Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the relationship between social enterprise and entrepreneur-ship before introducing different forms of entrepreneurial work. It describes the rise of the cultural entrepreneur, an individual who appears to connect the worlds of enterprise and of culture. The book introduces the case study and Birmingham and Birmingham-based cultural entrepreneurs. It focuses on the analysis of the city's cultural milieu and the interviews, developing themes which emerged from the literature and from the cultural entrepreneurs' accounts. The book examines the cultural entrepreneur's capacity for reflexivity emerges as a means of subverting or negotiating entrepreneurial modes of work. It addresses the significance of place in providing a milieu, a relational space, as a backdrop to individual entrepreneurship. The book concludes the role and nature of networks including the various forms of capital which support complex and messy relationships.