Art-Based Social Enterprise, Young Creative and the Forces of Marginalisation

This book explores the opportunities and challenges faced by art-based social enterprises (ASEs) in engaging young people in education and training and supporting their pathways to employment.1 It also explores the dynamics and implications of 'enterprising' artistic practice for these and other social purposes. This study is thus set against the backdrop of what is termed the social turn in contemporary art, in which mainstream artistic practices have become more engaged with the lives of people and communities and with a spirit of collectivism aimed at addressing a range of issues from social exclusion to climate change. This social turn is not, in itself, new-and draws upon histories and traditions of collectivism in arts and cultural practices across the globe and histori- cally. What is new is the ways in which these more social and collective practices have infiltrated the more hierarchical and market-driven aspects of the contemporary art world. In addition, the study is set against the backdrop of rapid growth in social enterprise models across a range of sectors, including the creative industries. This is a growth spurred, in part, by increasing economic pragmatism in the state funding and delivery of welfare, cultural and community services. Finally, this study has taken place in the context of significant 'fourth industrial revolution' disruptions and transformations in the nature of work, a shift that has disproportionately affected young people globally in terms of their access to employment and education opportunities (Neufeind et al., 2018; Panth & Maclean, 2020).