The magnified precariousness of the CCS coupled with the multiple repercussions (economic, professional, social, emotional, etc. …) on the people working in the CCS caused by the pandemic made us go back again to Schumpeter’s creative destruction theory and explore agile and resilient strategies based on existing resources. In order to make ends meet, we believe that there is a need to develop and experiment new sustainable and circular business models in tandem with addressing the CCS from a cultural entrepreneurship perspective. This recovery strategy is two-fold: First, delivering innovative business tools which are adapted to the ongoing trends of sustainability, circular economy, and CCS-oriented managerial techniques; Second, coaching and mentoring CCS’s decision-makers towards better entrepreneurship.
As far as the cultural built heritage is concerned, it entails the use of specific business models, such as the circular business model for the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage developed by the authors under the framework of H2020 project CLICFootnote 2 (Saleh et al. 2020; Ost and Saleh 2021). Such adapted business models are helpful to embed conservation projects or adaptive reuse projects within a broader documentation of the place, relying on elaborated participatory approach, consistent with UNESCO s Historic Urban Landscape recommendation. It also entails coaching and mentoring conservation specialists, architects, and art historians towards managerial attitudes (not just management tools) and creative behaviour.
However, before describing what an entrepreneurial journey entails, a mapping of the needs and challenges was deemed necessary. For this reason, a survey addressing professionals from the CCS interested in starting an entrepreneurial journey was launched.
Under the framework of the cultural entrepreneurship project C-SHIP at ICHEC Brussels Management School, the survey was open from 19 October until 4 November 2020. It was available on ICHEC’s Social Media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn); circulated to the authors’ professional network via email; and kindly hosted by creatives unite, the artists and creatives community COVID-19 resource platform operated by the European Creative Hubs Network and the Goethe-Institut as part of Creative FLIP.Footnote 3 100 respondents participated in the survey from various age-rages.
5.1 Composition of the sample
58% of respondents were females and 42% were males representing 27 countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Malta, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, USA, United Kingdom) (Figs. 3 and 4).
The respondents were asked to select the cultural and creative sector in which they work and were provided with a list based on the concentric circles model of the cultural industries (Throsby 2001) (Fig. 5) except for fashion and sound recording for which no answers were registered. From the core creative arts category, performing arts was the highest participating sector group with 21% followed by 17% of respondents from the visual arts sector. While only 6% of respondents were from the music sector; and 3% from the literature sector. From the category other core cultural industries, the museum sector was the highest participating sector group with 11%; followed by 8% of respondents from the film industry; 4% from the photography sector; and only 1% of respondents from both gallery and library sectors. As per the related industries, architecture was the highest participating sector group with 7% followed by 2% of respondents from both the advertising and design sectors. Finally, the wider cultural industries category registered heritage services as the highest participating sector group with 13% followed by 2% of respondents from publishing and print media sector and only 1% of respondents from both television and radio and video and computer games/apps sectors (Fig. 6).
In terms of experience in the cultural field (Fig. 7), 28% of respondents represented experienced professionals of 10–15 years of experience, 19% represented seasoned professionals of more than 20 years of experience and 15% represented senior professionals of 15–20 years of experience, 13% represented mid-level professionals of 5–10 and 25% represented junior professional of 1–5 years.
When asked about the organization in which they work (Fig. 8), 30% declared to be self-employed; 26% working for the private for profit, 23% employed in the public sector; 17% working in Non-Governmental Organizations and only 1% working in an Intergovernmental Organization. Since we intended to map the variety of existing organizations, we added also the option ‘other’. Two additional categories were added by two respondents identifying themselves as artists, as follows: ‘part-time in an NGO and freelancing in the CCS’; and ‘part-time in a public organization not from the CCS (school) and freelancing in the CCS’. Although these two contributions do not add up to the organization category, they do instead emphasis the precariousness of cultural and creative professionals. On this same note, one of the two artists commented: ‘Your questionnaire doesn’t accommodate multiple professions, and sources of income, which is key to our sector’.
When asked about their practiced profession (Fig. 9), 62% of respondents declared one profession, 26% practiced two, 9% practiced three and 3% practiced four different jobs. This shows the different hats a creative professional has to wear in order not to abandon the artistic and creative dream while making a living.
We tried to investigate whether there is a correlation between experience and the number of practiced jobs. Out of the 25 junior professionals (1–5 years), 17 practiced one job, 5 practiced two jobs, and 3 practiced three jobs (Fig. 10). Out of the 13 mid-level professionals (5–10 years), 7 practiced one job, 3 practiced two jobs, 2 practiced three jobs, and 1 practiced four jobs. Out of 28 experienced professionals (10–15 years of experience), 19 practiced one job and 9 practiced two jobs. Out of the 16 senior professionals (15–20 years), 12 practiced one job, 3 practiced two jobs and 1 practiced three jobs. Finally, out of the 18 seasoned professionals (more than 20 years), 8 practiced one job, 5 practiced two jobs, 3 practiced three jobs and 2 practiced four jobs. The survey demonstrates that no matter how experienced a CCS professional is, s/he still experience precarious jobs and work status. This is related to the already existing uncertainty of demand- and consequently to available jobs- and to the subjective self-evaluation for which ‘workers care about originality, technical professional skill, harmony, etc. of creative goods and are willing to settle for lower wages’ (Caves 2000, 2). This also explains why Throsby debates that remuneration is not an adequate criterion to define a cultural and creative professional ‘because of multiple job-holding amongst artists and because some professional artists may receive little or no remuneration over significant time periods in their working lives.’ (Throsby 2010, 2018).
