| Researchers from around the globe have long evidenced entrepreneurship; broadly defined in the literature as the organizing of organizations; usually analyzed through an economic lens and frequently evidenced by way of for-profit business ownership, legal incorporation and/or organizational development. For over half a century of rapid growth in the academic field, the study of entrepreneurship has aided students, researchers, practitioners and policy makers in initiating both business and organizational development within various fields and sectors of human society. However, perhaps due to the prevailing view of entrepreneurship as the establishment of a new for-profit business, the preference for an economic lens of analysis, and to the absence of a national sectoral frame for the arts, entrepreneurship researchers have yet to conduct empirical research evidencing entrepreneurship as it occurs across a defined arts sector. Given the absence of the arts sector as a research focus within top tier entrepreneurship journals, there is a need for researchers to conduct empirical entrepreneurship research for the purposes of informing arts entrepreneurship education and practice. To address this need, the study lays a foundation for comparative analysis of (1) owner/founder demographics, (2) entrepreneurial characteristics, (3) entrepreneurship practice and (4) venture trends and tendencies in a defined arts sector. After generating the data for analysis, I analyze the data through the lens of a conceptual framework, utilizing key findings as a catalyst for guiding and informing research directions for the future. |
