Street Performance and Alternative Organisation

The book presents a description of the phenomenon of organising street performances, both informal and within formalised structures, as well as its interpretation from the point of view of humanistic management. The book is a result of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Polish and European cities from 2014 to 2024. The central focus is the aspects of organisational aesthetics of the activities of street performers and street festival organisers. The dynamics of street performances are structured and emerge as a type of alternative organisation. The book aims at throwing light on these processes from the point of view of humanistic management, which is a relatively new topic in organisational studies and overlooked in other academic fields. The book also identifies and outlines some research implications for the combined area of humanistic management and arts management. It offers a model of the management of street performance embedded in a theoretical context of (1) humanistic management, (2) arts management, and (3) organisation informed by values (such as community and social entrepreneurship). Ultimately, the organisation of art in the urban sphere can gain from lessons from the alternative organisational practices depicted in this book, which, in turn, can inform broader humanistically oriented managerial visions.

Marta Polec holds a PhD in Social Sciences in the field of Management and Quality Sciences from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She is a laureate of the Minister of Science and Higher Education scholarship for outstanding achievements, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage scholarship, and the Rector of the Jagiellonian University scholarships. An alumna of doctoral studies in Humanistic Management at the Jagiellonian University and the Jagiellonian Interdisciplinary PhD Programme, she holds an MA in Culture and Media Management from the Jagiellonian University and a BA in Management and a BA in Ethnology from the University of Warsaw. Currently, she works as an assistant professor in the Department of Management at Kozminski University.

Introduction Chapter 1. Humanistic Management, Arts Management, and Organisational Aesthetics Chapter 2. From Street Performances to Street Festivals Chapter 3. Informal Organisation: Performing on the Street Chapter 4. Formal Organisation: Performing at the Festival Chapter 5. Alternative Organisation Conclusion