Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts
Volume 3, Issue 1
http://artivate.org
pp. 3-22
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THE “ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET” IN CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS
HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Vikki Pollard, Deakin Learning Futures, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
Emily Wilson, Higher Education Office, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, Melbourne,
Australia
Abstract
Creative and performing arts schools are increasingly facing the challenge of developing
curricula to address an employability agenda in higher education. Arts entrepreneurship
education is thought to address this need because it supports the unique nature of the work
circumstances of creative and performing arts graduates. As an emerging area of research, arts
entrepreneurship education faces the challenge of not only being relevant and important to
creative and performing arts education but of being robust enough to contribute to a “paradigm
shift” (Beckman, 2011, p. 29). With this in mind, this article attempts to clarify a recurring theme
of arts entrepreneurship education, this being the development of an “entrepreneurial mindset.”
We argue that if an entrepreneurial mindset is to be considered an essential aspect of arts
entrepreneurship education, educators need to have a good understanding of what it means and
how it might be taught. We examine data from four interviews with arts educators who have
responsibility for teaching arts entrepreneurship in creative and performing arts schools. Their
experiences enable us to clarify the meaning of an “entrepreneurial mindset” in a creative and
performing arts context in higher education and to make suggestions about teaching and learning.
Introduction
Increasingly, there is pressure on creative and performing arts schools in higher education
institutions to develop curriculum that addresses the employability of graduates. Such curriculum
must be reflective of the particular types of employment commonly experienced by creative and
performing arts graduates. Typical employment in the arts is by way of short-term projects and
contracts with high levels of self-employment (Bridgstock, 2011; Ball, Pollard, Stanley, and
Oakley, 2010; Throsby and Zednik, 2010; Brown, 2005). Arts entrepreneurship is a relatively
new discipline in creative and performing arts higher education and is currently attracting
attention due to the possibilities it affords to address graduate employability issues. However, as
an emerging area there is a need for further research that attempts to clarify the meaning of arts
entrepreneurship and explore how it is currently practiced. Beckman (2011) argues the need for a
paradigm shift to ensure that arts entrepreneurship is considered an academically robust and
integral aspect of creative and performing arts education. The aim of this article is to contribute
to this paradigm shift through an examination of an emerging and integral element in arts
entrepreneurship education, an “arts entrepreneurial mindset” (Essig, 2013; Beckman, 2007,
2011; Carey and Naudin, 2006; Gustafson, 2011).
In the following, we investigate the notion of an arts entrepreneurial mindset as it relates
to teaching in arts higher education through analyzing themes that arose from four interviews
conducted with creative and performing arts educators who have responsibility for teaching in
the area of arts entrepreneurship. These interviews revealed that an arts entrepreneurial mindset
has five important elements, each with an indelible link to creative practice via a firm focus on
the dissemination of creative work. These are 1) the capacity to think creatively, strategically,
analytically and reflectively, 2) confidence in one’s abilities, 3) the ability to collaborate, 4) welldeveloped communication skills and 5) an understanding of the current artistic context. We argue
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that these skills are important in higher education and our explication of these skills in arts
entrepreneurship education show how such education can make an important contribution to
creative and performing arts education more generally.
While our study is limited in that only four educators were interviewed, our findings
suggest that arts entrepreneurship education aims to develop skills, attitudes and abilities that, in
addition to assisting graduates to develop sustainable creative arts careers, also complements and
contributes to higher education more generally through the development of generic graduate
attributes. Our finding that the development of an arts entrepreneurial mindset also contributes in
unique and valuable ways to broader creative and performing arts educational outcomes is an
important step towards the necessary paradigm shift. This is because it positions arts
entrepreneurship education as enhancing the mainstream of performing and creative arts
education as it is understood in Australia. Further research with a larger number of participants is
necessary to further contribute to this understanding of arts entrepreneurship education.
Teaching for Employability
There is increasing pressure on institutes of higher education to improve graduate
employment outcomes. Cranmer (2006) refers to this as the “employability in higher education
agenda” (p. 170). In Australia, the federal government is the major funding body for universities.
Recently the government has:
made public funding partially contingent upon demonstrable graduate outcomes with an
emphasis on the production of “work ready” graduates who are competent within their
disciplinary fields and possess the abilities necessary to negotiate a world of work that is
in constant flux (Bridgstock, 2009, p. 31).
Creative and performing arts schools are facing unique challenges in terms of developing
employability curricula because their graduates do not generally experience the same type of
employment circumstances as graduates from other disciplines. They are far more likely to
experience what are known as “portfolio, protean or boundary-less careers” (McCowan and
Wyganowska, 2008, p. 30) characterised by high levels of self-employment, freelance work and
short-term contracts (Daniel and Daniel, 2013; Bridgstock, 2011; Ball et al., 2010; Throsby and
Zednik, 2010; Brown, 2005). Employment for these graduates does not usually involve a single
full-time job, “less than 50% of employment in the arts sectors involves a primary occupation –
people doing one type of work” (Summerton, 2001, quoted in Brown, 2005, p. 160).
The pressure to teach skills for employment is not limited to government policy. It also
emanates from students themselves who are asking to be taught skills that will enable them to
sustain a living. For example, a questionnaire of ninety-seven students from the performing arts
in the UK found that “ninety-two per cent [...] believed it was important or very important that
higher education should be preparing them for the world of work” (Brown, 2005, p. 161).
Bennett (2009) undertook a survey of over thirty dance graduates in order to investigate their
employment. When asked about changes to the bachelor degree curriculum in view of their
graduate experiences three key themes emerged; “career awareness and development, training in
different genres, and changes to course structure” (p. 32). The type of career awareness and
development activities suggested by the surveyed graduates included the following:
•

Include [a] unit involving business side of being an artist in the "real world."

