From Passion to Paycheck: Financially Creative Practices among Cultural Entrepreneurs

Cultural and creative entrepreneurs have been increasingly expected to be financially independent, adaptive, and resilient actors within the broader context of shrinking public subsidies and increasing marketization. This tension is also visible in Rotterdam, a city with socially engaged cultural practices. Yet, there is limited access to funding. This thesis sets out to investigate how cultural entrepreneurs in Rotterdam engage in financially creative practices. It researches what cultural entrepreneurs strategize in order to sustain their work in an unstable funding environment. The central research question guiding this study is: How do cultural entrepreneurs in Rotterdam engage in financially creative practices, and how do these practices contribute to the sustainability and development of their artistic enterprises? The qualitative study has ten semi-structured interviews at its core. Cultural entrepreneurs from various disciplines are included, like visual arts, design, performance, fundraising, and collective organization. The analysis within the research is framed by Teresa Amabile's (1983) Componential Theory of Creativity. The theory identifies three key components of creative action: domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant processes, and intrinsic task motivation. The theory provides a lens for deeper understanding of the question at hand. Understanding financial creativity within artistic practices not as survival, but as an extension of creative agency in general. The findings of this study reveal how financial creativity is present in multiple strategies. These include patchworking of income sources, engaging in space-sharing arrangements, and leveraging personal and professional networks. These practices show short-term resilience within the CCI of Rotterdam. The financial sustainability of cultural entrepreneurs is thus rooted in constant improvisation. Little time or capacity is available for strategic planning. A key finding of the research was that phenomenon that financial creativity in essence is rooted in structural limitations of the current funding systems. The current economic landscape for cultural entrepreneurs is one where there is reluctancy and unknowingness about adopting entrepreneurial identities, stemming from their strong intrinsic motivations. The study concludes that cultural policy needs to support financial and organizational capacities of independent practitioners. At the same time, cultural entrepreneurs must embrace their dual role as both artists and economic agents.