Ollie displays characteristics of a cultural entrepreneur by having an individual, collaborative and holistic approach to work, motivated by solving problems and being a servant leader. He has learnt new skills in producing and managing creativity throughout his career, mainly project based work for clients and has managed risk by concentrating on a 20% profit margin dropping clients who do not produce that kind of margin. Ollie’s company is involved in the majority of time, in producing and distribution of his client’s commissions especially around web based projects. IE Design developed a management system for themselves which they then marketed as periscope, an online creative management system for creative enterprises becoming producer and consumer or rather in this case consumer-producer, a trait of a cultural entrepreneur. Ollie foresaw 7 years ago, that interactive and online services would be the way to go and so brought on board Oliver Westmancote, as a company director. Seeing and predicting market needs is a distinct trait of an entrepreneur. (Southam et al, 2005)

Ollie Leggett is a cultural entrepreneur because he inspires artistic leadership in those that work for him in small teams and understands the creative process so managing it effectively to create an economically viable, high culture and value based company that produces visual media in print, interactive or web based output. ‘Forming such a business is not only an economic but also a creative act, for it involves shaping a complex cultural web of identity, relationships, communication, language and technology.’ (Rae, 2007: 194) It could be said from the previous quote, that Ollie Leggett demonstrates this with his management and business leadership service to his customer and employees.

Hope you enjoyed and please comment:

Rai Jenkins

The concept of a cultural entrepreneur

The concept of a cultural entrepreneur is one in which culture is connected to enterprise. According to Peterson (2004:17).

“Culture is the relatively stable set of inner values and beliefs generally held by groups of people in countries or regions and the noticeable impact those values and beliefs have on people’s outward behaviours and environment”

The definition of culture actually transcend into the concept of entrepreneurship in that according to Malone (2002).

“An entrepreneur is a person who has an overwhelming need to control and organise his or her life. So profound is that need, and so deep is the commitment that the entrepreneur is willing to bet everything, including their life, to reach that goal”.

Entrepreneur is often deemed a fix identity (Rae:2007). For example, definitions include “a person who creates organisations” (Gartner: 1989), “the enterprising person (Gibb: 1987) and “ the person who recognises and acts to exploit an opportunity” (Shane and Venkataraman: 2000;Stevenson and Jarillo: 1990).

For Kirby (2003) “ it entails the ability to create and build something from practically nothing. It is initiating, doing, achieving, and building an enterprise or organisation, rather than just watching, analysing or describing one. It is the knack for sensing an opportunity where others see chaos, contradiction and confusion…”

What is highlighted is that their own definitions did not mention anything about business even though Entrepreneurship is often dominated by economic theories. In fact they spoke of the diversity of entrepreneurs from all walks of society filtering into different sectors from politic to entertainment to culture by looking at the characteristics that instilled such drive within them. Their environment and indeed their “culture” would inadvertently affect their entrepreneurial prowess.

The concept of a cultural entrepreneur and enterprise

As mentioned in the introduction the concept of a cultural entrepreneur is one in which culture is connected to enterprise. Spinosa et al (1997) argued “entrepreneurs are history makers who change the world around them through action”. There is not a concrete definition of what a cultural entrepreneur is but in my opinion it entails being motivated by something creative for individualistic and potential eventual commercial gain. An example of this would be James Dyson founder and chairman of Dyson. The objective for him was to create and innovate a product that was better than the last creation and because of this passion he continually developed ways to enhance his product in an attempt to create the best vacuum within the industry. The initial agenda was not to generate wealth but a better product. I think that this differentiates a cultural entrepreneur from an entrepreneur in general. Schumpeter (1934) characterised the entrepreneur as an innovator rather than a profit seeker. With “the capacity of seeing things in a way which afterwards proves to be true ……learning in his natural and social world so that actions can be simply and reliably calculated”. The characteristic are similar but the motives vary from individual to individual.

Another example of a cultural entrepreneur is Annette Naudin currently the course director of the MA Media Entreprise course she has vast experience within the creative sector and ran her own textile business for 7 years. Her experience within the industry has provided her with a wealth of creative industry knowledge, which she now shares with her pupils. I believe she is another example of a cultural entrepreneur as she has the entrepreneurial prowess and experience and obviously thrived in her sector based on the years spent in the textile industry but she opted to become a course director to impart what she was passionate about, the creative industry. Other cultural entrepreneurs are people like Bill Gates and Bob Gedolf. Though people like Joy Roxborough who created and developed Island Joy Cards can also be viewed as a cultural entrepreneur because she developed a product that she was passionate about, as identified earlier the differentiation really depends on what is relevant to the person analysing the concept but in my opinion cultural entrepreneurs are driven for more than monetary reasons.

