Creative Infrastructures: Artists, Money and Entrepreneurial Action

Creative Infrastructures is a collection of essays that explores the relationships between art, innovation, entrepreneurship, and money. It offers a theory for arts entrepreneurship that emphasizes means over ends, using illustrative case studies to show how it explains innovative efforts in culturally and racially diverse communities. The book aims to untie the knotty relationships between artists and entrepreneurship and answer how artists can make work and thrive in our late-capitalist society. It also considers topics such as how aesthetic and cultural value are transmitted, the tension between art and reproduction, and the recent foregrounding of the idea that art can produce positive social change.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 202 pages
Publication date: 24 January 2022
Publisher: Intellect Books

Creative Infrastructures is a groundbreaking collection of interconnected essays that delves into the intricate relationships between art, innovation, entrepreneurship, and money. Authored by Dr. Patricia Essig, a renowned expert in the field of arts entrepreneurship, this book offers a novel theoretical framework that emphasizes the importance of means over ends in driving innovative efforts within culturally and racially diverse communities.

The opening essay of the collection employs the powerful visual metaphor of the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, to challenge prevailing perspectives on the relationship between art and money. Essig suggests that art should be viewed as the head, representing creativity and innovation, while money should be seen as the tail, providing the necessary resources and support for artistic endeavors. The body of this dynamic relationship lies in innovation and entrepreneurship, which Essig defines as the process of implementing novel ideas that have a significant impact on a particular domain.

In essence, artists are the creators of something new and unique, and entrepreneurship is the mechanism that converts artistic innovation into capital, enabling artists to thrive and continue making art. Throughout the collection, Essig employs illustrative case studies to showcase how her theoretical framework explains a wide range of innovative initiatives in diverse cultural and racial communities.

Other essays in the collection explore various aspects of the art-entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as the transmission of aesthetic and cultural value from the artist to the audience, the complexities of balancing artistic integrity with the demands of the market, and the role of collaboration and networking in fostering artistic growth.

By untying the knotty relationships between artists and entrepreneurship, Creative Infrastructures provides valuable insights and strategies for artists seeking to navigate the challenges and opportunities of our late-capitalist society. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of art, innovation, and economic development.

Weight: 418g
Dimension: 169 x 244 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781789385717
Edition number: New ed