In this article, we argue that the development of performing arts projects can be facilitated by the creation of experimental spaces, which foster practices of artistic innovation and entrepreneurship. Based on a qualitative study of seven experimental spaces in the French performing arts sector, we show that experimental spaces constitute “bounded social settings” and an organizational place that allow artists to experiment and develop emerging projects, but also to actively engage in practices of artistic entrepreneurship and the construction of their journey as arts entrepreneurs. Our contribution is threefold: (1) Experimental spaces thus provide crucial support to “maverick” and outsider artists that would otherwise lack resources to sustain their performances overtime and thus face marginalization; (2) we show how these experimental spaces constitute “entrepreneurial spaces” in the sense that they enable artists to develop entrepreneurial practices; and (3) we highlight the dynamics of experimental spaces in the fields of performing arts: the experimental spaces we analyzed show a constant plasticity and adaptation to arts entrepreneurs, in a co-evolution process.
