European inventory of
societal values of culture

Sinapi & Juno-Delgado - Motivations for Establishing Cooperative Companies in the Performing Arts

Sinapi, C., & Juno-Delgado, E. (2015). Motivations for Establishing Cooperative Companies in the Performing Arts: A European Perspective. In Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms (Vol. 16, pp. 63–107). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

European performing arts companies have been severely impacted by the economic crisis, leading to the establishment of collective and participatory firms. This research aims to understand the motivations of project initiators for collectively organising their businesses and the influence of instrumental and ideological motives on their decisions. The study uses a qualitative method and semi-structured interviews with 21 performing arts collective organisations in six European countries. The results show that ideological dimensions are predominant in the decision to establish collective organisations in the performing arts, and the more ideologically motivated collective organisations are, the more successful they are. The emerging cooperatives, including production and projects, offer a promising avenue for the sector and the development of the cooperative movement beyond traditional sectors. However, public incentives may not promote shared practices in the arts and should be modified accordingly. The paper also defends the interests of trans-border cooperative organisations inspired by production cooperatives and their governance models.