An artist, a producer and a politician walk into a bar:

work models in the performing arts

Abstract

Building on the author’s concrete work experience in the field of cultural management and production, and on the analysis of a set of in-depth interviews to theatre and dance producers, the article questions the status quo of the relationship between artists and producers in the field of the performing arts. It discusses the need to make the support mechanisms of artistic creation visible, and argues for the need to experiment new models of work in the performing arts which take in consideration a ‘collaboration’ ethos, and are inscribed in a territory of ethics and solidarity. It advocates for the need to rescue production and cultural management roles from the technocratic drive and upholds the urgency of interrogating the prevalence of hierarchical work practices in the arts. Finally, it relates these challenges to the wider cultural policy framework: it considers the possibility of moving towards cultural policies of the commons, and of making a practical and conceptual turn which would free cultural management from its bureaucratic trap and re-politicizes the field.