Characteristics and motivations of a cultural entrepreneur

What characteristics motivate an entrepreneur to take on a new venture and risk everything? Within today’s society many people are so used to the security of a annually paid job, family time and constructed leisure that they are fearful to venture out into the entrepreneurial world. According to Hisrich and Peters (1989:72) “the motivations for becoming and entrepreneur vary and are hugely dependent upon the person but the primal focus is that of independence and being one’s own boss. This is what enables many people to endure the psychological and financial risks attributed to successful ventures”. According to Rae (2007), Edith Penrose (1959) considered enterprise to be a psychological predisposition on the part of the individual to take a chance in the hope of gain, through risk taking behaviour.

Dr Atkinson a leading business psychologist identified the key traits of entrepreneurs and he found that the desire to win was a huge reason for the entrepreneur’s resilience and drive. I believe that the cultural entrepreneur deviates from this theory in that the objective is to be creative and passion about the product produced or the service/skill provided. The drive is to progress and enhance not necessarily competitively “win”.

According to John Howkins the creative/ cultural entrepreneur has some of the following characteristics:

According to Gibb (1987) entrepreneurial attributes within a UK context are:

The characteristics are numerous but the underlining theme is that the attributes of a cultural entrepreneur are positive and only possessed by few people. Often the difference between a “normal person” and an entrepreneur is that the normal person has dreams of grandeur but the entrepreneur makes them a reality.

Entrepreneurial approach

According to Rae (2007), the entrepreneurial learning is a dynamic process of awareness, reflection, association and application. Which involves transforming experience and knowledge into functional learning outcomes. The close connection between the processes of entrepreneurial learning with those of opportunity recognition, exploitation, creativity and innovation (Lumpkin and Lichtenstein: 2005) can be used to gain self-direction in planning, problem solving and implementing tasks successfully.

1. Howkins, J (2001) The Creative Economy, Penguin Press pg129
2. Southon, M and West, C (2002) The Beermat Entrepreneur, Prentice Hall pgxvi
3. Howkins, J (2001) The Creative Economy, Penguin Press pg129
4. Bilton, C (2007) Management and Creativity, Blackwell Publishing
5. Leadbeater, C and Oakley, K (1999) The Independents – Britain’s new cultural Entrepreneurs, Demos: 24-25
6. Singer, M (unk) A Huge, Ever Pulsating Brain, The Wire, Pg37
7. Wade, G, Smith, R and Anderson RA (2007) Becoming, Being and Belonging – Entrepreneurial Establishment: Alternative views of the social construction of entrepreneurship– Manhcester Metropolitan University Working Paper Pg6
8. Theberge, P (1997) Any Sound You Can Imagine, University Press of New England, Pg52
9. Wilson, N and Stokes, D (unk) Cultural Entrepreneurs and Creative Exchange, Pg44
10. Hesmondhalgh, D, The Cultural Industries, Pg154

As a director of a creative start up company, I see myself as a cultural entrepreneur. At present my enterprise is not making large amounts of money and people may say that this means I am not yet an entrepreneur. However, whether a person can be classified as an entrepreneur solely on whether they make money or not is debatable. Kirby (2003) provides the following definition for an entrepreneur; “An entrepreneur is an individual who establishes and manages a business for the principle purposes of profit and growth. The entrepreneur is characterised principally by innovative behaviour and will employ strategic management practices in the business.” I feel that although I do not fulfil the first element of this definition, I fulfil the latter part. The financial element is purely a factor of time and will hopefully be accomplished. However, my sole objective is not financial gain. I feel this is an additional contributing factor of what makes me a cultural entrepreneur rather than just an entrepreneur.  

The Cultural Entrepreneur
There is no specific agreed definition for the term “cultural entrepreneur” however for the sake of this discussion my definition is as follows: An entrepreneur who turns a cultural product/service etc, into a commercially lucrative enterprise. So what is the difference between a cultural producer e.g. artist and a cultural entrepreneur? An artist merely produces cultural items; they can only be classified as a cultural entrepreneur if they distribute their work for commercial gain e.g. an artist opens an art shop to sell their artwork.

