Supporting entrepreneurship in the creative and cultural sector: an entrepreneurial support organisation’s perspective

The creative and cultural sector plays a significant role in economic, social, and cultural domains, yet its growth often relies on state subsidies, philanthropic support, and calls for competition. Entrepreneurial support organisations are pivotal in providing business education and resources to entrepreneurs within this unique sector. Nevertheless, supporting creative and cultural entrepreneurship is challenging due to its peculiarity. This study delves into how organisations that support creative and cultural entrepreneurship design strategies to address the sector's unclear definition, the double success criterion, and the expected spillover effect. Through a longitudinal case study approach, we observe the evolution of a program supporting local startups, firms, and associations through the calls for competition promoted. Our findings reveal how the program learns and adapts over time, using different parts of the calls - target, prizes, winners' obligations, and evaluation criteria - to address entrepreneurship peculiarities. This study contributes to the literature of entrepreneurship in the creative and cultural sector, moving the focus from the entrepreneur, who traditionally shoulders the burden of navigating this sector's peculiarities, to specialised entrepreneurial support organisations. Furthermore, by investigating how the vertical focus on a sector shapes the supporting strategy of an organisation, this study contributes to the literature of entrepreneurial support organisations.