A Closer Look into the Scope of Arts Entrepreneurship Education: Is There Any Such Thing as the American and European Approach?

This study explores the notion, practice and potential differences of arts entrepreneurship efforts in the ways they are conceptualized and organized at higher education institutions in the United States compared to Europe. Based on a qualitative approach, the study’s main data collection method was paired interviews as a means of facilitating sustained dialogue between respondents to provide more context into potential similarities and differences. Findings show that although there are differences in the ways programs are organized, educators across the Western world seem to share similar values and face similar challenges. Students must be taught to apply context-specific and career-relevant knowledge, develop analytical, critical and self-efficacy skills and take up agency and explorative behaviors that lead to the creation of value, all of which require entrepreneurial mindsets. A more general theory of arts entrepreneurship might pave the way for enhanced training of arts entrepreneurship educators and promote greater inclusivity in terms of cultural expression.