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Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts    Volume 7, Issue 1 
http://artivate.org        pp. 23-47 
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Copyright © 2018, the authors   
 

ARTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND CULTURAL POLICY INNOVATION IN BEIJING 
Shoshanah B. D. Goldberg-Miller and Yan Xiao 
The Ohio State University 
 

Abstract 
 This article analyzes three cultural entities in Beijing, China: National Centre for the 
Performing Arts, 798 Arts District, and Today Art Museum using two lenses: Kingdon’s Multiple 
Streams Framework (MS) and concepts of arts entrepreneurship, in order to examine these entities’ 
development and current condition. The performing arts center has become a source of national 
pride, the arts district now is one of the world’s largest, and the museum paved the way for a new 
kind of “private” institution in China. 
  Concepts including policy streams, policy windows, and policy entrepreneurs ground the 
analysis. In order to enrich the perspective, we explore theories in the growing field of arts 
entrepreneurship and their applicability to the changing economic environment of China. We point 
to the realities of policy formation as well as the innovative economic growth fostered through arts 
entrepreneurship in China, grounding the analysis in a positivist perspective due to the opacity of 
the process in that country.  
 While Multiple Streams Framework is a powerful tool with which to understand and 
interpret policy formation, change, and adaptation, it is the arts entrepreneurship principles that 
provide important ways to look at creative commerce, both from the perepective of the individual 
and the organization. We find that, while each arts entity was formed under very different 
circumstances, they all now incorporate facets of arts entrepreneurship including brand building, 
market development, and audience growth. 

Frameworks and theories must be flexible and resilient in order to be adapted to more 
diverse contexts. By reframing cultural policy and arts entrepreneurship theory to incorporate 
culturally relevant data, they each can provide valuable tools for scholars, policymakers, and 
municipal leaders. This allows the understanding of key theoretical components to expand, 
reflecting political and social realities while ensuring the relevance and viability of these analytical 
tools in multi-cultural contexts. 
 

Keywords: Multiple Streams Framework; arts entrepreneurship; cultural districts; 
performing arts centers; Beijing 
 
 
 This article explores three anchor entities in Beijing using a policy framework, Multiple 
Streams, together with the lens of the emergent field of arts entrepreneurship to understand forces 
in the process of the creation and subsequent development of the National Centre for the 
Performing Arts, the Today Art Museum, and the 798 Arts District. This blended research process 
gives us an understanding of who and what was involved in the formation of these three entities. 
We ask: Can Western policy theories such as the Multiple Streams Framework and theories within 
the arts entrepreneurship context be used as tools to investigate other global cultural cases? 

We examine the growing field of arts entrepreneurship, with a discussion of the creative 
economy and business development landscape in China today. We then introduce Multiple 
Streams Framework, going on to give the history of each cultural anchor and subsequently 
analyzing them according to these two theoretical frames. The paper concludes by discussing the 
blended perspective in investigating the three cases, finally pointing to the need for theoretical 
adaptability in cross-cultural contexts. 



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The Creative Economy in Beijing 
A cultural and artistic boom followed Chinese economic reform, which began in 1978 (Elzen, 

2008). After joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 (Keane, 2007), China began focusing 
on the creative industries to accelerate internationalization. The arts, a key component of this 
sector, grew rapidly, creating an explosion of contemporary art, the art market, and arts entities. 
Beijing, the political and cultural center of China, has dual goals: economic success and a desire 
for global recognition, both of which are factors in the political landscape (Currier, 2008). Arts 
entities in Beijing not only encompass economic goals, but also reflect political and policy 
considerations. We find that, while the Chinese economy, arts policies, and arts entities are 
experiencing globalization, they retain unique cultural characteristics.  

Arts entrepreneurship proves to be a valuable instrument for examining what was created and 
how these cultural anchors have evolved, especially given that the opacity of the Chinese political 
system in which there are no elections and where policy processes are not transparent, placing 
limitations on the utility of Multiple Streams Framework. Each of the three entities exemplifies 
facets of this burgeoning field: The National Centre and the Today Art Museum both are examples 
of the managerial component of arts entrepreneurship, while the 798 Arts District as an entity 
epitomizes economic development using arts and culture, also illustrating the role that individual 
arts entrepreneurs can play in fueling the success of a creative cluster.  

This study can be of value to scholars, policymakers, and arts managers, especially when 
exploring an urban setting in which the focus is a creative entity (Goldberg-Miller and Fregetto, 
2016). These cases provide an opportunity to examine the circumstances surrounding the creation 
of cultural entities, as well as to understand their reality through the arts entrepreneurship lens of 
fostering creative interventions. Our analysis finds that the concept of creative commerce is 
different in China than in the US, as is the policy lexicon. We also point out that the circumstances 
in China are ideal for the recognition of the emergent field of arts entrepreneurship. 

Policy analysis is a framework for understanding how these three entities were formed in the 
context of political and social realities, and the arts entrepreneurship context illustrates how these 
three cultural anchors are manifest. Together, they provide a more comprehensive look at how 
concepts can be translated into varying cultural paradigms. For the purposes of this study, we 
found two caveats: first, that policy in China is made in a “black box,” meaning that one is not 
able to understand the processes and must instead look only at the outcomes; and second, that the 
concept of “entrepreneurship” is different there, meaning that arts entrepreneurship as we know it 
would need to be reframed in order to be applicable in China.  

 
The Arts Entrepreneurship Field and the Multiple Streams Policy Framework 

The Growing Field of Arts Entrepreneurship  
 Arts entrepreneurship is both a developing and a growing discipline. The term “arts 
entrepreneurship” has entered the conversation within the arts administration, cultural 
management, and entrepreneurship fields, especially since the early 2000s (Caves, 2000; Mulcahy, 
2003; Rentschler, 2003), and often may be referred to as “cultural entrepreneurship” (McNicholas, 
2004). As with any emerging field, debate has ensued as to a firmly defined and widely accepted 
overall parameter to this concept, and as the discipline grows there will be more consensus.  

Regarding the establishment of arts entrepreneurship within the literature, the term “arts 
entrepreneur” has been under debate. This term is recognized by some as business-related and the 



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outcome of the same kinds of principles for success that exist in the standard entrepreneurship 
lexicon (Beckman, 2007; Wyszomirski & Goldberg-Miller, 2015). Others posit that this is a new 
kind of discipline that has dimensions beyond business management, ones that echo a more 
socially relevant and public value paradigm (Essig, 2015). Understandably, the various fields that 
incorporate arts entrepreneurship, including arts administration and policy, nonprofit management, 
and the business world may delineate the term differently according to the framework of their 
disciplines. One defining factor within the arts entrepreneurship context is the role of the arts in 
adding value. This is a concept that includes both monetary benefit and the broader totality of 
benefits that cultural and intellectual production bring to the table as value (Frey, 2005).   

