This paper is the result of ongoing research on projectification of work, a form of work organization in contemporary capitalist societies that has expanded in a new way to a wide range of economic activities and professions (PROWORK; 2023_26_ link page). The study covers four sectors of activity (arts, consulting and management, R&D, and the third sector). In this paper, we present (provisional) results from research carried out in the arts sector. Recent studies on workers in the arts sector have highlighted projectified forms of work (Kuura, 2020; Lundin et al., 2015; Jensen, A. ,2012; Jensen, A., Thuesen, C., & Geraldi, J.,2016) have become widespread in the cultural and creative industries. It has been pointed out that the use of project work is a response to the uncertainty (funding, cultural policies, market) in which the sector operates, and that project work allows this risk to be managed by transferring it to workers. In turn, workers develop their own strategies to deal with the uncertainty of project-based work (Lingo; Tepper 2013; Pulignano; Dean; Domecka; Vermeerbergen, 2023). For the theoretical framework of the research, specifically that being carried out in the arts sector, the work of Pierre-Michael Menger (1999; 2002) on uncertainty and risk in artistic work and the understanding of art as a model for understanding contemporary forms of employment marked by hyperflexibility is also relevant. Equally relevant are the critical reviews and extensions of Howard Becker's notion of “worlds of art” (see, for example, Santos 1994; Crane 1992, 2007; Guerra & Costa 2013). Portugal is one of the EU countries that invests the least in culture and the arts, with an investment of 0.6% of GDP that has remained unchanged for at least three decades (the EU average is 1%). Investments in cultural facilities (e.g., the National Network of Theaters and Cinemas created in 2019) and the most recent state programs aimed at different forms of artistic creation (e.g., DGARTES Project Support Program, National Know-How Program, National Arts Plan) have induced project-based working methods in the sector, affecting both small and large artistic creation structures. At PROWORK, we have conducted empirical research in two artistic creation structures, one linked to contemporary music (small scale) and the other linked to theater (one of the most important theater structures in the country). In methodological terms, the research is based on the idea of case studies and in each context we are “following” (Marcus 1995) ongoing projects, combining interviews with the professionals involved, participant observation, and documentary analysis. We aim to contribute to the study of the mechanisms of projectification of work in the arts sector in contemporary Portugal through a comparative analysis of the case studies carried out. We have reconstructed and mapped the collaborative work networks that keep the projects running and characterized the organizations and professionals who work in them. We seek to demonstrate that very different organizations (in terms of size, funding, and integration into the surrounding political and social context) host projects and induce, in the networks they activate for their pursuit, forms of projectified work. Bibliografia Crane, D. (1992) The Production of Culture: Media and the urban arts. Londres: SAGE. Crane, D. (2007) Art worlds. In: G. Ritzer (Ed.), Blackwell encyclopedia of sociology. (pp. 177-180) Blackwell Publishing, p.177-180. Elizabeth L. Lingo1 and Steven J. Tepper 2013 Looking Back, Looking Forward:Arts-Based Careers and Creative Work, Work and Occupations 40(4) 337–363 Jensen, A. (2012) The Project Society. Aarhus, Denmark: Unipress. Jensen, A., Thuesen, C., & Geraldi, J. (2016). “The projectification of everything. Projects as a human condition”. Project Management Journal, 47(3), 21-34. Lundin et all 2015 Managing and Working in Project Society. Managing and Working in Project Society Institutional Challenges of Temporary Organizations, Cambridge University Press. Kuura, A. (2020); 25 Years of Projectification Research; presented at the 9th Scientific Conference on Project Management in the Baltic States, University of Latvia, April 2020; republished in the PM World Journal, Vol. IX, Issue VIII, August. Marcus, G. 1995 « Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography”, Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 24, pp. 95-117. Menger, J-M 2002 Portrait de l’artiste en travailleur. Métamorphoses du capitalisme, Paris, Seuil. Pulignano, V.; Dean, Deborah; Domecka, M.; Vermeerbergen, L.J.G. 2023 “How state influence on project work organization both drives and mitigates gendered precarity in cultural and creative industries”. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 61 (2),313-335. Santos, M. L. L. S. (1994). Cultura, aura e mercado. In A. Melo (Ed.), Arte e dinheiro (pp. 99-134). Lisboa: Assírio & Alvim.

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work projectification,arts sector,Portugal

• Sociology - Social Sciences
• Anthropology - Social Sciences