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•
•
•
•

A better understanding of what happens after you've left [university].
Perhaps a more realistic view of how the "real world" operates.
More skills for surviving in the real world.
Be trained to establish our own work opportunities, otherwise the industry won't grow
and trained professionals are being wasted (p. 32)

Brown (2005) reports that a survey of UK members of the Musicians’ Union found that
that more than “90% of all respondents stated that they had received little or no preparation for
aspects of managing their careers” (p. 162). In light of these findings schools will need to
consider Bennett’s (2009) argument that “alongside ‘selling the dream’, pre-professional
education should open the door to the myriad opportunities within and beyond the cultural
industries” (p. 33).
Arts entrepreneurship education has been proposed as one way of addressing the
employability agenda of higher education and the unique circumstances of employment in the
arts. It is said to develop skills to navigate a career for a world in constant flux to which creative
practitioners can contribute their particular artistic skills. It is a relatively new area in creative
and performing arts higher education and has yet to achieve comprehensive recognition and
integration into the mainstream curriculum. There needs to be considerable research
investigating how it is understood and practiced in the field (Beckman, 2011). This is necessary
not only to support arts educators in their attempts to develop curricula but also to contribute to
developing arts entrepreneurship as a valid and integral aspect of creative and performing arts
education. Beckman argues that scholars in the field need to contribute to a paradigm shift of
understanding about arts entrepreneurship education: “We must not consider ourselves simply
arts entrepreneurship educators but pioneering scholars advancing a fundamental paradigm shift
in the outcome of arts training” (p.29). One of the aims of this article is to contribute to this shift
through analyzing the idea of an entrepreneurial mindset in the context of the creative and
performing arts education.
What does Arts Entrepreneurship Look Like? -- Two Approaches
Arts entrepreneurship is a fairly recent and ill-defined concept (HEA and NESTA, 2007;
Beckman, 2007; Brown, 2005). Beckman (2007) argues that there are two approaches to arts
entrepreneurship education: one focuses on teaching new venture creation and the other focuses
on transitioning students to professional careers.
The first approach, based on a business model, is common in arts entrepreneurship
education yet is problematic in several ways. First, it tends to disengage students more interested
in their own creative practice than in developing and running a business (Brown, 2005). This is
particularly the case when “the antagonism between art and business” (Eikhof and Haunschild,
2006, p. 234) is taken into consideration. This stems from the underlying assumption that money
harms rather than enables art (Beckman, 2007). Creative and performing arts students are far
more likely to identify as “living a lifestyle that is distinct and distinguished from the rest of
society, especially the bourgeoisie and business” (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2006, p. 234). Such a
lifestyle is characterized by creative fulfillment and artistic achievement being held in higher
esteem than financial reward. Students may not be intrinsically motivated at best and, at worst,
disengaged by an education comprising new venture creation that does not take into

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consideration their underlying values and motivations for embarking on a creative career and that
privileges the business values of profit-making over creative fulfillment.
The business model of arts entrepreneurship education may also prove alienating to
creative and performing arts students used to “the development of high level disciplinary creative
and technical skills, often through an intensive and rigorous studio experience” (Bridgstock,
2013, p. 125) grounded in experiential learning pedagogy. Business curricula also tend to neglect
not-for-profit, social, and cultural entrepreneurship (Kuuskoski, 2011; Phillips, 2010; HEA and
NESTA, 2007). While business curricula, especially financial management and marketing skills,
may have a place within arts entrepreneurship education, it is argued that they ought not to form
its pedagogical backbone. Thus, Beckman’s (2007) second form of arts entrepreneurship
education is seen to be more appealing for creative and performing arts students in general and
more appropriate in terms of making a scholarly contribution to creative and performing arts
education.
The second approach to arts entrepreneurship education as identified by Beckman (2007)
focuses on transitioning students to professional careers in the arts with a particular focus on
more intangible, behavioral aspects of entrepreneurship. He describes this stream as “concerned
with innovation in a professional environment and entrepreneurship education as training that
prepares students to behave in this manner” (p. 89, emphasis in original). The training involves
developing “entrepreneurial behavior [in an] arts culture, and the contextual integration of
intellectual skills” (p. 91). It is a demanding form of education and it requires a “new curricula
philosophy” (p. 95). This philosophy needs to encompass the development of business skills
contextualized “through an understanding of arts policy, arts culture, arts management, and
experiential opportunity” (p. 98). This philosophy addresses both “the intellectual and artistic
self” (p.98). This is a far more intellectually rigorous approach than simply introducing a course
in decontextualized business skills.
The wholesale adoption of business school curricula by creative and performing arts
education is as inadequate to teach students arts entrepreneurship as it is to contributing to a
paradigm shift to advance the understanding and importance of arts entrepreneurship in creative
and performing arts education (Beckman, 2011). The stream of arts entrepreneurship curriculum
focused on transitioning students to professional careers, with its aim to develop attitudes and
behaviors, is more appropriate for facilitating a paradigm shift. This is especially the case in
relation to a recurring theme in arts entrepreneurship education: the development of an
entrepreneurial mindset (Bennet, 2009; Essig, 2013; Carey and Naudin, 2006). The focus on the
development of said mindset is influenced by non arts-based entrepreneurship education. The
clarification of the mindset as it relates to arts entrepreneurship education can help make a
contribution to curriculum development and, quite possibly, to the paradigm shift as discussed by
Beckman (2007). Such clarification can be undertaken through examining how the concept has
been understood in entrepreneurship education and how it is currently understood in arts
entrepreneurship education theory and practice. Such knowledge can contribute to developing
new forms of arts entrepreneurship education.
