Behind the scenes. Networking, emotional labour and resistance in creative entrepreneurial work

Elaborating on qualitative in-depth interviews with performing artists collected in Milan, the article expands on networking practices and emotional labour in entrepreneurial and precarious working environments. The study reflects on how networking narratives and emotional dispositions are adopted, reproduced and contested in a highly fragmented labour context. Looking at actors' experiences, the study let emerge how instances of resistance to self-promotional logics are present together with the reproduction of dominant narratives of cheerful sociability that permeate the field of cultural and creative work. In this context, the notion of emotional labour on the one hand sheds light on the emotional aspects related to performing artists' work that take shape off the stage and, on the other hand, is interconnected with experiences of precariousness and entrepreneurship.