Cultural entrepreneurs are typically consumers as well as producers in their chosen areas. This is advantageous to the development of the entrepreneurs’ creativity. As a consumer of cultural products relevant to their own, cultural entrepreneurs are able to keep up to date with trends and develop upon and/or reinvent existing creative ideas/products. To produce music without being an avid consumer of music would prove quite difficult for an artist; however, for a musical entrepreneur it would be detrimental to their success. To produce music which is of commercial value, a cultural entrepreneur in the music industry must consume music to keep abreast of styles and trends.

Additionally, having a passion within their chosen field means that a cultural entrepreneur will not only work in their chosen area but may see it as part of their life crossing into out of hours spare time. This can aid in idea generations. So is there a difference between a cultural entrepreneur and a regular entrepreneur? Cultural entrepreneurs have unique attributes which are not as prevalent amongst regular entrepreneurs. These characteristics are further examples of what differentiates the two entrepreneurial types. Unlike an entrepreneur, a cultural entrepreneur is not solely fuelled by commercial gain and opportunity but also by “non-commercial artistic, social and personal priorities” (Bilton: 2007). As a cultural entrepreneur is also a cultural producer this can cause a conflict of interest. Commercial objectives can sometimes undermine artistic creativity which can create problems for cultural entrepreneurs. Heartfield (2005) states that “you cannot force creativity.” If a cultural entrepreneur has an objective to make money, their creativity may become stifled. It is here where cultural entrepreneurs need to maintain a balance which can prove difficult.  “Successful entrepreneurs are especially skilled at using their time to develop relationships with people who are crucial to the success of their new venture” (Byers, Kist & Sutton: 1997). The cultural entrepreneur takes this to a new level through collaborative work methods. Within the creative sector working in collaboration with other organisations is common practice. Rather than seeing competitors solely as a threat, creative entrepreneurs recognise the benefits of working together. This helps to create a “wider creative community” (Wilson & Stoke: 2002). I myself regularly work with other organisations or individuals who are my direct or indirect competitors. Although it is difficult to trust these individuals, without them I would not be able to achieve many of my objectives. Particularly when undertaking specific projects where my skill base may not cover all areas it is helpful to work with other individuals who understand the field and have my missing skill. This working method could be effective in other sectors.

Independence is a further key characteristic of the cultural entrepreneur “employment is rarely a stepping stone to employment in a larger organisation. Most people who are self employed in the cultural sector want to stay that way.” (Leadbeater & Oakley (1999:22)  Where an entrepreneur may see enterprise as a method of gaining experience in an autonomous environment before moving onto a larger organisation or expanding, the cultural entrepreneur has no such desires. Additionally “cultural entrepreneurs opt for independence because it allows them to work in a way which they would find hard to justify within a larger organisation” (Leadbeater & Oakley 1999:22)  I myself have always hated working for other people due to the constraints I have always felt employment places on individuals. Subsequently, I always vowed to become self employed. It is this inner belief and hatred of constriction that inspired me to start my own business as I felt this was the only way to be in total control of how I work.  “’A third of people working in the sector are under the age of 34” (Leadbeater & Oakley 1999: 21), which may be due to the freedom the sector offers in terms of independence. 

Although cultural entrepreneurs have a variety of strengths there are of course areas where they are typically lacking compared to regular entrepreneurs. Business and management skills are major factors affecting creative entrepreneurs; “There is a lack of appropriate management education, poor access to business information, and generally weak networks by means of which management information can be shared and best practice identified. These issues limit competitiveness by stunting the development and growth potential of creative SMEs” (CEP Website). Leadbeater and Oakley (18: 2007) also indicate business skills as a key area which many cultural entrepreneurs are lacking in. They attribute this to educational establishment’s inflexibility at providing the right training at the appropriate time. They advise that government policy needs to reflect this. I personally have found that having a creative idea does not necessarily mean you can run a business. Entrepreneurs tend to have keen business skills through formal education or training as there ambitions are generally solely business based. For creative’s business skills tend to come secondary to their creative ambitions. 