Beckman and Essig (2012) developed an initial interpretation of arts entrepreneurship, saying 
that it could be defined as “individual artist self-management and self-actualization.” The 
Beckman and Essig (2012) definition was augmented by research conducted by Chang and 
Wyszomirski (2015), which looked at the most frequent uses of terms in the fields of arts 
administration and policy, nonprofit management, and business. In the aggregate, they found that 
the three most frequently used meanings of arts entrepreneurship are: 1) developing new ventures; 
2) locating new financial capital; and 3) developing new markets. Subsequent to this investigation, 
these authors developed the following definition: “arts entrepreneurship is a management process 
through which cultural workers seek to support their creativity and autonomy, advance their 
capacity for adaptability, and create artistic as well as economic and social value” (Chang & 
Wyszomirski, 2015).  

Essig (2015), however, highlights arts entrepreneurship as a creative process instead of a 
management process, as suggested by Chang and Wyszomirski (2015), positing that the 
managerial process is only the mediation that helps the conversion move from means to ends. 
According to this author, an aspect of using ingenuity in fostering success despite scarce resources, 
or what could be thought of as creative inspiration, is a hallmark of the arts entrepreneur. Essig 
(2015) explores theories of entrepreneurship and firms, forming a means-ends framework 
illustrative of entrepreneurial activities in US arts and cultural sector.  

The author describes arts entrepreneurship as a creative process that converts the means, such 
as social and financial capital and applicable knowledge, to the ends -- which include not only 
profit and products, but lasting impact on society -- through mediating structures. A key takeaway 
from Essig’s analysis is that the outputs of arts entrepreneurship move beyond the aspect of 
commerce, providing enhanced value creation and contributing to the growth of cultural capital 
through fostering sustainable products and services with an inherently aesthetic quality.   

In order to further understand and bound the field of arts entrepreneurship, Hausman and 
Heinze (2016) did an systematic analysis of 50 articles, finding that the definition of the topic area 
ranged from the managerial aspect of the area that places the focus on the firm, to the central figure 
of the individual creative producer, as well as recognizing the outputs of arts entrepreneurship that 
result in experiential opportunities or the production of creative capital as a legacy. Another aspect 
of the focus within arts entrepreneurship is the self-employment landscape, which can be viewed 
as part of the study of traditional entrepreneurship (Woronkowicz & Noonan, 2017). Often located 
in urban areas, individual artists may take advantage of resources including robust market 
opportunities, collaborative milieus, and an environment that fosters innovation and 
experimentation, each of which contribute to the development of the arts entrepreneur. 



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One of the hallmarks of the creative sector and intellectual endeavors is a focus on 
experimentation, innovation, and a love of unique solutions, rather than staying with the familiar 
and established way of doing things both in artistic endeavors and industry (Ahuja & Lampert, 
2001). This differentiation must be taken into consideration when understanding the role that the 
creative sector plays in the entrepreneurial context, rather than forcing the field to echo the norms 
and structures of traditional entrepreneurship (Oakley, 2009).   

 
Theoretical Frame of Arts Entrepreneurship 
The fundamental principles of arts entrepreneurship have been characterized as being on an 
evolving continuum (Beckman & Essig, 2012), ranging from theories about individuals to those 
that apply to a firm or entity, whether large or small. Each of these conceptual streams needs to be 
modified in order to build a set of theories that apply specifically to arts entrepreneurship. As this 
field develops, theories emerge, are tested and argued, and subsequently become part of the 
literature. Theories that contribute to the development of arts entrepreneurship include those of 
“classic” entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity, social enterprise, and management. 
Researchers in this new discipline have borrowed from other fields, carefully examining the 
efficacy of each set of theoretical constructs in order to determine the inherent principles that 
provide the best fit for an emergent field.  

Entrepreneurship deals primarily with the formation of businesses, which is not necessarily 
the case in arts entrepreneurship, when an individual may come up with a new concept or idea or 
may be working as an artist rather than forming a specific stand-alone entity (Essig, 2015). An 
additional aspect that differentiates “traditional” entrepreneurship from arts entrepreneurship in 
the literature has to do with the contrasting bottom line. In the arts entrepreneurship case, scholars 
posit that a motivating factor may be something beyond the financial remuneration associated with 
successful enterprises, which would include personal satisfaction, aesthetic fulfillment, or a 
contribution to society that exceeds the purely economic (Caves, 2000; Essig, 2015; Preece, 2011).  

Proponents are developing new bespoke theories that include elements such as resilience, 
bricolage, and opportunity spotting – all specifically relating to the context of the arts. Bricolage, 
or finding ways to realize goals without necessary tools – or doing more with less -- is another 
concept that resonates in the often resource-challenged environment of the creative (Baker & 
Nelson, 2005; Preese, 2013). Opportunity spotting in the context of this emergent field may have 
the hallmarks of the creative sector as combined with that of the entrepreneur, including aspects 
such as innovation, imagination, and the disruption of the status quo (Essig, 2015). As creative 
individuals seek to develop new ways to move their careers, small businesses, or organizations 
forward it is this ability to recognize the chance for change that is being positioned as an important 
differentiator (Chen & Wyszomirski, 2015).  

Since two primary streams can be found within this theoretical framework, that of the 
organization and that of the individual, further research as to the core distinguishing elements of 
the arts entrepreneurship lens on the micro-and macro-levels can make a contribution to the 
literature. These principles are the building blocks to forming new theories, which will need to be 
operationalized and tested empirically in order to determine their efficacy. We believe that this 
examination of three arts entities, viewed through the lens of arts entrepreneurship with 
consideration of the individual and the firm, can bring another viewpoint to the ongoing process 
of field building. 



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Entrepreneurial Opportunity and Arts Entrepreneurship in China 
Here, we build on this literature and reflect upon the meanings of arts entrepreneur and arts 

entrepreneurship in the context of our research on China. The concept of an “entrepreneur” was 
developed by Jean-Baptiste Say around 1800, when he defined entrepreneurs as individuals who 
realized profits through change (Bonin-Rodriguez, 2012). One can also understand those who 
utilize adaptation to foster new profit streams by employing the word “innovator,” recognizing 
that today’s entrepreneurs may inherently -- deliberately or inadvertently -- disrupt the status quo 
(Christensen, 1997). This kind of innovation, which is both disruptive and entrepreneurial, often 
results from what can be observed as asymmetric information and opportunities (Bonin-Rodriguez, 
2012; Eckhardt & Shane, 2003; Shane & Venkataraman, 2001).  

Asymmetric access to information can be the result of social networks that have strong 
connections to power as well as favorable market positioning, together with institutional and/or 
government relationships that offer unique opportunities (Lin et al, 2013; Walker & Sherwood, 
2003). Thus, we can understand entrepreneurship as a successful endeavor when it not only results 
in financial gain, but also where there is a disruption of the status quo resulting from asymmetrical 
access to governmental, social, and/or production resources. However, within the arts 
entrepreneurship context, additional factors such as benefit to society, public good, and increased 
pride of place may be of value in measuring positive outcomes.  