The Entrepreneurial Mindset
A recurring theme in entrepreneurship education over the past decades is that
entrepreneurs have what has variously been described as having an “entrepreneurial perspective”
(Kuratko, 2005, p. 578), entrepreneurial “personal capabilities” (Laukkanen, 2000, p. 28),
“entrepreneurial mindset” (McGrath and MacMillian, 2000) and entrepreneurial “human
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characteristics and traits” (Ronstadt, 1987, p. 43). Currently, there is debate about the location of
the mindset: is it an essence? Is it cognitive? However, in spite of the debate, the idea itself
remains pertinent in higher education and, as seen below, is central to how arts entrepreneurship
education is understood and taught. In this section, we examine the idea of the mindset and the
changes to how it is understood. The individualist and essentialist understanding of the mindset
has recently given way to a “cognitive turn” (Deuning, 2010, p.3) that focuses on teaching
specific cognitive skills. This means that the individualistic nature of the mindset has shifted to
one that is more inclusive and outward looking. Further clarifying the arts entrepreneurial
mindset can make a contribution to this important shift in entrepreneurship education.
Traditionally, theories of entrepreneurship have focused on identifying the personality or
behavioral characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset (Duening, 2010). It was initially believed
that this mindset was innate to entrepreneurs; “early entrepreneurship researchers acted on the
belief that successful entrepreneurs possess personality traits that distinguish them from nonentrepreneurs” (Deuning, 2010, p. 4; Ronstadt, 1987). This meant that entrepreneurship
education was traditionally focused on instilling “the right human traits and characteristics”
(Solomon, 2000, p. 172). This was very much an education focused on the “single (heroic,
supercreative, etc.) individual who is key to everything” (Laukkanen, 2000, p. 30). It was also an
essentialist view as the mindset was thought to be inherent to particular personality types, and
therefore could not be taught.
Recently this type of personality trait approach has been reconsidered. This is a trend
reflected in other areas of research such as leadership and strategic management (Ford, 2010;
Villett and Vuillermot, 2005; Ireland et al., 2003). There are several reasons for this shift. First,
there is little research that supports the contention that there are certain personality traits peculiar
to entrepreneurs (Duening, 2010). A further reason is that attempting to instill personality traits
into students is ethically questionable. In relation to a similar approach in leadership research,
Ford (2010) argued that an approach based on instilling a set of personal capabilities is nothing
more than “a list of behaviors that need to be practiced, learned and finally acquired” (p. 50).
This approach is ethically questionable as it focuses on re-making individuals. Laukkanen (2000)
similarly describes this aspect of entrepreneurial education in the following manner; “prevalent
thinking of entrepreneurial education focuses upon single individuals. They are receivers, even
objects, to be transformed by and within a linear education process” (p. 28, emphasis in original).
Such an education does not pay attention to “more distant external goals” such as personal
satisfaction and contribution to the economy (p. 28). This type of individually focused,
“instilling” education has wider implications for higher education. Questions arise such as its
capability for developing ethical, critically thinking, and socially responsible students.
For these reasons, among others, there is a move to develop new ways of educating
entrepreneurs in higher education. One way in particular is making an impact. This is the
“cognitive turn” (Duening, 2010, p. 3) approach that posits that entrepreneurs think in a specific
manner. This changes the focus from instilling personality traits to teaching the habits of specific
cognitive and metacognitive skills. Some habits that have thus far been distinguished include
“cognitive rules that enable the management of risk and risk perception, the rapid vetting of […]
opportunities and the ability to manage ambiguity and failure” (p. 5). McGrath and MacMillan
(2000) define an entrepreneurial mindset as “the ability to rapidly sense, act and mobilize, even
under uncertain conditions” (p. xv). This definition clearly describes a way of thinking that is
comparable with Duening’s (2010) entrepreneurial habits of mind. Building on this definition,
Ireland et al. (2003) “define an entrepreneurial mindset as a growth oriented perspective through
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which individuals promote flexibility, creativity, continuous innovation and renewal” (p.968). It
is clear that these habits and ways of thinking are learned processes and that the focus has
shifted, from a special individual to the acquisition of cognitive habits of mind. Haynie et al.
(2010) build on the cognitive skills model and move the focus from interrogating the cognitive
skills that individuals use to identifying entrepreneurial opportunities to “the process through
which entrepreneurs develop and inform ‘higher-order’ cognitive strategies” (p. 217) or
metacognition. Haynie et al.’s (2010) “model of the entrepreneurial mindset is based upon
situating metacognitive processes in the entrepreneurial context” (p.217). Implicit within the
cognitive and metacognitive skills approach is the need for self-efficacy as an important precondition to support and successfully enact the entrepreneurial mindset (Mauer et al, 2009).
Mauer et al (2009) view this as a complex psycho-social process which has obvious benefits in
tolerating risk and uncertainty. Once again, self-efficacy was not found to be an inherent
disposition but could be developed by entrepreneurship education. This shift in the
entrepreneurial mindset from being based on personality traits and behavioral characteristics to
cognitive skills and metacognitive processes is seen both in business-oriented entrepreneurship
education and in arts entrepreneurship education.
Arts Entrepreneurial Mindset
The development of an entrepreneurial mindset is a recurring theme in arts
entrepreneurship (Bennett, 2009; Essig, 2013; Carey and Naudin, 2006). However, while there is
general agreement that the mindset is integral to arts entrepreneurship education, there is little
research that attempts to clarify how it is understood and integrated into teaching practice. This
lack of research into the practice of entrepreneurship education is also applicable more generally;
Fayolle (2013) notes this lack and strongly recommends more research. Clarification of the
mindset is important because the ways by which concepts are understood in higher education has
implications for how they are taught (Moore, 2001). The act of examining how an
entrepreneurial mindset is understood can reveal how it is practiced and facilitates further
development in the field. It is also important to note if the mindset is understood in arts
entrepreneurship education as an individualistic, essentialist kind or as one that is part of the
cognitive skills approach to entrepreneurship with its emphasis on teams, networks, personal
satisfaction and community contributions.
