relating to their artistic work, the majority are in need of other, incomebringing work (Eikhof & Haunschild, 2007;McRobbie, 2011). This other work may add to their precarious situation, which will be exemplified and discussed in this article.…”

Artistic Interventions That Tilt Organizations: Opportunities and Leadership Challenges

“…My research addresses an often-invisible actor and key aspects of artistic interventions, namely the intermediary and the bridging process that links the organization, the artist and employees working directly with the artist. An artistic intervention aims to disrupt the dominant economic logic that permeates most organizations with an artistic logic that can nurture creativity and innovation (Bourdieu, 1990;Eikhof and Haunschild, 2007). The disruption of an intervention brings an artist's open process to idea generation and concept development, thereby aiding organizational and individual development, particularly in work relating to the fuzzy front end of the innovation process.…”