“Organizing” must go on: theoretical proposals for understanding live organizations

Abstract The creative industries sector is a field where art, culture, technology, entertainment, and management converge. Although it is a promising field for organizational analysis, mainly because it is characterized by dynamism, complexity, and possible contradictions between art/culture and business, little is known about creative work or the organization of creative products or services. Some products of the creative industries have some particularities, such as “live” performances, presented with the presence of an audience in the space and moment in which the action takes place, being organized and experienced simultaneously. Given the scarcity of empirical studies aimed at understanding how artistic/cultural or entertainment events or performances are organized, this article, in the form of a theoretical essay, aims to present two theoretical-methodological approaches that can potentially be explored in understanding the processes of “live” organizing: Actor-Network Theory and the Dynamics of Organizational Routines. It is presented and justified why these approaches can be used to understand “live organizing,” especially performing arts such as plays, operas, ballets, or popular and classical music concerts.