Identity crisis of artists during the Covid-19 pandemic and shift towards entrepreneurship

Objective: The objective of the article is to understand the changes in artists’ identity facing the global obstacle caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the identity crisis into the shift towards entrepreneurial behaviours. Creative individuals seems to be perfect examples of adjustments to the changing environment. Research Design & Methods: The qualitative research was conducted in form of in-depth interviews with key informants (artists with different entrepreneurial experiences from different countries and cultures) and auto-ethnography. Findings: The Covid-19 pandemic caused a crisis of the artist’s identity. Individuals with complex identities deal with the crisis better than sole identity individuals. Artists-entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for new forms of activity during crisis. The Artistry-Creativity-Entrepreneurship Matrix which allow to understand the shifts among complex identity individuals towards one fractional identity in case of a crisis. Implications & Recommendations: The results can be used by: individuals (entrepreneurs, managers, artists) having complex/mixed identities for better understanding of a crisis situation and its impact and possibilities flowing from different layers of human personality with underlining of creativity; 2) business looking for new types of customers and/or wanting to understand more complex market participants. Contribution & Value Added: The article describes the unexplored areas of artistry among creative entrepreneurs. Distinction between artistry and creativity is marked here clearly. The application of the theory of aesthetics from the field of artistic creativity as a basis for the analysis of the phenomenon of entrepreneurial creativity, opens up new potential research areas of creativity among entrepreneurs.