Under Marxist ideology, capitalism was forbidden in China in the era of Chairman Mao. 
Fostered by a centralized economic plan, agriculture was carried out by collectives in villages, 
while industry was state-owned and relegated to urban areas. By 1956, the private sector was 
eradicated in China (Liao & Sohmen, 2001). The concept of entrepreneurship during that time was 
not a popular one until Chairman Deng took over in 1978, after which time he began to encourage 
the growth of private enterprise, thereby stimulating the economy. During that period, some 
individual wealth was created. Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, it has 
made substantive efforts to become a part of the world economy, following market rules and 
establishing institutional economic policy.  

This process, beginning with Deng, has meant that the concepts of entrepreneur and 
entrepreneurship have found their way into the economic development lexicon in modern China 
with the encouragement of the state, which promoted the early-adopter entrepreneurs (Fan, 2006). 
A government slogan, loosely translated as “let some people get rich first” was touted, with the 
idea that subsequently others would follow in generating individual wealth. However, the classic 
definition of entrepreneurship fostered by Hills (1994) points to a process that, “causes changes in 
the economic system to innovations brought about by individuals who generate or respond to 
economic opportunities that create value for both these individuals and society.” This is in contrast 
to the Chinese economic system, in which entrepreneurs in that country face barriers to 
institutional innovation (Milana & Wang, 2013). 

When Deng first opened the doors to global commerce, Chinese society had a positive 
experience of the ubiquitous term, “Made in China.” There was national pride in being the 
producer of a multitude of goods for the world marketplace. However, when the words “Made in 
China” began to be printed below the words, “Designed in USA” on labels, the realization of this 
negative perception of the country’s production brand hit home. China was labeled as “the world’s 
factory” for decades, famous for its cheap labor force, but the way this productivity was viewed 
has gradually begun to change. The economy is experiencing a transition from “made” to 



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“innovated” (Wei et al, 2017; Keane, 2006). As Chinese society began to rethink the term “Made 
in China,” the awareness of the importance of creativity began to emerge, fostering the advent of 
a new brand position, now called “Created in China” (Keane, 2007).  

Among the panoply of creative goods and services in China are the “creative industries,” a 
term that began to be popularized in the mid to late 1990s, specifically at a national level by the 
UK government’s Department of Culture Media and Sport. This entity defined the field as, “those 
activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill, and talent and which have a 
potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual 
property” (British Council, 2010, p. 16). The Chinese Communist Party currently takes great effort 
to promote the creative and cultural industries (Hartley & Montgomery, 2009). The government 
instituted a form of tax-deduction and other policy interventions, while still professing to follow 
the tenets of Marxism within the leadership and management of the “socialist cultural 
construction” (Chinese Communist Party, 2011).  

Enthusiasm about this sector led to the identification of the creative industries as a policy 
priority, as evidenced in the 12th Five-Year Plan of 2011 (He, 2014). China’s Five-Year Plans are 
social and economic development plans for the whole country, produced every five years by the 
Communist Party of China. The Party sets targets, maps strategies, and establishes overall 
guidelines for short- and long-term goals. Subsequent to this, regional and local governments 
compile their own detailed plans in accordance with the tenets of the Five-Year plan (Hu, 2015).  

Cultural development plays an important role in the 12th Five-year Plan. The 12th plan 
(National Development and Reform Commission, 2011) states that the cultural sector will 
gradually become among the pillar industries of the national economy by 2015. The Ministry of 
Culture issued several related plans to encourage the growth of the cultural economy and creative 
markets, especially in the fields of film and television, publishing, entertainment, digital content, 
and animation. The government signaled that it would focus attention on cultural investment, 
cultural policies, and the cultural market environment (Qiao, 2012). The central government favors 
the phrase “cultural sector” in its documentation, while local governments tend to use “creative 
economy” (National Development and Reform Commission, 2011). 

Within this sector in China there are currently three main categories: art, design, and media 
(Keane, 2013). The art facet of the field deals with economic value that can be created through the 
arts; design includes technology design such as software and speaks to innovation in industry, 
creative clusters, and the creative class; and media is an area that encompasses the means of 
communication and attendant platforms. China’s promotion of the creative economy as a source 
of revenue and social purpose has brought its own tensions, specifically between the position of 
the government regarding retaining control of commercialization and the growth of what could be 
understood as arts entrepreneurship in China (Keane, 2013, p.4) 

 
Understanding the Multiple Streams Framework 

Kingdon (1984) presents the Multiple Streams framework (MS), wherein he delineated 
organizational behavior within what is known as the “garbage can model” (Sabatier, 2007). MS 
deals with policymaking processes, helping to understand the complex factors that lead to 
recognition of policy issues, as well as how the scarce attention of policymakers may be focused 
on one alternative rather than another (Kingdon, 1984). Three streams flow through the 
policymaking process: problem, policy, and politics. These streams are relatively independent of 



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each other, but when a “policy window” is open, “policy entrepreneurs” help to join these streams, 
resulting in policy change.  

Problem stream refers to ways certain problems capture governmental officials’ attention. 
Three mechanisms affect this: indicators, focusing events, and feedback. Indicators and their 
interpretation help to assess the magnitude of a problem; focusing events such as crises and 
disasters elicit public attention and push the problem into focus on the government agenda; and 
feedback from previous programs offers evaluation of similar programs and policies. Conditions 
are defined as problems only when the polis believes that something ought to be done (Kingdon, 
1984). 

The policy stream is a known as a “policy primeval soup,” or messy environment wherein 
numerous proposals float around policy networks (Kingdon, 1984, p. 116; Planing, 2017; Elson & 
Hall, 2016). These policy networks include elected officials, career bureaucrats, academics, and 
government workers. By definition, these disparate actors become aligned within a focused policy 
framework (Zahariadis, 2007). Both individuals and groups may be influenced by actors called 
policy entrepreneurs; these are policy actors, often outside the main landscape, seeking to 
influence decision makers to adopt their policies in an attempt to influence both policy 
communities and the polis. Meeting the criteria of technical feasibility and value acceptability 
could enhance the chance of proposals’ survival (Kingdon, 1984). 

The political stream encompasses the national mood, and is influenced by exogenous shocks, 
such as election results and interest group campaigns, or internal factors including shifts in 
administration and ideological alignments aggregated behind issues (Kingdon, 1984). When the 
vast majority of the polis aligns along such lines, politicians and agendas can be influenced. 
Organized political forces affect and can sway policy outcomes. A final component of political 
streams is administration, mainly including the turnover of key personnel and issues about 
jurisdiction. Kingdon’s political stream, which is based on the Western system of interest group 
influence, partisanship, and electoral outcomes, stands in contrast to that of China. In the Chinese 
one-party political context, these contents of political streams are only partly applicable.  

An important concept in MS is the policy window. This is an opportunity that occurs in a time-
sensitive manner, wherein there is only a brief chance in which to make change and to introduce a 
strategy for action (Kingdon, 1984, p. 174). Policy windows open through a problem or an event 
in the political stream. When the window opens, policy entrepreneurs seize the opportunity to 
persuade politicians or policymakers to take up their solutions. This is the time that the three 
streams – problem, policy, and political -- join, bringing a dramatically increased probability of an 
item rising on a decision agenda.  