According to the literature, the development of an entrepreneurial mindset or “outlook”
(Bennett, 2009, p. 28) is integral to building a sustainable career in the arts. Carey and Naudin
(2006) reviewed a Creative Enterprise conference, followed up with a questionnaire of
participants, and found that there was a consensus that rather than simply imparting financial
skills,
the role that higher education could and should be playing is that of instilling the
“entrepreneurial spirit” amongst creative students. This could be achieved by
embedding attitudes and including entrepreneurial activities in project based work (p.
528).
Carey and Naudin (2006) identify entrepreneurial characteristics and habits fundamental to this
spirit. These include bringing people together, being well networked, being active in developing
new enterprises, and having confidence to bring new ideas to fruition (Carey and Naudin, 2006).
We can see that this is a cognitive skills understanding of the entrepreneurial mindset. No
mention is made of personality traits and the mindset itself is very outward looking.
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In a co-written introduction to the journal Artivate, Linda Essig claims that an
“entrepreneurial mindset accompanied by entrepreneurial skills” (Beckman and Essig, 2012, p.
6) can support artists to both make art and to “stock the refrigerator” (p. 6). In a later article,
Essig (2013) draws from the work of Gardner’s (2008) Five Minds for the Future and Deuning’s
(2010) development of these five minds to elaborate an entrepreneurial mindset. The habits of
mind necessary for creative entrepreneurs include collaboration and ideation skills, capacities of
self-reflection, an ethical approach and the ability to set goals (Essig, 2013). It is important to
note the addition of ethics in Essig’s findings. This is an example of the external goals as
described by Laukkanen (2000).
The entrepreneurial mindset as understood in the literature of creative arts education
highlights both business and artistic acumen. This is a point of difference from more general
entrepreneurship education and points to the need to develop more specific arts entrepreneurship
curriculum and techniques. Aggestam (2007) defines an arts entrepreneur as “an individual who
has an entrepreneurial mindset in response to two triggers for the entrepreneurial act” (p. 32).
These triggers are extrinsic, being business-oriented, and intrinsic, being the need to create
something artistic. The business trigger is “a way of thinking about your business that captures
the benefits of uncertainty” (McGrath and MacMillan, as cited in Aggestam, 2007, p. 35) relating
primarily to new venture creation and the artistic trigger is related to artistic achievement. Both
triggers must be activated for a successful arts entrepreneur to experience both creative
fulfilment and the commercial exploitation of that creativity.
The differences between general entrepreneurship education and arts entrepreneurship
education is noted by Hong et al. (2011) who write that particular entrepreneurship skills, habits
of mind and teaching approaches are specifically required for arts entrepreneurship education.
Pedagogies cannot be imported wholesale from business entrepreneurship education. They argue
that as well as developing beyond general entrepreneurship education, pedagogy needs to shift
from a dependency on funding to the development of an entrepreneurial mindset characterised by
independence, flexibility and adaptability within the context of arts and culture.
This review of the literature allows us to argue that, much the same as in general
entrepreneurship education more broadly, arts entrepreneurship education gives the
entrepreneurial mindset a central place. However, the entrepreneurial mindset is currently
understood as being developed through habits of thinking and the development of specific
cognitive skills rather than the outdated approach of instilling personality traits. These habits
include collaboration, reflection, business acumen and creative practice. However, how this type
of education is practiced remains largely under-researched. Such research can contribute to both
how the mindset is understood and to future curricular development and practice. In the next
section, we review data collected during a pilot study of arts educators and their attitudes towards
and experiences of teaching entrepreneurship in an arts context. This form of study, despite its
small size, can make a contribution to arts entrepreneurship education because it explores an
under-researched area. As such, it paves the way for larger studies that aim to understand if the
entrepreneurial mindset is a cogent element of an education in arts entrepreneurship.
Methodology
The findings in this article are based on a pilot study that examined the understandings of
and teaching approaches to arts entrepreneurship in Victoria, Australia from the perspective of
arts educators who teach subjects concerned with arts entrepreneurship and enterprise skills
development. The pilot was undertaken as a way of contributing to local curriculum
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development and to the larger issue of arts entrepreneurship education. It is hoped that a larger
study will be undertaken in the future. The pilot adopted elements of Bridgstock’s (2013) study
in which nine in-depth interviews with award-winning Australian artists and designers were
undertaken in order to gain insight into the professional capabilities for twenty-first century
creative careers and the implications for higher education. The elements adopted in the pilot
were: a qualitative study with data primarily collected through in-depth, semi-structured
interviews, a small number of participants, and criterion sampling for participant selection
(Patton, 2002).
The pilot received ethics approval from the university hosting the study and the institutes
in which the participants work. The participants were chosen using criterion sampling and were
sourced through Internet research of institutions’ websites and by word-of-mouth. Two
participants from universities and two from the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector
were interviewed. The TAFE sector in Victoria, Australia traditionally teaches Vocational
Education and Training (VET) to the level of Advanced Diploma (Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF level 6). In 2009, the TAFE sector was given permission to develop and
deliver undergraduate degrees (AQF level 7). These degrees are also considered vocationallyoriented (Wheelahan, Moodie, Billett, and Kelly, 2009). It was thought that, due to the vocational
focus, lecturers in the higher education area of TAFE would be particularly open to engaging
with arts entrepreneurship and enterprise skills and would provide rich insight and a somewhat
different perspective from the university sector. The participants were selected based on their
years of experience lecturing in higher education in the creative and preforming arts (between
five and eleven years) and having current responsibility for teaching and/or coordinating subjects
concerned with arts entrepreneurship.
