DPO02 – Organising Identities and Inclusion in the Cultural and Creative Industries

Supervisors: Dr Richard Longman, Professor Cinzia Priola and Dr Marco Distinto (Department of People and Organisations, The Open University Business School, Faculty of Business and Law).

Project Description:

The Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) are renowned for their dynamic nature (Scott, 2022) and their influential role in shaping societal narratives (Ali & Byrne, 2022). Despite their significant economic and cultural impact, the CCIs remain an understudied field.

This doctoral research project seeks to expand the conversation around inclusion within the CCIs, with a specific focus on genders and sexualities. Although the CCIs are often perceived as open and creative spaces, evidence suggests that challenges persist, particularly for individuals expressing non-conforming identities (Conor, 2021). While progress has been made in certain creative sectors, traditional venues and art forms often lag behind, perpetuating gendered inequalities in organisations that rely on non-standard work (Vincent & Coles, 2023).

The Misogyny in Music report (Women and Equalities Committee, 2024) highlights that cis-women face limited opportunities, lack support, and experience gender discrimination, sexual harassment, assault, and unequal pay. These challenges are even more pronounced for those facing intersectional barriers. Although a female-first approach to gender and sexualities dominates the CCIs (e.g., Ehrich et al., 2022), Butler’s (2004) work on undoing binary conceptions remains incomplete. For individuals expressing non-conforming genders and sexualities, the precarity and performativity of their identities become sites of ongoing struggle, exacerbating their experiences of oppression and discrimination.

This project invites proposals that examine the lived experiences of non-conforming individuals within the CCIs, focusing on the relationship between the freedom to express one’s identity and the opportunities available to pursue professional aspirations and artistic endeavours. By analysing how the CCIs cultivate environments that either support or hinder genuine identity expression, negotiation, and career advancement, this research aims to uncover the intricate dynamics at play.

We encourage proposals that recognize the CCIs’ potential to influence societal perceptions of gender and sexuality and to foster systemic change. By exploring how identities are negotiated within the CCIs, successful candidates will illuminate the mechanisms that facilitate or obstruct inclusion, offering critical insights into the broader dynamics of identity formation and representation.

Aims:

Proposals should contribute to theoretical debates around gender non-conforming identities, inclusion, and diversity in organizational studies. While we encourage applicants to advance their own ideas, the following aims may guide this project:

• Examine the representation and visibility of non-conforming identities within the CCIs
• Analyse the impact of organizational practices on, and structural barriers to, inclusion
• Explore the lived experiences of individuals with non-conforming identities
• Evaluate the role of the CCIs in shaping societal narratives around gender and sexualities.

Methods and Approach:

Applicants for this doctoral research project should demonstrate a commitment to social justice and actively engage with a community of scholars and professionals dedicated to addressing these critical issues within the CCIs.

This opportunity is ideal for those who enjoy qualitative methods and working with non-numerical data. We welcome proposals involving ethnographic work and multi-modal methodologies, such as documentary and visual analysis. A critical approach is essential, emphasizing the challenge of assumptions and rejection of the ‘taken for granted’.

Empirical work should be grounded in poststructuralist, intersectional feminist, and new materialist approaches to rethinking the interrelationships among gender, sexualities, and the CCIs. Proposals should explore how these frameworks challenge dominant societal structures. Applicants should identify a proposed empirical setting within the CCIs; the supervisory team has expertise in music, opera, theatre, film, and museums.

Proposals should articulate the study’s design, including methods for data collection and planned data analysis techniques. Applicants should outline the conceptual framework underpinning their research, connecting key concepts, theories, and relationships, while reflecting on the ethical considerations integral to their study.

Successful applicants will join a vibrant community of researchers committed to addressing existential challenges through multidimensional transformative research. This project aligns with the Open University’s mission to conduct transformative research aimed at addressing structural inequalities and fostering societal change.

Supervisor Expertise:

Dr Richard Longman orientates his research of around themes of organising and alternatives. He is interested, conceptually, in ideas of truth and ignorance and how they shape responses to polycrises – interconnected and simultaneous global crises impacting societies and economies. His empirical work is often situated within creative settings – such as opera singers and orchestral conductors – where he explores dynamics of inclusion and collective action.

Professor Cinzia Priola’s work focuses on studying the intersections between work, organisations and society in relation to inclusion and diversity. She is an expert gender researcher and her projects and publications have explored the experiences of women managers and entrepreneurs, of LGBTQ+ people in social firms, of disabled people in the workplace, across a range of organisations and national contexts. She has also written on qualitative and new materialist methodologies and on employee branding.

Dr Marco Distinto’s research draws from post-structuralist theories to study workplace inclusion, migrant integration, and the sociomaterial aspects of management. Currently, he is researching the experiences and challenges of workers in the museum sector, focusing on the barriers to career advancement for people from minority ethnic groups. His interests also include ethnographic methods and post-qualitative approaches.

References:

Ali, R. and Byrne, B. (2023) ‘The Trouble with Diversity: The Cultural Sector and Ethnic Inequality,’ Cultural Sociology, 17(4), pp. 493–513.

Butler, J. (2004) Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.

Conor, B. (2021). Gender & creativity: Progress on the precipice. UNESCO Publishing. Available at: 375706eng.pdf (auckland.ac.nz)

Coupland, C. (2015) ‘Identity work – Organising the self, organising music’. In N. Beech and C. Gilmore (eds.) Organising Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (pp. 72–82).

Ehrich, M.E., Burgdorf, K., Samoilova, Z. and Loist, S. (2022) ‘The film festival sector and its networked structures of gender inequality,’ Applied Network Science, 7(1), pp. 1–38.

Scott, E., (2022). Arts and creative industries: The case for a strategy. House of Lords Library, December 2022. Available at: Arts and creative industries: The case for a strategy - House of Lords Library (parliament.uk)

Vincent, C. and Coles, A. (2023) ‘Unequal opera-tunities: gender inequality and non-standard work in US opera production,’ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal. Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-03-2023-0071

Women and Equalities Committee (2024) Misogyny in music: Second Report of Session 2023–24 (HC129). Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cmselect/cmwomeq/129/report... (Accessed 19 February 2024).