Chinese scholars have used MS to analyze environment policy, repatriation policy, and 
housing policy (Bai, 2010; Liu, 2015; Huang and Xu, 2012; Bi, 2007). Some use part of Kingdon’s 
political stream concept, including national mood and change of administration (Liu, 2015; Huang 
and Xu, 2012), while others use adaptive contents such as the attention of the central government 
(Bi, 2007) or nationwide political direction from the central government (Bai, 2010). While we 
use MS to analyze cultural policy in the Chinese context, it has been applied in various policy 
domains (Chow, 2014). MS has been used to explain US foreign aid allocation (Travis, Zahariadis, 
2002), emissions trading in Germany (Brunner, 2008), municipal emergency management 
(Henstra, 2010), EU policymaking (Zahariadis, 2008; Ackrill & Kay, 2011) and privatization in 



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Britain and Germany (Zahariadis and Allen, 1995). However, this study is the first to utilize MS 
to look at the cultural sector in China. 

Case Studies 
National Centre for the Performing Arts: A Nation’s Dream 

Opened in December 2007, the National Centre for the Performing Arts of China is located in 
the center of Beijing, beside Tiananmen Square, and cost about $400 million USD. The decision 
to establish a national theatre dates back to the late 1950s, and from the very beginning until its 
grand opening was both a top-down and back-and-forth process (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. National Centre for the Performing Arts Timeline 

1958
•Premier Zhou Enlai proposed establishment	of a national theater, and suggested the location of the
theater

1959-
1961

•The Three Years of Great	Chinese	Famine
•The theater proposal was postponed

1966-
1976

•Cultural Revolution

1970s
•Ministry of Culture raised the proposal again, but got no results

1990
•Ministry of Culture raised the proposal one more time, and established ad hoc office

1997
•Project was approved by the	Central	Committee	of	the	Communist	Party	of	China

1998
•Andreu succeeded in the bidding

2000.4
•Construction begins

2000.7
•Construction shut	down due to a heated debate on the building design

2001.2
•Feasibility	Report discussed by the	CPC	Politburo

2001.7
•Beijing succeeded in Olympic Bid

2001.1
2

•Start construction again

2007.9
•Construction completed and the theatre opened

2008
•Beijing Olympic Games



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Following the success of the 2008 Olympics bid, the policy window was open, and 
construction began and was completed before the Beijing Olympic Games. The three streams came 
together, allowing us to visualize the policy process of establishing a national theatre and 
subsequently to use key MS concepts to analyze the debate after 2000.  

The Three Streams: Problem, Policy and Politics. Prior to the opening of NCPA in 2007, 
Beijing had some theatres and concert halls, such as Great Hall of the People--where high-level 
performances took place--but they were not of a stature to be known as the “cultural center of 
China,” and the facilities were not sufficient to present world-class performances that showcased 
Chinese culture, enhanced soft power, and improved performing arts domestically.  

The policy stream, which we define as the proposal to establish a national theatre, appeared 
several times before 2000 (indicated in Figure 2 as a dotted line), but did not influence the policy 
agenda until the successful Olympic bid in 2001. The politics stream, defined as a policymaker or 
politician’s attention towards an issue, existed for a long time but it was not as relevant as other 
political issues, such as “class struggle.” In Figure 2, the political stream is shown by a dashed 
line, indicating the less important position of the proposal on the policy agenda. A solid line 
illustrates the central government’s active decision on this project.  

 

 
Figure 2. Processing towards NCPA and its Three Streams 

 
The successful 2008 Olympic bid provided the policy window, which would last only through the 
Games, so the final decision was made to seize the opportunity to join the three streams.  

Focusing on the design debate: Do policy entrepreneurs work? In July 1999, French 
architect Paul Andreu’s design was selected (Zhong, 2000) from among 70 international design 
submissions. Surrounded by a man-made lake, his imposing, gargantuan domed glass structure 
with its reflective exterior was meant to be a defining structure -- an architectural magnet in the 
heart of the enormous city of Beijing. In 2000, soon after it began, construction was suspended 
amid opposition from Chinese scientists and engineers.  

Politics 

 Policy 

Problem 

2001 2008 1958 1961 1976 

Cultural RevolutionGreat Famine 



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When a policy window opens, hesitation may prove to be unwise, as the window will close. 
Wan Li, the former head of the Ministry of National Urban Construction, said, “We want to grasp 
the chance of the Olympics to establish the national theater, which is a long-term wish” (Shan, 
2004). Paul Andreu’s design was reinstated. In this case, the academics served as policy 
entrepreneurs and used their own resources to influence policy communities, giving information 
and suggestions to policymakers and influencing the government to suspend the construction. 
However, when the policy window opened with externally imposed deadlines, these suggestions 
and influences were not critical factors for final decisions and policies in light of the opportunities 
for China to shine in the global spotlight.  

Budget Constraints: The Management Problem of NCPA. Historically, the National 
Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) promoted an image of Chinese culture to its citizens. This 
role is consistent with our broader understanding of arts management, especially as seen in the 
literature, where the field is interchangeably referred to as “cultural management” (Brkić, 2009; 
Dewey, 2004). This is particularly the case when art is used to build social cohesion (Evrard and 
Colbert, 2000). Given the establishment of the National Centre with a tourism focus, there is a 
policy opening for a more innovative range of performing art offerings as the NCPA competes 
more globally to attract tourism (Teece, 2010; Evrard and Colbert, 2000). 

Multiple Streams sees the budget as a special component of the problem stream. Often, the 
budgeting process inhibits action, preventing proposals from reaching policy agendas because the 
idea would put a strain on previous financial commitments (Kingdon, 1984). When the proposal 
to build a national theatre emerged, the economy was not robust enough for implementation. In 
some ways, the budget problem is subjective. The question is not “can we afford the cost” but 
rather, “is the project worth the cost?” Regarding the NCPA and other expensive arts flagship 
venues in China, the cost-benefit discussion is raised before and after the construction since, as a 
developing country, other issues such as income disparity are always on the policy agenda. In this 
case, a window was needed to spur the establishment of a national theatre and the Olympic bidding 
was just that window. 

The Today Art Museum: China’s First “Private” Museum 
An increased interest in contemporary Chinese art coincided with the Chinese government’s 

1978 Economic Reform, but contemporary artists, such as Ai Weiwei, are considered unofficial 
artists outside of the Chinese Artists Association. These are individuals who attack the regime’s 
status quo and push the boundaries of propriety with their art, which has been called, 
“heterogeneous, chaotic, anarchic and often provocative” (Elzen, 2008, p. 5). The Chinese 
government often appears threatened by these individual artists, many of whom have a worldwide 
following (Salmenkari, 2004). Therefore, state-owned art museums could not freely showcase 
contemporary art without risking losing political power and financial support. The lack of official 
places to exhibit contemporary art created a gap between demand and supply.  

