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2023–2024 

BOOK REVIEW 

Cases on Arts Entrepreneurship  

Margaret J. Wyszomirski 

The Ohio State University 

ABSTRACT: Cases on Arts Entrepreneurship (Tonelli, M., & Heise, A. [Eds.]. [2023]. Cases on Arts 
Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar Publishing) presents a collection of thirteen case studies that 
will be much appreciated by professors who teach and students who are studying entrepre-
neurship in the arts. Each case study exhibits a similar framework: a descriptive narrative that 
runs between seven and sixteen pages, including references; Teaching Notes that include an 
abstract, learning outcomes, keyword topics, discussion questions, a seventy-five-minute class 
plan, and supplemental readings (if any). The editors provide a brief introduction to the book’s 
purpose as well as a seven-page concluding chapter that identifies five themes that emerge 
across chapters: exposure to the arts at a young age, network and relationship building, kind-
ness and collaboration, financial management, and balancing multiple income streams. 
KEYWORDS: arts entrepreneurship, case studies, arts management, entrepreneurship, arts en-
trepreneurs. DOI: doi.org/10.34053/artivate.12.1.210 

Cases on Arts Entrepreneurship presents a collection of thirteen case studies that will be 

much appreciated by professors who teach and students who are studying entrepreneur-

ship in the arts. Editors Mark Tonelli and Andrew Heise represent two core disciplinary 

perspectives on the subject—Prof Tonelli is an associate professor in the School of Music 

at Millikin University and Professor Heise is an assistant teaching professor in the Depart-

ment of Entrepreneurship and Management at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management 

at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Each case study exhibits a similar framework: a 

descriptive narrative that runs between seven and sixteen pages, including references; 

Teaching Notes that include an abstract, learning outcomes, keyword topics, discussion 

questions, a seventy-five-minute class plan, and supplemental readings (if any). The edi-

tors provide a brief introduction to the book’s purpose as well as a seven-page concluding 

chapter that identifies five themes that emerge across chapters: exposure to the arts at a 

young age, network and relationship building, kindness and collaboration, financial man-

agement, and balancing multiple income streams.  



ARTIVATE 12 

2 

The thirteen cases included in this volume examine entrepreneurs across a wide 

range of artistic disciplines and occupations. Six chapters deal with musicians working in 

a variety of occupations (such as performer, educator, songwriter, recording producer, 

arts administrator, and social service provider) in various genres and in assorted organi-

zational settings (freelance, ensemble, for-profit business, nonprofit organization, festival, 

project and/or individual production; Chapters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12). An additional case 

tracks the career and impact of a self-made contemporary chamber opera impresario 

(Chapter 11). 

Other performing arts cases include a choreographer/dancer motivated by a scarcity 

of suitable and affordable concert venues who decided to address this need by developing 

an annual showcase festival benefitting many dance companies (Chapter 3). The first of 

three theater cases examines the career and impact of a theater director who built a career 

as an institutional entrepreneur aiming to bridge the boundaries between professional 

commercial theater and amateur academic and community theater to develop a tributary 

theater system (Chapter 5). A second theater case follows a multi-talented dancer, actor, 

choreographer, and producer who eventually focused on the occupation of makeup de-

signer (Chapter 7). A third case looks at a trained actor who undertook a career as a law 

enforcement professional, then combined these two very different professions to pursue 

a successful career specializing in portraying policemen and detectives on TV and in film 

(Chapter 13). There is also a visual arts case of two high school friends who developed an 

interest in pottery-making and decided to create a dual mission enterprise—a coffeehouse 

and pottery studio (Chapter 1). The last case follows a classroom project in which students 

from design, marketing, videography, photography, arts entrepreneurship, and arts ad-

ministration worked with a faculty member to create a student consulting venture to pro-

vide creative services to community clients (Chapter 9). 

In general, case studies examine real-world phenomena within a set context to deter-

mine generalizations, insights, and patterns. These, in turn, support efforts to formulate 

concepts, construct and test theories, acquire a deeper understanding of a topic, and per-

haps deduce knowledge that can be applied to decision-making, educational training, or 

strategic thinking. The state of research and theorization regarding arts entrepreneurship 

has not developed to the point where case studies can be used to test theories. But the 

case studies in this volume add to the literature that will build toward an ability to theorize 

and conceptualize.  

These cases of arts entrepreneurship present a mix of description, explanation, and 

exploration. Each focuses on the experience of a single individual (or a small group of in-

dividuals) over a lengthy period of time. Many cases follow the long career trajectory of 

its subject. Many of the cases focus on career entrepreneurship of a particular creative 

individual. A few are more focused on the entrepreneurship development of a business 

venture or an organization. Details of the life history and occupational development of 

each specific artist or venture enrich the descriptiveness of the phenomenon of art 



ARTIVATE 12 

3 

entrepreneurship as practiced. The behavior, choices, and opportunities of the individual 

subjects are treated as explanatory evidence of entrepreneurial activity, opportunity 

awareness, risk-taking, and adaptation that contribute to the subject’s ability to advance, 

learn, and achieve both artistic and financial rewards.  

This set of 13 cases reveals both similarities and differences depending on the context 

of their specific fields, the social and economic circumstances of the time, and the skills 

and experiences of a particular entrepreneur. Together this complement of cases expands 

the exploration of arts entrepreneurship and contributes to a better understanding of this 

complex phenomenon.  

The strength and primary value of Cases on Arts Entrepreneurship are the quality and 

variety of the cases themselves. Also helpful are the Teaching Notes that accompany each 

case. However, as someone who has taught classes on arts entrepreneurship, I found some 

of the class plans likely to require more than seventy-five minutes.  

The sections that frame the collection—the short introduction to the book and the 

final chapter identifying common themes—are less well-developed. For example, the 

theme concerning the balancing of multiple income streams could pay more attention to 

how income diversity was an outcome of building portfolios of artistic and occupational 

options, which in turn involved networking and attention to lifelong learning, including 

the acquisition of financial management skills. The cases provide extensive information 

about how individual arts entrepreneurs are motivated to find and/or create opportuni-

ties both in terms of artistic goals and financial streams. The cases also demonstrate that 

arts entrepreneurship is a lifelong strategy of sequential as well as consecutive oppor-

tunity recognition and development. While the role of happenstance is vividly noticed in 

the case studies, its relation to the importance of context goes unremarked.  

Some of the particularly well-developed cases—such as Diane Ragsdale’s study of 

theater director and producer Margo Jones, Stacey Tirro’s study of dancer/choreogra-

pher/festival administrator Astrid von Ussar, and Hannah Grannemann’s study of opera 

impresario Beth Morrison—suggest a particular subset of arts entrepreneurs who have a 

formative impact on a field as well as their own career.  

Cases in Arts Entrepreneurship is most likely to be useful as a complement to other 

books and articles that have tried to further the field by developing frameworks for un-

derstanding and studying arts entrepreneurship. It is the integration of conceptualization 

and case studies that can inform future research, which in turn can facilitate teaching and 

practicing arts entrepreneurship. Cases on Arts Entrepreneurship has made an important 

contribution in adding to our knowledge of arts entrepreneurs in a variety of creative set-

tings. 


