The Role of Cultural Entrepreneurship among impoverished artists in Africa in becoming more sustainable

In numerous developing countries, culture and art is not credited priority, despite their wealth and potential. In many African countries thus the cultural sector suffers severely. In Europe the cultural entrepreneur is often seen as a solution to all challenges. The question, however, is how this western concept is perceived in other cultures? This ethnographic study explores the cultural bounded perception of Ugandan creative on the most crucial challenges artists face and the role of cultural entrepreneurship in country. The paper compares western theoretical knowledge of entrepreneurship with practical African understanding of acting entrepreneurial. In-depth interviews were locally conducted with artists and directors from various art fields to unravel their cultural perception on the current art sector and their relation the entrepreneurship. From the findings why Ugandan artists underperform the market it was ascertained that the society mainly suffers from a lack of awareness and appreciation for the potential role of culture and arts in fostering economic and social development. The concept of the cultural entrepreneur is perceived in Uganda as a collective person who contributes to the good of the art sector. Even tough the role and skills are culturally shaped, the basic concept of entrepreneurship displayed various resemblances to the “western” type. This offers verification on a universal concept as well as universal traits of cultural entrepreneurship. This paper demonstrates that it is the fundamental characteristic of the entrepreneur and not its specific capacities, which make significant impact. The thesis provides a fundamental steppingstone to investigate whether entrepreneurship in fact can be key success for cultural sectors in developing countries.