In Kingdon’s theory, there is a difference between a condition and a problem. The latter is 
something with high social or political value that merits consideration and that could lead to policy 
change (Kingdon, 1984); but if the value is low, then it is only a condition. The government’s 
ambiguous attitudes towards contemporary art were based on the assumption that contemporary 
art was meaningless for socialist culture because it, “distorted Chinese international image,” was 
“instigated by the Western ideology,” and “aimed to subvert socialism” (Lü, 2014, p. 93). Because 



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the government viewed the mismatch as a condition, contemporary artists had to find an outlet, 
which was the so-called “private art museum,” a nonprofit and non-governmental entity.  

Conservative politics, fractures between urban and rural society’s access to contemporary art, 
and ideological frameworks all were challenges to contemporary art’s development (Lü, 2014). 
Nevertheless, the art market prospered as a result of economic openness, and Chinese artists gained 
international fame in the early 2000s (Elzen, 2008; Keane, 2013). Private art museums, born as a 
solution, tried to find their identity and function as a part of the creative economy. Without official 
support from the government that saw a condition, not a problem, the only patrons of these 
museums were private companies, which meant no guaranteed funding.  

Policy stream: Policy entrepreneur and Today Art Museum. Today Art Museum opened 
in 2002 as the project of Zhang Baoquan, the owner of a real estate company called the Antaeus 
Group, with a complex of more than 2,000 luxury apartments adjacent to the museum. Beijing’s 
Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau had no criterion for this kind of entity (Wang, 2009). After some 
investigation, the bureau issued the museum a license, wherein it is named as a “private art 
museum” separate from the Antaeus Group (Ma, 2010). Although no commercial purpose is 
mentioned in organizational materials, the museum’s function in the promotion of the 
neighborhood can be seen as a factor in its development. Most of the private art museums in China 
are backed by real estate companies (Lü, 2014), which are financially sound enough to sponsor an 
arts organization. Having an art museum near their developments could promote the reputation 
both of the neighborhood and the company. As of 2015, approximately 140 private art museums 
exist in China (Anon., 2015), each facing financial challenges due to lack of government funding, 
as well as the need to secure artists, calling into question their future sustainability (Xu, 2016).   

Political stream: Private entities on the public radar. For a long time, the Chinese 
government held the view that an important aspect of art is its role as a servant of political regimes 
and social movements, rather than as a tool for individual self-expression (Salmenkari, 2004). This 
role for the arts resulted in a lack of official support for contemporary art and private art museums. 
As of early 2016, there was no state-level regulation released by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, 
nor official statistics specifically focusing on private museums. The Vice-Director of the Arts 
Departement of the Ministry of Culture estimates that private art museums currently make up 
nearly one-third of all art museums in China (China Culture Daily, 2013).  

Waiting for the window. Government consideration of the private art museum has begun to 
be evidenced, but a true opening for change through a policy window is still on its way. The 
Ministry of Culture acknowledged private art museums as part of the cultural landscape in a 2014 
report (Lü, 2014). Without policy consideration and the financial benefit of government support, 
these museums explore a cultural ecology that takes advantage of the growth of the Chinese market 
economy. In Multiple Streams, a pre-policy situation such as that of private art museums in China 
is a kind of policy primeval soup (Kingdon, 1984), or a solution waiting for a policy window.  

Policy or Economics? Is the Today Art Museum, China’s first private contemporary art 
museum, an example of “nonprofit boosterism?” One of the key considerations for the survival of 
an organization, especially one that is a dependent upon governmental and public support, is its 
ability to maintain a resource stream (Froelich, 1999; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978). The management 
of dependencies becomes a crucial competency when balancing a drive for innovation and 
continued support; this strategic responsibility falls upon the booster for the organization (Froelich, 
1999; Kushner & Poole, 1996). One nonprofit management strategy is to secure trust through 



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relationship building and sometimes being purposefully vague on the immediate outputs (West, 
1987). This strategy allows for nonprofit entities to cater both to the public and governmental 
interests, while allowing wiggle room to push the boundaries regarding arts offerings.   

The lack of policy considerations in the case of Today Art Museum and Chinese contemporary 
art is due to the fact that the window for policy change is not yet open. Policy entrepreneurs need 
a pet solution or a set of pet solutions to advocate within epistemic policy communities. In 
interviews with the directors of private art museums, in speeches during the Private Art Museums 
Forum, and in news and academic articles about the issue the most frequently-mentioned problem 
facing these museums is the lack of the kind of tax-exempt policy found in the Western system 
(Gong, 2013; Gu & Wang, 2012; Hu et al, 2017; Zhang & Gao, 2012). As ideas float about in the 
“policy primeval soup,” the suggestion of tax-exempt policy does not meet the survival criteria – 
technical feasibility and value feasibility – both of which help ideas to be considered as serious, 
viable proposals.  

The argument against technical feasibility says that tax-exemption is not a policy limited to 
the arts; rather, it is a huge systematic project that needs cooperation and coordination from many 
different central governmental departments including the State Council, Ministry of Culture, 
Ministry of Finance, and National Administration of Taxation. In addition, the charity system in 
China is not the same as in the West, as it relates to what is known as the “government-involving-
corporate-sector,” which would make tax reform more complicated (Li et al, 2015; Tan & Tang, 
2014).  

An additional concept overlay from MS is that of value feasibility (Kingdon, 1984). This 
points to the way that strategies and options for policy change must be aligned with goals and 
agenda items that are high priorities for the value landscape of policy specialists. In China, 
supporting contemporary art is not a policy concern, but a value one. In the political stream, one 
question that might be asked is whether these 140 private art museums represent an organized 
political force. At the First Private Art Museums Development Forum, the participants formed the 
Private Art Museum Association. However, the Association has not had a visible role 
subsequently.  
798 Arts District: Public-Private Cooperation 

Beijing’s northeast Dashanzi District was famous for its 718 Joint Factory, established in the 
1960’s with East Germany’s help. After 10 years of operation, 718 divided into six factories, 
including 798. Semiconductors eventually replaced electron tubes, resulting in vacant factory 
facilities. In 2000, these factories were incorporated into the Seven-Star Huadian Science and 
Technology Group (Seven Star Group), which sought to populate the derelict, massive structures 
with tenants (Yin et al., 2015). American publisher Robert Bernell moved into 798 in 2002. 
Subsequently, buildings were rented to other artists and 798 began as an informal art zone. The 
former electronic component factory’s Bauhaus-influenced interiors were massive, and skylights 
provided natural light, fostering ideal conditions for art exhibits. 

On the edge of demolition. After Seven Star Group’s establishment, the city supported plans 
for 718 District as a technology hub (Currier, 2008), refusing to rent to artists, anyone related to 
arts and culture, or foreigners , preferring the economic advantages a technology hub would bring. 
The Group argued that there was no role for the creative community in this decision-making 
process, since they were not the owners of these properties (Yin et al., 2015). In 2003, artists in 
798 gained public attention by launching the “Reconstructing 798 Movement,” an arts festival 



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calling for the conservation of the complex. The standoff between the different visions for this area 
provide the focusing event for this case, illustrating how problems capture the attention of 
policymakers and the public and pave the way for subsequent advocacy. Artists used exhibitions 
and arts festivals to reinforce 798’s identity as an art zone and to gain a place on the policy agenda 
as well as a more powerful position when negotiating with Seven Star.  

