'There's a lot of luck involved': Sustaining hope labour amid workplace inequality and precarity as a creative worker

Luckman, Susan and Taylor, Stephanie (2024). 'There's a lot of luck involved': Sustaining hope labour amid workplace inequality and precarity as a creative worker. Cuadernos de Relaciones Laboral, 42(1) pp. 59–72.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/crla.91566

Abstract

The challenges of building and sustaining a creative career are well-established, as is the degree to which opportunities are either opened or foreclosed through the complex intersectionality of inequalities. Yet creative aspirants persist in pursuing creative work, sustaining themselves through survival strategies variously theorised as ‘hope labour’ and ‘aspirational labour’. Drawing upon data from an arts mentoring programme, this article explores how ideas of ‘luck’, ‘chance’ and ‘opportunity’ are implicated within such labour as sense-making resources for managing difficulties and justifying persistence in the face of precarity. It argues that the take up of these resources can function as a valuable discursive tool that also contributes to an enabling ‘repertoire of shared myths’ which sustains the career work of artists and many creative workers.
Resumen: Los desafíos de construir y sostener una carrera creativa están bien establecidos, al igual que el grado en que las oportunidades se abren o se excluyen a través de la compleja interseccionalidad de las desigualdades. Sin embargo, los aspirantes creativos persisten en realizar un trabajo creativo, sosteniéndose a sí mismos a través de estrategias de supervivencia teorizadas de diversas formas como “trabajo de esperanza” y “trabajo de aspiración”. Basándose en datos de un programa de tutoría artística, este artículo explora cómo las ideas de “suerte”, “ocasión” y “oportunidad” están implicadas en dicho trabajo como recursos que dan sentido a la gestión de las dificultades y a la justificación de la perseverancia frente a la precariedad. Sostiene que la utilización de estos recursos puede funcionar como una valiosa herramienta discursiva que también contribuye a un “repertorio de mitos compartidos” habilitador que sustenta la carrera profesional de los artistas y de muchos trabajadores creativos.

Plain Language Summary

Contemporary creative workers face many difficulties, including limited opportunities and uncertain career paths. This article looks at how ideas of 'luck', 'chance' and 'opportunity' can help such workers to keep going. The article presents data from an Australian research programme with artists and other creative practitioners.

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