Qualitative naturalistic inquiry was chosen as the research approach. This method was
chosen because the aim of the research was to explore how arts entrepreneurship education is
understood and practiced in higher education. We also wished to involve the participants in such
a manner that they would benefit professionally. This is particularly necessary due to the limited
amount of research in arts entrepreneurship education. For this reason, we needed a method that
was directed towards understanding teaching practices in order to influence future
understandings and practices. Naturalistic inquiry was chosen due the explicit focus it has on
practice, the closeness it requires to participants and the acceptability of small numbers of
participants.
The aim of naturalistic inquiry in educational research is not to make generalizations
using large amounts of data but to influence future practice through the presentation and analysis
of experiences.
The naturalistic researcher seeks to present selected raw data-portrayals of actual
teaching and learning problems, witnessings of observers who understand the reality of
the classroom, words of the people involved. These raw data provide the reader with
vicarious experience which interacts with her existing naturalistic generalizations, formed
previously from her particular experience (Stake and Trumbull, 1982, p. 3).
Due to the centrality of experience, naturalistic research is “very dependent upon
context” (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper and Allen, 1993, p. 16). It is encouraged that researchers
undertake research in a “natural setting” (p. 16). Sample sizes in naturalistic inquiry may be
small and findings not easily generalizable. The purpose of such research is not, however, to

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make generalizations from large samples but, as is seen in the quote above, to enable
practitioners to have vicarious experiences that can then impact upon their future practice.
We chose to collect the data in this project through undertaking in-depth, semi-structured
interviews at a site chosen by the interviewees. Further to that, we contributed to the future
practice of the participants by sending a draft copy of the report and asked for any comments.
They were also supplied with a final copy. In this way, we intended to contribute to their future
practices just as they had contributed to the future practices of our readers.
Findings
Four participants were selected and assigned pseudonyms (Jeff, William, Missi and
Diana). All of the participants maintain a concurrent professional creative practice alongside
their academic positions that provides the valuable perspective of a practicing professional. The
primary creative and performing arts disciplines of the participants are graphic design, design,
music, and creative writing. Three of the participants teach within a single discipline and one
participant teaches a cross-disciplinary subject in addition to teaching within their discipline.
Two participants are full-time academics and two are part-time. Two of the participants teach at
both undergraduate and postgraduate level, the other two only at undergraduate level. One
participant has course coordination responsibilities and all of the participants have subject
coordination responsibilities and experience developing arts entrepreneurship related curricula.
All of the participants teach in higher education performing and creative arts courses.
For this article we focused on the themes that arose in relation to current understandings
of an arts entrepreneurial mindset as they had arisen in the literature review. Our findings begin
with a definition of arts entrepreneurship, we then look at issues impacting upon teaching arts
entrepreneurship and last, we analyze what was said that could be considered an element of an
arts entrepreneurial mindset.
Defining Arts Entrepreneurship
In order to interpret arts educators’ views on what constitutes an arts entrepreneurial
mindset, it is first necessary to determine exactly how the participants understand the term arts
entrepreneurship. All the participants demonstrated a clear understanding of the term that was
focused on the dissemination of creative work. This view was expressed concisely as:
Having the capacity to create your own market. (Missi)
There was consensus around this definition. The other participants similarly described it as:
Entrepreneurship to me is related more specifically to the business subset of that, which
is to do with the simple broadcasting, marketing, getting your work out there. (Jeff)
Arts entrepreneurship says they go out on their own and they create something and find a
market for it. So arts entrepreneurship teaches them the commercial edge to creativity.
(Diana)
As well as having a clear understanding of arts entrepreneurship, all four of the participants
strongly identified the word “entrepreneurship” itself as being problematic. The negative feelings
towards the term were identified as relating to notions of identity as a creative artist that were
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often seen as the polar opposite of being an entrepreneur. This was related to the underlying
tension between art and money. Missi summed up these adverse feelings:
Is it the word entrepreneurship that is turning people off? Yes it is... I’ve run my own
business in writing for years, and I think, was I an entrepreneur? Yes I was, but do I call
myself that, no, I call myself a writer. (Missi)
Implications for Teaching and Learning
The definition of arts entrepreneurship shared by the participants has a number of
implications for teaching and learning. Despite the issues with the word “entrepreneurship,” all
the participants thought it essential that students be taught arts entrepreneurship skills; they
considered them vital skills for students to navigate a creative career. The participants thought it
best not to teach arts entrepreneurship via a traditional business model because they viewed arts
entrepreneurship as emanating from creative practice rather than a business idea and therefore
being fundamentally different in context, process, and underlying motivation from businessoriented entrepreneurship. A specific arts-based model of entrepreneurship education that
recognizes creativity and the need for creative achievement as equally or more important than
financial gain was mentioned as more appropriate for students.
I think it [arts entrepreneurship education] should emanate from creativity. I don’t think
the students should look at a business proposition first and foremost. I think they should
understand what their creativity is and develop that … and then look at the means of
production. (William)
An interesting finding was that being an entrepreneur could be seen as being very similar to
being an artist.
An artist is an entrepreneur in their own field. Because if an entrepreneur is someone who
brings us something new and takes a risk to do it, if that’s the definition you work to,
that’s what these guys do. (Diana)
Jeff also clearly saw a link between being an artist and an entrepreneur:
Basically the entrepreneurship, I view that as the self-starter, the capacity to make
something happen. And that’s very artistic. (Jeff)
Recognizing the synergy between creative practice and arts entrepreneurship points to a way to
overcome the issues with the word “entrepreneurship.” However, the participants did not think
that business skills should be ignored but rather should be context-specific and tailored to the
students’ aspirations to artistic careers and the nature of the work environments they will
encounter. Diana refers to this as developing a “commercial approach” in students.
