Closes:
15 Dec 2022
Journal
Guest editor(s)
Rocio Nogales Muriel, Linda Lundgaard Andersen, Silvia Ferreira
Introduction
Drawing from the critical and transformative potential of culture and the arts this special issue focuses on the role of social enterprises (SE) and the social and solidarity economy (SSE) as well as third sector organizations (TSOs) in the sustainability of local communities and society at large. “Art cannot change the world, but it can contribute to change consciousness and impulses of man and woman who can change the world” (Marcuse, 1978).
On the one hand, there has been a revival and strengthening of linkages between artistic and cultural expressions and social and local socioeconomic grassroots initiatives and global issues of environmental sustainability, human rights and participatory democracy (Barraket, 2005). Some even talk about how a renewal of radical social enterprise and cooperatives as vehicles of arts and culture could be a way of providing comparable working structures across diverse occupations such as social workers/community workers and artists (McRobbie, 2011).
On the other hand, culture and the cultural and creative industries have become inscribed and promoted as a tool for global competitiveness of places and cities and economic regeneration and growth (Keat, 1999; Ray & Sayer, 2012). While much attention has been paid to the latter, there is a gap of knowledge and understanding of the dynamics and reach of what is taking place in the field of solidarity and civic socioeconomic collaborations in culture and the arts. At the same time, precariousness and fragmentation persists in the field as TSOs in the field of “arts and culture” have to survive in a climate of permanent austerity as particularly in this area public funding is being scaled back (Zimmer and Pahl, 2016).
SE initiatives in culture and the arts are diverse and include an economic dimension related to sustaining artistic and cultural expressions through market and non-market relations, on one hand, and embedding cultural and artistic dimensions in socio-economic relations, on the other. A growth in the arts-based social enterprises points to a growing interest in how the arts can support social and economic development, and the ways new economic models can generate employment for individuals excluded from the labour market (McQuilten, Warr, Humphery & Spiers, 2020).
Social dimensions emphasize aesthetic, cultural, civic values circulating and giving consistency to the linkages between people and people and the planet, helping to create community(es) from the construction of utopias and narratives in spaces of diversity, citizenship and trust. It involves artists and culture workers, and often collaborations; across sectors (public, conventional enterprises, cooperatives, associations), resources (market, public grants and philanthropy) and activity fields. Arts-based social enterprises embrace a co-dependence of three goals, which are often in tension and competition –
On the other hand, culture and the cultural and creative industries have become inscribed and promoted as a tool for global competitiveness of places and cities and economic regeneration and growth (Keat, 1999; Ray & Sayer, 2012). While much attention has been paid to the latter, there is a gap of knowledge and understanding of the dynamics and reach of what is taking place in the field of solidarity and civic socioeconomic collaborations in culture and the arts. At the same time, precariousness and fragmentation persists in the field as TSOs in the field of “arts and culture” have to survive in a climate of permanent austerity as particularly in this area public funding is being scaled back (Zimmer and Pahl, 2016).
SE initiatives in culture and the arts are diverse and include an economic dimension related to sustaining artistic and cultural expressions through market and non-market relations, on one hand, and embedding cultural and artistic dimensions in socio-economic relations, on the other. A growth in the arts-based social enterprises points to a growing interest in how the arts can support social and economic development, and the ways new economic models can generate employment for individuals excluded from the labour market (McQuilten, Warr, Humphery & Spiers, 2020).
Social dimensions emphasize aesthetic, cultural, civic values circulating and giving consistency to the linkages between people and people and the planet, helping to create community(es) from the construction of utopias and narratives in spaces of diversity, citizenship and trust. It involves artists and culture workers, and often collaborations; across sectors (public, conventional enterprises, cooperatives, associations), resources (market, public grants and philanthropy) and activity fields. Arts-based social enterprises embrace a co-dependence of three goals, which are often in tension and competition –
artistic practice, social purpose and economic activity.
Often tensions between the external forces like government policy, markets, investors and philanthropy interested in the “self-sufficient” economic potential, and those working in arts-based social enterprises that tend to prioritise social values and ethical business over large financial returns and are often ambivalent about their roles as entrepreneurs as simultaneously critical and affirmative, but also embedded in conditions of contemporary capitalism and neoliberalism (McQuilten, Warr, Humphery & Spiers, 2020).
List of topic areas
Drawing from the critical and transformative potential of culture and the arts this special issue focuses on the role of social enterprises (SE) and the social and solidarity economy (SSE) as well as third sector organizations (TSOs) in the sustainability of local communities and society at large inviting contributions within the following themes:
- Transformative social innovation through culture and the arts
- Social and economic inclusion to and through culture and the arts
- Cultural policy in a period of transformation for culture and the arts
- Culture as a field of eco-social transitions
Submissions Information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/sejnl
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/sej#author-guidelines
Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.
Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.
Key deadlines
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 13/07/2022
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 15/12/2022
For additional information or queries about this special issue contact [email protected]
