“A place for my art”: independent artist-run spaces as incubators of artistic careers in Italy

This paper investigates the role of Italian independent artists-run spaces as incubators of artistic careers. Considering the trade-off between the sustainability of artist-run spaces and that of the careers of the people working in them, this article raises questions about the viability of the artists’ support provided by these organizations in the medium and long run. Based on an in-depth analysis of fourteen case studies in Italy, our findings provide evidence of how artist-run spaces’ organizational, managerial, and financial characteristics can work towards the professional development of artistic careers. We identify different trajectories of development of such organizations which vary according to the field of intervention chosen and to the motivation to establish and run the space. Results show how these factors influence the capacity of artist-run spaces to provide more effective strategies than those individually pursued by the artists to face the complexity of their labour market.