Now I call it commercial approach – how you think about the world in which you are
designing, where do you want to fit? (Diana)

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On the importance of context specific teaching and learning, Jeff said:
Make them see the relevance of any financial management...don’t teach them how to run
petrol stations, teach them something that clearly extrapolates to their life …so they can
see themselves in the picture. (Jeff)
The Postgraduate Perspective
One of the findings that we thought was interesting in terms of implications for both
teaching arts entrepreneurship and developing an entrepreneurial mindset was that post-graduate
students more readily engaged with arts entrepreneurship. While only two of the participants
taught at the post-graduate level, both mentioned noticeable differences between these students
and undergraduates. Missi highlighted that the post-graduate students quickly realized the value
of arts entrepreneurship skills as a result of their real-life experience, first-hand experience of the
employment realities of the creative industries, and the stage they were at in establishing their
artistic careers.
I’d have to tell you my experience is they’ve always wanted to run their own business.
It’s not actually driving it that way. What they are seeing more is that they need better
skills at it. So it’s actually the nexus between their creative arts practice and being able to
do it for a living. (Missi)
This contrasts with the undergraduate students who Missi noted enter a creative and
performing arts program with their artistic discipline foremost in their mind and have a relatively
short time in which to hone their skills. This, in some ways, obscures the importance of
employability skills, in particular the skills to work as a freelancer that are often necessary to
derive a living from creative practice early in artistic careers.
The [undergraduate] students don’t see the value early enough, they are caught up in their
practice; it’s three years, a pressure cooker. (Missi)
The intrinsic motivation with which students focussed on developing their artistic skills
in contrast to other areas was noticed by Jeff. He observed that students often engaged more
easily with their creative practice than with skills to facilitate employment.
Artists tend to pursue their art with great passion. It’s not hard to talk people into working
on their music. Is it hard to get people to necessarily embrace the business side of it?
Sometimes it’s a little harder to get them on board to just realize how important it is and
how much it could restrict their opportunities. (Jeff)
Post-graduate students on the other hand, have further developed their art, have more
confidence in their artistic ability and were at the stage of seeking out additional skills to
continue their career development.
What they saw of value was actually the business side. So they are at the point where
they are setting up small businesses […] and it was all about how to get their small
business functional […] what skills do you need for that. (Missi)
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Diana, who also taught at the Masters level also noticed this difference:
The Masters [students], totally different group [from undergrad] and absolutely
entrepreneurs, very much. (Diana)
She also noted the difference in teaching a post-graduate class due to their life experience and
contrasted it to an undergraduate class:
What I like about postgrad is sometimes I can sit back and watch them do the class…I
watch them talk, reflect, argue, challenge…and I’m sitting there thinking this is how
learning should be...I find the undergrads…are not curious, they are not challenging
thought, they certainly wouldn’t know if I was contemporary or I was taking it out of a
book and doing it by rote…They have gone to school, university, they live at home most
of them. (Diana)
The differences highlighted between post-graduate and undergraduate students in the
acquisition of arts entrepreneurship skills imply that not only does arts entrepreneurship
education need to be unique in context, process, and methods from business entrepreneurship
curriculum, it also needs to be specifically targeted to the different stages of career development
and likely employment circumstances of both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
What’s in a “Mindset?”
One of the main aims of this paper is to contribute to shifting the paradigm of arts
entrepreneurship. Doing so can support curriculum development and support the case for
embedding arts entrepreneurship more fully into creative and performing arts education. In this
section, we clarify what is meant by an “arts entrepreneurial mindset” through exploring the
themes that arose from the participants’ responses. The data revealed that the following five
elements are integral constituent elements of an arts entrepreneurial mindset; 1) capacity to think
creatively, strategically, analytically and reflectively, 2) confidence in one’s abilities, 3)
collaborative abilities, 4) communication skills and 5) an understanding of the current artistic
context.
Creative, Strategic, Analytical and Reflective Thinking
Developing particular capacities of thought were an integral aspect of arts
entrepreneurship for the participants. In the participants’ view, creative thinking was an essential
aspect of arts entrepreneurship. It addressed the ability to develop new ideas, processes, and
creative outputs and the ability to deeply understand one’s creative practice through reflective
practice, in this instance applied to the dissemination of creative work, through creating a market
or developing an audience for it.
They would need to develop their skills and knowledge and innovate and apply it in a
very original way. You secure work, finally on the strength of your talent and your
originality [...] They have to be able to conceptualize, develop new ideas, formulate
creative schemes, ideas, just work across a lot of applications. (William)

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Missi said that the ability to know one’s self and one’s art underpinned by reflective thinking
forms the basis for a business plan.
We ask them to write an artist manifesto, and in that manifesto they need to justify their
arts practice to themselves…that’s what underpins the business plan and that’s why it’s
different to a standard business plan. (Missi)
She stated that this type of knowing underpinned by analytical and strategic thinking about your
art in order to develop an audience was conspicuously missing in creative and performing arts
education.
Almost everybody does not identify their market, they assume everyone will love my
work. (Missi)
I think one of the most important elements of creative entrepreneurship is getting people
to think strategically and getting people to see opportunity. (Missi)
Analytical, strategic and reflective thinking was also considered an essential capacity for
arts entrepreneurship. In many ways, these three capacities of thought are interwoven and could
come under the umbrella term “analytical thinking.” This manner of thinking includes the ability
to make judgments, to find opportunities and take advantage of these opportunities, to analyze
how their work fits into a market place, the ability to reflect on the development of their work
and the relationship between this and its dissemination. William said he teaches students to,
“analyze and assess the market that they are going into, the people they are working for.” Missi
reflected that, “it’s important to get students to accept the journey [of being an artist] and getting
them to analyze more accurately where they fit in is great.”