With reference to employment (Fig. 11), 30% is self-employed, 23% work in the public sector, 25% work in the private for profit sector, 14% work in the Not-for-profit and 1% in IGO while 7% answered other.
The majority of respondents were self-employed professionals who usually struggle by virtue of their precarious working conditions, which are currently magnified because of the pandemic. The answers are in line with the dataset of the EurostatFootnote 4 (Eurostat 2019) which shows that one third (33%) of the cultural workforce is self-employed across the EU Member States, compared with an average of 14% for the whole economy.
This means that, although these professionals find it important to upskill, they might not have the financial means to enrol in an upskilling course. This is why, reaching out to policy-makers and impact investors interested in supporting professionals from the CCS either by providing scholarships or investing in their course project is key in the process. Not only, funders have also to review their funding structure and priorities allowing for flexible and agile funding. Seen the current circumstances, it is not possible to play by the book and continue business as usual. Beneficiaries are always requested to adapt and be inventive, can’t funders follow the same path and revise their evaluation and impact criteria?
5.2 Impact of COVID-19 on CCS’ activities
The aim of the survey was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 on CCS’s artistic business and activity in tandem with exploring interest in upskilling in sustainable and agile business management. As described here above, the cyclical framework of economic growth brings an endogenous incentive during the upward stage, and a constraint during the downward stage. All industries and economic activities are by definition cyclical, and dominantly pro-cyclical (the activity increase and decrease with the general economic conditions), otherwise, the cycle would not be like it is. Nevertheless, all economic activities are not timely correlated: some move earlier (leading), some are coincident to the main cycle, and some move later (lagging). As it has been explained previously, CCS are expected to be very sensitive to any change in the general economic conditions (GDP rate of growth), partly because they are low capital-intensive, their activity do not benefit from high productivity gains, and the uniqueness of their product and services (two performances of Beethoven’s symphony will be different). In other words, the CCS can be highly disrupted by a major upturn/downturn of economic fluctuations, and severely impacted in a crisis.
The next questions of the survey aimed to assess such impacts at the light of the expected sensitivity. Figures 11 and 12 show different management fields challenges before COVID-19. Not surprisingly the financial and commercial sides ranked highly. Noteworthy to mention that operational tasks were also at stake before the crisis. Those indications are in line with the expressed needs of the CCS in terms of continuing education and support.
Figure 13 depicts the ex-post assessment of COVID-19 impacts on the CCS activities. It shows how difficult the communication was during the crisis, with no surprise when we realize how erratic was the public communication at the same time, because of the so many unknowns and uncertainties about the new virus. The lagging communication in combination with pending responses from both funders towards the CCS and cultural institutions towards artists and freelancers crippled the collective reflection on alternative solutions. It is positive to underline that CCS’ professionals are eager to exploit new technologies for creativity and culture. It is clear that the global crisis is accelerating the mind shift and enriching it within the CCS with an artistic and creative interpretation of how to make the leap while keeping the artistic quality and measuring success and self-attainment differently. The pandemic speeded also a power shift within the sector between established cultural institutions and freelances. During the pandemic, we witnessed a growing independence of tech savvy artists, artistic collectives/companies and producers envisioning their work on digital platforms instead of physical ones coupled with autonomy in managing one’s own public. As the recent report of ITEM puts it forward, the autonomy path which started before the pandemic and was enhanced by it is twofold; physical and financial (Polivtseva 2020).
Figure 14 gives some indication about the needs a training programme would address. Focus is on the learning of what makes the world change, on which uncertainties we live with, and on how we can improve our behaviour to create and innovate. Clearly, the sample stresses on the big issues that the long wave explanation of the current crisis reveal: sustainability, innovations, peer-to-peer exchanges. Day-to-day operational tasks are less mentioned, not because the current needs are fulfilled already, but because the learning prioritizes heavy trends and not short-term techniques. Resilience is a very critical issue, and it is to be read above all from a work status angle since one third of respondents is self-employed. The recent report of the European Expert Network on Culture and Audio-visual which investigated the status and the working conditions of artists and creative professionals showed that a consistent number of freelancers from the sector haven’t been able to take advantage of any of the ad-hoc public rescue packages for various technical/bureaucratic reasons (EENCA 2020, 51). Moreover, the figure shows that there is a growing difficulty of project management and strategy. This is without doubt due to the uncertainties but also to new incumbent issues related to digital environment and copyrights. While fees were fixed based on live performances and an estimated audience in venues (theatres, museums, cultural centres, etc. …), broadcasted performances, artistic digital innovations and interactions reach out to a wider public. This poses a challenge on what would be the correct remuneration for all the professionals involved in the creative piece of work (artists, curators, authors, technicians, etc. …).
Finally, respondents are mostly interested in learning how to develop sustainable business models because by its intrinsic nature, the sector is content-driven and often lacks business management skills (Fig. 15). Such skills are crucial nowadays to access funding mechanisms (Kern 2020).