Cultural entrepreneurship in the arts sector: a case study of a 'curatepreneur'

This paper addresses cultural entrepreneurship in the arts and culture sector and the search for creative business models that capture the visionary, strategic, and creative activity of entrepreneurs of cultural enterprises. The focus is on the independent curator who acts as an entrepreneur of curatorial practice coined in a new term 'curatepreneur'. A case study approach is taken with the author acting as an insider-researcher engaging in 'reflection-in-action' on the applicability of business models to curatorial practice and 'reflection-on-action' in the development of new creative business models that capture the 'curatepreneurial' process. The results of undertaking a process of self-reflexive and self-positioning reflection on more than ten years of independent curatorial practice is to provide creative business models of practice to a whole new generation of 'creatives'. Who can no longer rely on state funded arts and culture grants but need to innovate to attract audiences and new forms of revenue. This paper concludes with how a curator critiquing at the highest level of enquiry can transform this research into 'curatepreneurship' into a valuable contribution to the thinking, action, and practice of cultural entrepreneurship in the arts through the creation of new creative business models.