Confidence
Developing confidence in one’s abilities recurred as an important element of an
entrepreneurial mindset. One of the reasons mentioned for developing confidence and associated
self-promotion skills is to create a market for creative practice and that, without it, artistic talent
may be overlooked.
It runs the risk that people with the greater promotional skills may go better than the
people who are terrific artists with no self-promotion skills and that’s why I think it’s
very important for students to understand this. (Jeff)
William argued for the importance of being confident in one’s abilities.
They need to develop confidence and really need to communicate and you don’t have to
be a wonderful speaker, but you have to speak with a certain passion and sell your skill
and what you have to offer. (William)
Confidence is linked to the ability to cope with the harsh world of business.

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It’s the capacity to believe in yourself much more …than in business…to have resilience
to know how to cope. (Missi)
Collaborative Abilities
An important constituent element of an “arts entrepreneurial mindset” that emerged in the
interviews was the ability to collaborate, network and be flexible.
Now it’s imperative that you are a collaborator, you understand interdisciplinary work.
(William)
Collaboration was identified in the sense of having a broad skill set to work across
different areas of the creative industries as well as being a vital skill in order to create a market
for creative practice. Collaboration is an area that is perhaps not as strong as it could be in the
creative and performing arts as students are often not natural collaborators, so, again, here is an
area in which arts entrepreneurship can support and strengthen the broader creative and
performing arts education. Exploring this in the subject she teaches, Missi said:
A lot of our emphasis is to realize there are other people they can call on. That’s the value
they see. Quite often there’s a selfishness inherent in being an arts practitioner, a self
focus certainly. So to actually get out and do the other […] that’s what they find difficult
and that’s what we’re moving towards – to get people to recognize that they don’t have to
do it alone.
This proclivity to work collaboratively varies somewhat by discipline. Practitioners in
disciplines such as dance, theatre, or music are often working in ensembles in contrast to the
often solo efforts of a writer or visual artist. However, even within disciplines such as dance,
theatre, and music, Missi described her students as often preferring to work with students from
within their discipline rather than other disciplines. In her subject they form inter-disciplinary
groups that work collaboratively to stage a performance. This provides valuable learning
experiences in collaborating outside of their usual discipline.
They are inclined to work in their discipline area, so what I do…I break them up
…there’s a dancer and a visual artist and a filmmaker and …drama … a writer…they’ve
got to develop a project…and with that they are being taught to work with each
other…the ability to work amongst, with a whole range of different people. (Missi)
Jeff was interested in teaching students how to make judgments about who they get involved
with in the music industry.
[It’s] in students’ best interest – to have entrepreneurial skills…even if that means they’re
excellent at making judgments about which member of the industry they deal with. Just
to have a nuanced understanding of what they actually do to make good judgments. (Jeff)
The skills developed through collaboration include “problem-solving, negotiating…giving them
the skills for that” (Missi).

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Communication Skills
Another element of an “arts entrepreneurial mindset” is the ability to communicate
effectively in order to create a market or develop an audience for creative practice. All four of
the educators agreed this was an important skill. Communication skills in an arts
entrepreneurship sense meant, according to the participants, things such as the ability to put ideas
forwards and a command of social skills.
You have to be able to think, to put ideas forward and that means thinking like a
designer, having communicative and social skills. (William)
Communication skills underpinned a number of elements of an entrepreneurial mindset
mentioned above. For instance, using reflective thinking skills to deepen their understanding of
their creative practice in terms of creating a market for it then required communication skills to
discuss their work.
It’s actually getting them to reflect on their processes and it doesn’t have to be academic
per se. It does mean that they are going to be able to deepen their capacity to talk about
their work, which is vital. (Missi)
Communication skills were vital for students in regards to having confidence in one’s
abilities and to promote their creative practice. Once again, collaboration also required
communication skills to enable students to work with others to network in order to create a
market and develop an audience for creative practice.
Understanding of Current Artistic Context
Finally, we suggest that understanding current artistic context is a necessary part of an
“arts entrepreneurial mindset.” This encompasses the ability to know what is current in terms of
artistic trends and values, popular and artistic culture, and the cultural policy environment in
order to know how your art fits in, how it can challenge the cultural moment and how you can
reflect on your work through contemporary currents.
You need an awareness of what is going on very currently. You need know what is
happening not just in your town but globally… And then you need to contextualize your
work in the current design trends. (William)
To illustrate this, he used the example of students in Manchester who go into the community
with their art:
It was an association with the immediate popular culture and if you’re in the vanguard, at
the cutting edge of creativity you must be aware of and tap into the popular culture of
your immediate surrounds and the environs and the expectation of it. …You need to be in
tune with what’s going on at the very moment. (William)
Jeff spoke at length about examining artistic context to identify arts entrepreneurship
opportunities without giving up values of artistic integrity:

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Understanding artistic choice comes under my take on an industrial view of music... Look
at the idea of genre, study the cross overs, they really crossed over that sound and it’s
very mainstream and they moved from a subculture across and I’m most interested in that
moment where it still seems authentic and it still has truth to people but it just
extrapolates out and it freakily hits a nerve. (Jeff)
Jeff also mentioned the need to have an artistic and cultural awareness in terms of policy:
We tend to look at entrepreneurship as just … the cold hard reality of bums on seats …
But there’s also this other notion of cultural policy and I think it’s very important that
students have an understanding of that too … this legitimacy of supporting a vibrant
culture. (Jeff)
Discussion and Conclusion
Our analysis of four interviews of highly experienced arts educators has contributed to
understanding what it means to teach arts entrepreneurship and what constitutes an arts
entrepreneurial mindset. All the participants had a problem with the word “entrepreneurship.”
