"I don’t work as a dancer, I am a dancer". From success to abandonment: career paths in the arts sector

The interest in the arts sector employment market stems essentially from a number of its characteristics. First of all it is a sector in which there are no formal prerequisites or institutionalised paths giving access to its professions. The main objective of this article is to reconstruct the regulation mechanisms of the employment market in the arts sector, particularly theatre, dance and the cinema. We carried out an empirical research study to try and identify the dynamics involved in bringing together employment supply and demand and how the rules are defined leading to the structuring of these particular employment markets. Thus, a number of ideal-typical career paths were identified for workers operating on these markets, with their strategies for dealing with discontinuity of employment, in sectors characterised by the almost exclusive project-based organisational method. Formal instability have to be dealt with, both by employers and employees. Thus, for the demand side, it is convenient to rely on established professional networks to recruit personnel. For the supply side, instead, two strategies emerge: the portfolio career pattern, and the extensive use of informal professional networks. These latter take on specific configurations within each sector.

Keywords: Artistic community, artistic labour market, career pattern, cinema, dance, theatre, portfolio career, informal professional network, project by project organization, précariety

Sonia Bertolini, Manuel Vallero, "Io non faccio la ballerina, io sono una ballerina". Tra successo e abbandono: i percorsi di carriera nei settori artistici in "SOCIOLOGIA DEL LAVORO " 123/2011, pp 207-229, DOI: 10.3280/SL2011-123013