Policy entrepreneurs and agendas. In 2003, Li Xiangqun, a professor from Tsinghua 
University who had his own studio in 798, submitted a proposal to the National People’s Congress 
that had the twin goals of creating an arts district while recognizing the importance of heritage 
buildings in city planning (Zheng, 2008, p. 48). Professor Li acted as a policy entrepreneur, trying 
to place 798 onto the policymakers’ agenda. Using robust relationships both with government 
officials and private sector actors to leverage the possibility of success on the project (Kingdon, 
1984), Li called for a halt to the destruction of this area, claiming that the district has architectural 
relevance as a historic site (Yin et al., 2015).   

Professor Li’s and the artists’ actions illustrate the process of influencing policy communities 
and the polis by leveraging worldwide acceptance of the creative city concept and value (Kingdon, 
1984). Two kinds of targets of agenda influence appear in this case. First, the activism and arts 
festival received a great deal of attention aimed at educating the public about 798 as an art hub, 
which in turn prepared art advocates for policy action. Second, Professor Li educated the policy 
community through his personal relationships with officials. Without his advocacy, a proposal to 
protect the 798 Art Zone likely would have failed, due to little understanding or support.  

Since the early 2000s, China’s interest in the creative industries has escalated as it focuses on 
upgrading worldwide demand from inexpensive goods to higher-cost products and services 
(O’Connor and Gu, 2006; Keane, 2013). This opportunity is a “policy window” for the creative 
industries, wherein creative clusters are viewed as valuable for the development of the economy. 
In 2005, the government identified 798 as a modern architectural heritage site, and in 2006 
officially designated the area as “The 798 Art Zone,” listing it as one of the first “cultural creative 
industries clusters.” Together with the Seven Star Group, the State established a “798 Arts District 
Construction and Management Office.” In 2011, the government created the “Beijing 
Administrative Committee of 798 Arts District,” thus insuring the pre-eminence of the government 
as a key actor in this public-private enterprise (Zielke and Waibel, 2014). The 798 Arts District 
now receives millions of visitors annually. Both the city government and the Seven Star Group 
agree that the site serves as a stellar example of cultural policy and economic development 
(Currier, 2008).  

Illustrative examples of 798 Arts District arts entrepreneurs are artist Hang Rui and gallery 
owner Yang Yang. Huang Rui is a well-known artist who was among the first to introduce 
contemporary art into Chinese society at the end of 1970s. In 2002, he went to the 798 Area for 
the first time with fellow artist Ai Weiwei. Several artists were working there, lured by the 
Bauhaus-style factory building and low rent, but 798 was far from an arts district as it faced 
demolition and replacement by a high-tech cluster. Huang recognized the value of this opportunity 
to foster an art district, believing in its future. Together with other artists, he drafted petitions and 
launched arts festivals in order to secure social attention and thereby change the fate of 798. Huang 
had the “alertness” of an arts entrepreneur (Essig, 2015), seizing the opportunity to transform the 
798 Factory into an arts district though leveraging art world connections, the media, and social 



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capital. Although Rui left the district in 2007, he still claims that of all of his art projects, the 798 
is his best work (Huang, 2008; Wu, 2010). 

Yang Yang, the owner of Gallery Yang, studied computer science and after graduating in 
2003, this would-be programmer worked for a contemporary art gallery in Bangkok. After three 
years as an administrator, she developed a keen interest in art and built a network among artists. 
Subsequent to moving back to Beijing in 2006, Yang pursued a degree from the Central Academy 
of Fine Arts. She started Gallery Yang in 2010, moving it to the 798 Arts District two years later. 
Yang, born in the 1980s, promoted primarily the younger generation of Chinese artists. Her 
husband also operated an art gallery, providing her with professional advice and assistance in 
networking. As Woronkowicz and Noonan (2017) posit, being married can be among the positive 
predictors in the choice to be an entrepreneur. For arts entrepreneurs such as Yang, labor market 
experience increases the propensity of being self-employed (Woronkowicz and Noonan, 2017), 
which gives them the startup knowledge resources and confidence to succeed (Contemporary Art 
Magazine, 2011).  

Discussion: Arts Entrepreneurship and Cultural Policy Innovation 
The three cases presented here provide a way to understand the conditions and evolution 

of each cultural entity through policy analysis, and to examine how they exemplify the tenets of 
the field of arts entrepreneurship as it stands today. While the lens of Multiple Streams is useful in 
looking at the creation of these cultural anchors, we employ arts entrepreneurship to look at the 
current snapshot in Beijing. Figures 3, 4, and 5 following illustrate the blending of these two 
perspectives, examining the actors, conditions, and outcomes related to each entity profiled. 

Figure 3. NCPA - Actors, Conditions, and Outcomes 

National	Centre	for	the	Performing	Arts

Actors

Conditions

Outcomes

•Scholars	opposed	to	the	design
•Internationally	renown	architect
•Group	bidding	for	Olympics
•Government	after	winning	bid
•Management	of	NCPA

•Lack	of	national	performing	arts	center
•Winning	Olympic	bid
•Time	constraint
•Desire	for	presence	on	global	stage

•Recognized	behemoth	performing	arts	center
•Arts	management	example
•Magnet	for	national	and	international	tourism
•Fostering	development	of	arts	consumption



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Figure 4. Today Art Museum - Actors, Conditions, and Outcomes 

Figure 5. 798 Arts District - Actors, Conditions, and Outcomes 

Arts entrepreneurship in China 
China today is eager to utilize tools for creative city-building, and among these is the growing 

field of arts entrepreneurship. The 798 Arts District fosters economic development through arts 
entrepreneurship, as well as incentivizing the individual arts entrepreneur. Chinese government 
interest exemplifies a characteristic of field building, specifically in the developing arts 

Today	Art	Museum

Actors

Conditions

Outcomes

•Zhang	Baoquan,	businessman
•Executive	Director	Gao	Peng
•Chinese	artists
•International	art	market

•Rise	of	economic	incentivization	in	China
•Desire	by	real	estate	company	to	develop	the	
neighborhood

•Growing	art	market	for	contemporary	Chinese	art

•Fostering	of	new	kind	of	museum	paradigm
•Arts	management	example	- leader	as	brand	
builder

•Increased	interest	in	public	experience	of
contemporary	Chinese	art

798	Arts	District

Actors

Conditions

Outcomes

• American	publisher	Robert	Bernell
• Beijing’s	artists	and	arts	advocates
• Global	creative	community
• Acquiescence	by	the	State
• Chinese	artists	and	arts	entrepreneurs

• Abandoned	factory	area
• Rise	of	interest	in	creative	economy
• Social	media	landscape
• Openness	in	Chinese	entrepreneurship

• Flourishing	arts	district
• Opportunities	for	individual	arts
entrepreneurs

• Strong	brand	for	district
• Field	building	due	to	State	interest	in	sector



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entrepreneurship field. Evidenced primarily in the 798 Arts District, this is an instance of 
government interest in developing a creative place -- especially one with individual arts 
entrepreneurs -- in order to foster its agenda of promoting the creative economy, as outlined in the 
12th Five-Year plan (He, 2014).  