This was due to its links with money that was thought not to align with the fundamental
motivation of being an artist. This finding re-emphasizes that made by Eikhof and Haunschild
(2006) about creative and performing arts students identifying with a bohemian lifestyle
characterized by creative fulfillment over financial reward and uneasiness with the word
“entrepreneur” based on its negative associations with unchecked capitalism (Bonin-Rodriguez,
2012). However, this tension clashes slightly with the idea that artists and entrepreneurs have
similarities. In view of this, we suggest that when teaching arts entrepreneurship the similarities
are made explicit. This is to encourage students to begin to identify as both arts entrepreneurs
and creative practitioners. This has the potential to challenge the current dichotomy of being an
artist or being an entrepreneur. Students need to be consistently enabled to develop an integrated
identity.
In the interviews, the term “arts entrepreneurial mindset” was mentioned rarely.
However, the data did reveal information that is useful to re-thinking the constituent elements of
an arts entrepreneurial mindset. This is not a matter of imposing the mindset upon the data but of
re-thinking a concept that proved important in the literature review. This type of re-thinking of
concepts in view of experience is an important element of naturalistic inquiry (Stake and
Trumbull, 1985). We were able to discern five constituent elements of the mindset. These are 1)
the capacity to think creatively, strategically, analytically and reflectively, 2) confidence in one’s
abilities, 3) the ability to collaborate, 4) well-developed communication skills and 5) an
understanding of the current artistic context. While these elements are somewhat generic in
higher education, especially if the usual graduate attributes are taken into account, the
distinguishing feature is that these elements are integrally linked to students’ creative practices,
in particular the dissemination of creative work. The constituent elements of an arts
entrepreneurial mindset that emerged in this study are consistent with the cognitive and
metacognitive skills understanding of “entrepreneurial mindset” as discussed in the earlier
literature review rather than any inherent personality traits.
The link between creative practice and entrepreneurship (“don’t teach them how to run
petrol stations” (Jeff)) emerged as the defining element of arts entrepreneurship education in
this study. Any programs designed to teach business skills, career skills, and enterprise
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development to creative and performing arts students are effective when creative practice is the
defining core. In courses designed in this way, students are given the opportunity to place their
art at the core of skills being learned to freelance in the creative industries or develop a creative
enterprise. This will benefit their artistic practice, as they will learn to think about it in different
ways. The close link between the dissemination of creative practice and the business side of art
might also help to shift the paradigm towards widespread acceptance of arts entrepreneurship in
creative courses in the minds of other creative and performing arts educators.
The term “arts entrepreneurship” is in need of re-consideration. All four of the educators
found the term clumsy in that it alienated students. This possibly forms a barrier in terms of
further acceptance and development of the field. We are led to suggest that an area for further
study is re-conceptualizing and redefining the term. It needs to be more clearly linked with the
creative aspirations of students, who are more focused on developing their art than on selling
their art. It is equally the case that the term “entrepreneurial mindset” may also be in need of reconceptualizing. As it currently stands, it may be too closely linked with the business world.
Students recognize the need for arts entrepreneurship skills but it is not automatically part of
their self-identity and the skills we identified in our study are not necessarily instantly appealing.
Therefore, explicitly addressing the tension with the word entrepreneurship needs to be overtly
built into courses. One way to achieve this is through a reflective process to create a flexible and
adaptable creative career identity that incorporates both being a creative artist and an arts
entrepreneur (Bridgstock, 2013). Students need the opportunity to continually and explicitly
develop this self-identity so that they are then able to work towards realizing their goal of
making a living from creative practice upon graduation without sacrificing their creative
aspirations.
The difference between undergraduate and postgraduate student perspectives was an
interesting finding. Our finding points towards the need for arts entrepreneurship to be taught
differently to undergraduate versus postgraduate students. The first stream of curricular approach
identified by Beckman (2007) focused on new venture creation might be more appropriate for
postgraduate students who already have developed a fair understanding of where they are
heading in terms of their careers and have expressed a desire to develop skills in new venture
creation. The second curricular approach of transitioning students to professional careers broadly
and inculcating them with skills to freelance specifically might be more appropriate for
undergraduates who are intent upon developing their skills in their chosen discipline. However it
is designed, we suggest that the five elements of an arts entrepreneurial mindset be addressed in
both approaches. Given the pressure on universities to teach for employability, it is incumbent
upon undergraduate education to include some type of education for employment. This might
include work-integrated learning designed for creative and performing arts undergraduates
(Daniel and Daniel, 2013; Hains-Weeson, 2012). Developing an arts entrepreneurial mindset
addresses this need.
Finally, we would like to suggest that the capacities of thought that the participants
distinguished as integral to arts entrepreneurship education and that we think are integral to an
entrepreneurial mindset are foundational for shifting the paradigm of arts entrepreneurship. If
arts entrepreneurship curriculum is developed with the aim of furthering capacities of thought it
can make a significant contribution to creative and performing arts education more generally.
This is because arts entrepreneurship education demonstrates that it is not solely focused on
enabling students to make money but is far more focused on supporting students to think
creatively, reflectively, strategically, and analytically about their creative practices in terms of its
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output to a wider field than is currently found in creative and performing arts education. Students
are encouraged to think about their artistic work in terms of its possible impact on audiences and
audience development, in terms of sustaining a career, in terms of negotiating to the betterment
of their practice, and in terms of deeply thinking about the processes and practices which
maintain and develop their art practice. The ability to think about succeeding as an artist that
encompasses these areas as well as sustaining a living is an important contribution that arts
entrepreneurship education can make to creative and performing arts education. Whether or not
this shift in paradigm is successful is dependent on further research that investigates the
challenges faced and innovations undertaken by arts educators with the responsibility for
teaching for employability skills.
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