Cultural entrepreneurs have different working methods and characteristics when compared with a regular entrepreneur. In order for the sector to continue to grow and for these individual entrepreneurs to develop and grow their SME’s government policy needs to address the shortfalls of these individuals whilst aiding in their success. Access to finance is notoriously difficult for cultural entrepreneurs who for varying reasons (including artistic integrity and independence) do not feel comfortable seeking commercial investment. This needs to be recognised and overcome.

When I embarked on writing this blog entry, I myself was somewhat uncertain as to whether Moses Whyte and his enterprise, the Trelawny Overseas Relief Association UK Ltd. (TORA), fitted into the category of cultural entrepreneur. The confusion came because TORA is essentially a social enterprise. There is no question about its entrepreneurial factor, but the question arose in my mind, can its specific activities of community outreach and involvement be classified as cultural as in the term cultural industries. After carefully unpacking the definition of culture, I decided that it did indeed fit the category.

As Hesmondhalgh asserts (2002:11), the definition of the term cultural industries is surrounded with difficulties. By extension, the term cultural entrepreneur will likewise encounter similar difficulties. It is generally agreed, however, that the cultural industries include television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazine and book publishing, the music industry, advertising and the performing arts (Hesmondhalgh, 2002:12). Hesdmondhalgh recognises these as the core cultural industries. He also recognises a set of peripheral cultural industries that do not use industrial production methods e.g. theatre, the arts prints industry and fashion. While TORA’s main activities are centred on community advice and outreach (not generally considered cultural industries), it was involved in producing a community newspaper (now defunct) and still is involved in aspects of the peripheral cultural industries i.e. sale of African/Caribbean arts prints and gifts, as well as fashion and is aiming to find funding to get involved in other projects like community/youth theatre. It can therefore legitimately be considered as participating in the cultural industries and by virtue of its business functions can be regarded as a cultural entrepreneur.

Cultural entrepreneurs share several characteristics. In the first instance, they do not fit into neat categories. As outlined in The Independents, cultural entrepreneurs are often “producers, designers, retailers and promoters all at the same time.” (Leadbeater, C. & Oakley, K., 1999:11). This is certainly true of TORA when one stops to scrutinize its many projects, which include a lunch club, retail outlet for African arts and cosmetics, an overseas money transfer agency, a now defunct community newspaper production (Walsall News) and other projects in the pipeline including a school (the nature of which cannot be disclosed at present).

This plethora of projects that TORA operates is also indicative of another feature of cultural entrepreneurs i.e. the project based nature of their businesses as opposed to having one main core activity. (Leadbeater, C. & Oakley, K., 1999:15). In a bid to survive, many cultural entrepreneurs have to be constantly devising new ways to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly global age where cheap digital technologies are stiffening competition for the greater number of product and service providers entering most markets.

Informal networks through which work is organized is also another trait of many cultural entrepreneurs (Leadbeater, C. & Oakley, K., 1999:11). TORA certainly epitomizes this trait. The organization routinely uses volunteers and relatives/friends of Mr. Whyte and his wife to assist with everyday tasks. Additionally, as Deiniol Morris and Michael Mort of Aargh! Animation found out, TORA also found it difficult to recruit the right sort of manager to run the organization (Leadbeater, C. & Oakley, K., 1999:10). Along with informal working networks, this difficulty in recruiting the right sort of management expertise is often another characteristic of cultural entrepreneurs. In fact, it is often the reason that contributes to the development of the informal networks of work relationships. Several managers have come and left TORA in relatively short periods of time. But recently, the organization has recruited a well-experienced manger, who although he is near retirement, has years of experience within the voluntary sector and so far appears to be doing fairly well in terms of addressing management, organizational and legal issues which had previously been overlooked because of the lack of such management expertise within TORA.

TORA is not small on big ideas. It has a massive business plan, which incorporates many projects. But like many cultural entrepreneurs, the organization has in the past lacked the business skills to hit the ground running with all the ideas to bring about rapid growth. Instead, over its ten-year history it has achieved some growth (recently it moved to larger premises at West Bromwich Street from its smaller offices at number 2 on the same street.) The organization has therefore obviously achieved some success in its operations but it has not realized its full potential because of its previous lack of adequate business management skills. For e.g. there was not an adequate marketing plan in place to sell and distribute the art prints (this is still yet to be done).

contributed by J. Roxborough