The National Centre for the Performing Arts illustrates the mangerial aspect of arts 
entrepreneurship, and is more aligned with the context of arts management within the creative 
sector, giving us an understanding of the way that China values creative outputs in a public context. 
We view the National Theatre as opening the door to excellence in arts management, as it has 
become a symbol of China’s dedication to the arts and its cultural power. While it is important not 
to conflate arts management with the arts entrepreneurship mindset, NCPA is an example of the 
component of this field that looks at management as an aspect of entrepreneurship in the arts.  

The Today Art Museum exemplifies the way the door has been opened for the world to see a 
nonprofit leader who has brought interest and attention to the explosive growth of the global 
market for contemporary Chinese artwork. The Today Art Museum points to the role that a visible, 
global arts administrator with a highly entrepreneurial mindset can play in championing a 
burgeoning fine arts scene. However, it is the 798 Arts District that has paved the way for a locally-
based kind of arts entrepreneurship often found in creative clusters, urban centers, and arts districts. 
The 798 serves specifically as an example of the conflation of arts and economic development and 
the manifestation of individually-focused arts entrepreneurship theory (Table 1). 
 
 
Five Aspects of 
Arts 
Entrepreneurship 
 

 
NCPA 

 
798 Arts District 

 
Today Art Museum 

Arts Entrepreneur Government acting 
in an innovative 
way 

Li Xiangqun; 
individual artists 
and business owners 

Zhang Baoquan 

Opportunity  Lack of a national 
cultural center 

Emergence of 
creative sector in 
China 

Lack of 
contemporary art 
museum in China 

Managerial structure Creation and 
management of a 
national theatre 

Creation and 
management of an 
art district 

Creation and 
management of a 
museum 

Purpose Artistic and social Artistic, social and 
economic 

Artistic and social 

Content and 
programming 

Performing Arts Arts, creative 
businesses, and 
artists gathering 

Contemporary art 

Table 1: Five Aspects of arts entrepreneurship applied to Beijing’s three cultural anchors 
 

Arts management writ large: The behemoth NCPA. Since its inception, the National 
Centre for the Performing Arts has grown to become one of the best-managed arts organizations 
in China (Chen, 2017), making it an example of effective management structure within the arts 



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entrepreneurship lexicon. From its opening date in 2008 until 2015, the NCPA held nearly 6,700 
events, with an overall attendance of more than 600,000 people (Cai, 2015). This kind of robust 
attendance, the result of deliberate marketing efforts, belies the stereotype of inefficiency at the 
helm of state-owned arts and cultural institutions in China. Another facet of innovation in arts 
management is the way that the NCPA takes advantage of new media, offering a mobile 
application for classical music that has been downloaded nearly 700,000 times (Chen, 2015, Jan. 
22). 

 One of the hallmarks of the NCPA’s dedication to vitality, innovation, and concern for the 
long-term sustainability of demand is its arts education program. This is a signal that the 
organization’s leadership cares about the development of future audiences, which is emblematic 
of the arts management aspect of arts entrepreneurship. Management’s concern about keeping the 
cost of tickets affordable while maintaining high artistic quality also points to a dedication to public 
good, or the concept of social value creation in arts entrepreneurship theory (Essig, 2015). The 
administration of the NCPA even lowered the price of admission twice. When it opened in 2009, 
the average price was 480 RMB, the admission price was lowered to 316 RMB in 2013, and it 
dropped to 271 RMB in 2014 (Chen, 2015).  

Global entrepreneur in the Arts: Today Art Museum director Peng. Gao Peng, the 
executive director of Today Art Museum, took over the museum when he was just 31 years old. 
Capped with the moniker, “the youngest director of a museum in the world” (Hao & Zhang, 2015), 
he had an excellent educational background in art, a media-worthy appearance and personality, 
and rich arts management experience, which together gained him significant media attention. 
Consequently, an arts management star was born.  

Peng fits the profile of an arts entrepreneur in the management category -- his innovations 
inlclude programs such as holding exhibitions with content that connects to entertainment stars, 
combining artistic design and fashion, building partnerships with foreign embassies, and 
introducing performing arts to the museum to attract a general audience. Peng’s open-minded work 
to expand the boundaries of art in order to increase audience attendance, build the museum’s brand, 
and draw local and global attention both to the museum and to Chinese contemporary art make 
Today Art Museum China’s most visited modern art museum. 

 The 798 Arts District: Challenges of economic success. Although Beijing’s 798 Arts 
District began spontaneously as the dream and vision of an arts community outside of the 
governmental gaze, it has experienced many of the same problems that have been found in other 
arts districts throughout the world. Subsequent to its success, there has been a process of the 
“pricing out” of the creative sector, a challenge common in revitalizing and/or gentrifying areas 
(Goldberg-Miller, 2017). The 798 has a number of more established cultural entities, such as Pace 
Beijing, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, and the Asia Art Center, as well as art studios 
and stores that sell creative and cultural products. Recently, a plethora of cafés, restaurants, bars, 
hotels and even fashion retail outlets are emerging in the district. By 2015, the data showed that 
there were four million Chinese and one million international visitors to the arts district’s nearly 
250 arts organizations, shops, and businesses that year. In a recent interview, Wang Yanling, Chair 
of the Board of Directors of the arts district’s governing entity, 798 Creative Industry Investment 
Ltd., admitted that some galleries were leaving, noting, “that is a result of the development of the 
market and of time” (Zhang and Wang, 2016). 
 



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The Multiple Streams Framework in Beijing  
The processes of adoption – or non-adoption -- of policy in China differ significantly from 

Western policy processes. We look at the core concepts of MS in terms of the three arts entities, 
adapting the framework into a tool for the analysis of arts policy in China, as summarized in Table 
2.  
 
