Professional Self-Structuration in the Arts: Sustaining Creative Careers in the 21st Century

In this paper, we investigate the ongoing, self-motivated activity called freelancing or self-employment, and explore ideas about the entrepreneurial competencies needed to conduct a sustainable work life in the arts. We present the findings of a comparative concept analysis of three concept clusters concerning working in the arts and creative sector: Portfolio of jobs, Portfolio of hybrid practices, and the Portfolio/Protean career. We relate these concept clusters to ideas about arts entrepreneurship and professionalism in the arts in order to investigate our research questions: How do cultural workers/artists in today’s social context create economically and creatively sustainable careers? What can we learn from their experiences about broader questions of the cultural value of art, the ongoing trend toward professionalization, and the changing roles of the worker and the entrepreneur in 21st-century economic life? To begin to answer these questions, we undertake a conceptual literature review and use conceptual mapping as a primary tool. We draw on a critical analysis of research, practice, and policy, as well as numerous discussions and interviews with creative professionals and the authors’ own experiences with educating students who aim to become cultural workers in the creative sector. Based on our findings, we developed the Integrated Model for Self-Structuring Portfolio Professions. This model demonstrates how incomes and work practices tend to be clustered into portfolios that are self-structured by individual creative workers, acting as the entrepreneurs in their own career management and sustainability.