The Economic Lives of Circus “Artists”: Canadian Circus Performers and the New Economy

Abstract

This article, based on ethnographic research with Canadian circus performers, provides an intimate look into the lives of these creative workers. It contributes to the burgeoning literature on the creative economy by examining how ideas of “creativity” and “art” are being put to work in the lives of these performers, including the centrality of affective experiences like freedom and satisfaction, as well as the significance of particular relations of production in defining “art.” It reveals the way ideas of creativity and art can glamorize and promote precarity and simultaneously demarcate spheres of unalienated work. These findings suggest that workers, policymakers, and scholars could benefit from more conscientious use of these terms if we want to understand their impact or mobilize them for particular political purposes.