 798 Arts District NCPA Today Art Museum 
Problem 
Stream 

• Possible demolition 
of the arts area 

• Artists had already 
been in the district  

• Vacancy of a national 
cultural center 

• Contemporary 
artists wanted 
institutional places 
to exhibit 

• Lack of public 
support for private 
art museums  

Policy 
Entrepreneur 

• Li Xiangqun  
• Artists and 

academics 

• Government 
• Performing arts center 

proponents 

• Zhang Baoquan, 
businessman with 
art background, 
founder of Today 
Art Museum 

Policy Stream • Official 
certification 
designating 798 as 
an arts district 

• Proposals for building 
a national theatre 

• Little funding 
• No regulation 

Political 
Stream 

• Industrial upgrades • Shift of political 
focus to creation of a 
flagship cultural 
institution 

• Ideology 
• Politically, no 

preference towards 
contemporary art 

Policy 
Window 

• Emergence of 
creative sector as a 
target cluster 

• The Olympic Games 
• China would be on 

the world stage 

• International 
interest in Chinese 
contemporary art 

Table 2. Multiple Streams in the Chinese Context: Three Cultural Entities in Beijing 
 

Policy Entrepreneur. One of the purposes of MS is to evaluate the roles of policy actors, as 
well as policy entrepreneurs, within the context of the development of policy (Kingdon, 1984). In 
China, the fragmented authoritarianism framework mitigates the rules of the policymaking 
process. Policy entrepreneurs in this context can be defined as those outside of the core of the 
authoritarian-like government structure. This includes the media, NGOs, and minimally powerful 
government workers (Mertha, 2009). In our three entities, the policy entrepreneurs we discuss 
include Li Xiangqun in the 798 case, the proponents of the performing arts center in the NCPA 
case, and Zhang Baoquan in the Today Art Museum case. Most of these actors operate outside of 
the government, especially in the instances of the Today Art Museum and the 798 Arts District.  

Policy Stream. In MS, the policy stream refers to policy proposals under consideration. In the 
Chinese cases explored here, the trajectories are not transparent and it often is hard to clarify who 



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is in the policy community. Given these challenges, we focus on analyzing policy outcomes in the 
Chinese creative city context.  

Political Stream. Because China does not have election results, changes of administration, or 
changes of partisan distributions, in this investigation we explore the bargaining processes between 
different interest groups. The ideology of the Chinese political system and the directions of the 
central government are essential factors in the political stream. Due to the Internet, policy actors 
throughout the world now have much more interaction than ever. Overseas forces can play a role 
in China’s political stream, as the 798 Arts District case illustrates.  

Policy Window. Policy windows, by definition, are open only briefly, and are a chance for 
change to occur. The case of NCPA has a clear window, but the other two do not. The current 
local, national, and global attention to China’s emerging creative industry may prove to be the 
“window” for China’s development opportunity for China as it attempts to gain economic power.  

Policy Change. The Multiple Streams Framework is a theory about policy change, but in our 
cases we extend this theory to policy creation. Prior to the 798 Arts District, there was no creative 
cluster in Beijing; the NCPA is the first and most prominent national cultural center in China; and 
Today Art Museum is also the first officially approved private art museum in China. The Chinese 
government is facing a rapidly changing world and is creating new policies to deal with the growth 
of the creative sector and other burgeoning issues.  

 
Conclusion 

We use the lens of arts entrepreneurship to examine each of these entities as they have evolved 
and are positioned currently in the context of creative commerce as understood in China, 
specifically exploring the organizational aspect as well as looking at the individuals involved. 
Additionally, stakeholder groups, budget constraints, and policy windows are key Multiple 
Streams concepts we examine in the context of the cases. Policy concepts here are utilized to 
unpack the creation of these three cultural entities in Beijing, and arts entrepreneurship helps to 
explain the manifestation and the economic reality of emergent arts entrepreneurship constructs as 
applied to the Chinese context. While our policy analysis focuses on open policy windows, the arts 
entrepreneurship lens provides us with the chance to look at how a variety of actors are opening 
the doors to economic opportunity and creative freedom. 

Theories and constructs offer frameworks for researchers, but they are not stiff; rather, they 
are changeable and applicable within diverse research contexts. These cases have three different 
perspectives. The construction of NCPA is a top-down process conducted by the government, 
showing strong political value. The 798 Arts District has a semi-governmental management style, 
as it incorporates the government, is a state-owned company and is influenced by artists; its 
development process is more motivated by economic value. The Today Art Museum, similar to 
other Chinese private art museums, is founded and supported by the burgeoning private sector. 
While some private art museums have positive effects on creative commodities in the private 
sector, these museums are fighting for artistic value in the Chinese contemporary art scene.  

Our investigation points to ways that arts entrepreneurship is alive and flourishing in Beijing. 
The examples discussed here echo those found worldwide in the context of the arts 
entrepreneurship field, especially with regards to benchmarking excellence in innovative and 
strategic arts management practices, bricolage, and opportunity spotting. However, it is the 
occupants of the 798 Arts District, rather than the district itself, that exemplify the kind of 



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individual artist or business owner that fit the arts entrepreneurship definition posited by Essig 
(2015). 

The entities explored here exemplify three types of arts entities (governmental, semi-
governmental, and private) and values (political, economic, and artistic). They have different 
funding systems, organizational structures, and development trajectories. However, no matter what 
led them to their current positions, they now are facing a similar future. If we say that China is like 
a dragon flying into an open world at the fastest possible speed, culture plays an important role for 
this dragon, along with economic development, technological growth, and social advancement. 
All three of the cultural anchors profiled here are facing the world with its global economic 
practices and multi-modal audience. Whether looking at the NCPA, 798 Art District, or Today Art 
Museum, each strives to diversify its income, develop educational programs to cultivate more art 
enthusiasts, and attract more residents and tourists -- goals similar to those of their Western cultural 
counterparts. Additionally, the entities work to improve Chinese society’s cultural opportunities 
and experiences.  

These efforts are made through the arts, and the organizations described here have varying 
degrees of intention regarding their purposes and missions. As an arts district, 798 provides a focal 
point for residents and tourists and is an example of creative cluster. NCPA’s diversified 
performances and educational programs mean that, while it enjoys significant government support, 
its role may not be viewed as a tool for propaganda. The Today Art Museum, created and sustained 
by market-force actors, serves as an anchor institution in its neighborhood and has emerged as the 
leader of a new kind of art museum in China. Each of these seeks to influence the policymaking 
process in order to gain more freedom (deregulation) and support (tax-exemption policy) from the 
government.  

Innovation, strategic thinking, and adaptation to changing circumstances -- all of which are 
endemic to the definition and scope of arts entrepreneurship -- are found in these three entities, 
albeit to varying degrees and with diverse manifestations. Multiple Streams offers a powerful tool 
with which to understand the nuances of the three cases; however, one can only go so far using 
this framework. As a developing field, arts entrepreneurship has the flexibility and plasticity to be 
a relevant lens under disparate conditions. As evidenced here, these include dissimilar economic, 
social and political landscapes, affording the study of the applicability of an emerging discipline 
to a variety of circumstances. The ability of arts entrepreneurship to be understood across cultures 
can make the precepts of the field essential tools in the development of strategic planning for 
success in the arts worldwide, in both the for-profit and nonprofit contexts.  

Although the three entities under study were formed under very different circumstances, we 
find that they have grown to become similar in many ways, thus exemplifying a process known as 
institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). This is evidenced in their common global 
perspectives, attention to branding and the demand side of offerings, and the diversification of 
their revenue strategies. Each has shifted its priorities to take advantage of new opportunities to 
deepen and expand the market, provide an understanding of the contemporary Chinese art world, 
and educate tourists and residents. While the three organizations profiled have different origins, 
financial structures, and market orientations, all are responding to the wealth of opportunity 
afforded by the global attention China now enjoys.  
  



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