Creative NAGRENTS - Why Do They Interest Me?

I said in the last blog that I would talk about how I chose the creative NAGRENTs that I am following. However, I think that first it would be better for me to explain how I got into this in the first place.

Where it Started

It all started about 5 years ago, when I first got involved with running start-up workshops for DigitalCity Fellows at Teesside University. I remember asking some of the DigitalCity staff how on earth these graduates could possibly make a living out of their creative degrees. I didn't get a good answer, perhaps because they knew, as I do now, that it is a very difficult thing to do.

The Fellows I observed then were ducking and diving to try and scratch together some income. Starving digital artists - creative, technical, passionate, well-supported, but penniless!

The Zig-zag Route to Success

We know that it is normal for start-ups to zig and zag initially. We all did it at some stage. I have been emphasising this for years, using the diagram below, and more recently it has been featured by Mullins and Kosimar in their 2009 book 'Getting to Plan B' (or even 'Plan G', in the case of PayPal)

However it seemed to me that the Fellows' business plans were much more based on hope than reality compared with typical ones for other sectors. Could they implement the plans and if not, how did they cope with the personal,artistic and business shifts they would have to make?

The research objective

The objective of my research is therefore to find out what happens to a small selection of creative NAGRENTs as they struggle to make there way in the sector. Its a longitudinal study so I can observe their development over the first four years of their business - and even that might not be enough to see them reach any degree of business/career stability.

Now that the purpose is clear, I will describe the sample selection process next week. I promise!



Creative NAGRENTS – What is co-evolution?

An early observation from my PhD interviews was that the participants’ personal lives were having a big impact on their business motivation and progress. This was not surprising – it happens with all of us. However an extra factor for the creative NAGRENTS was that they had recently graduated from University and their personal lives were in a considerable state of flux. As one of them said “I am learning to be a grown-up now”.

So their personal lives were undergoing great changes - just at the time when they were embarking on the almost impossible task of making a living out of creative business.

Additionally some of the participants were undergoing a re-think about their ‘art’. More than half of them were moving away from being an active practitioner.

So I was seeing a complex interaction between their newly emerging business self, their previously established artistic self, and the challenges of developing their grown-up personal self. I described this as ‘co-evolution’ and it is proving very interesting to see the learning that they go through, and whether/how this influences their business success.

The diagram below illustrates the three co-evolving threads, and their antecedents.

When I first drew up the diagram two years ago I was also anticipating that in following the three ‘threads’  (creative, personal and business) I would see a continuity between their prior behaviour at school/university and their business development behaviour. This is proving to be an accurate expectation.

The research has been designed to explore how the threads develop and interact over a four year period from business start-up - whatever the outcomes for the initial businesses.

In next week’s post I will describe how and why I have selected the participants in my research.

Creative NAGRENTS – Mission Impossible?

My research participants (NAGRENTs*) have set themselves an almost impossible task - to set up a viable business in the creative sector on graduation from university.  How do they cope as their initial enthusiasm is tempered by the reality of the overcrowded marketplace?

This problem raises questions about why universities produce so many creative graduates entering the over-supplied sector, and also whether we are helpful in encouraging them to believe that they can really set up a business.  However, that is not the subject of my research, or of this blog.

My interest is what happens to them in the first four years of trying to square their circle. How their great expectations are revised over time, and how they resolve the conflict between their identities as a ‘creative’, as a business-person, and as a graduate carving out their place in society.

Early observations of three participants show that each is taking a different approach to resolving the problem.

• Keep banging your head against a brick wall.  If they have no other viable options then all they can do is soldier on and try and find a niche in the market.
• Switch to employment in the sector.  If running the business proves too difficult they may have the skills to take up employment in the sector, for instance as a designer or in a teaching/training role.
• Switch to employment outside sector.  If the graduate has other saleable skills then they have the option to look at employment outside the creative sector even if, ideally they would prefer to stay within it.

Which of these options the participants are choosing  is driven by a complex mixture of personal preferences, their identity as an artist, and personal financial commitments.  The first few years are proving to be a good example of the 'co-evolution' of their business lives, their artistic live, and their personal lives.

*NAGRENTS – ‘Nascent Entrepreneurial Graduates’

A New Bloggy Resolution!

My first and only blog was 12 months ago. As that does little to demonstrate my committment to communicating with the outside world - I have resolved to blog something every week - usually on a Monday - and share it through Twitter.

Therefore .... my first Monday blog follows shortly.