Authors: Lynge Stegger Gemzøe & Mads Møller Tommerup Andersen
Cite as:
Gemzøe, L. S., & Andersen, M. M. T. (2025). Prioritising work-life balance – A study of workers in Danish CCI. Journal of Creative Industries and Cultural Studies – JOCIS, 13, 53-76.
Abstract
The cultural and creative industries (CCI) have often been depicted as a place where people overwork, often for no money, because creative work has a high status and is regarded as personally fulfilling (Abbing, 2002; Hesmondhalgh, 2018; Wright, 2018). Correspondingly, workers in creative industries have reported high levels of stress and anxiety in several countries (Obitsø, 2023; Shorter, 2018; Skehan et al., 2018). However, we start to see reactions to this unfortunate trend. While surveys documenting improvement are still lacking, the mentioned reports all suggest ways to improve mental health, and in the UK, the British Academy Innovation Fellowship is organising conferences on mental health and disability equality in the creative industries (AMH23, 2023). In Denmark, there are reports addressing overworking in creative industries as well as “myths” about stress, the contradicting reports indicating the need for studies in this field (Obitsø, 2023; Tranberg, 2019). Finally, the post-pandemic global trend of
quiet quitting stands in opposition to traditional notions of sacrificing for the arts (Abbing, 2002; Lee et al., 2023), and this contradiction has not been explored properly within the CCI.
This study is based on in-depth interviews with eleven Danish creative practitioners that are all storytellers in some sense and are all either self-employed or have some level of management responsibilities. They work in a diverse range of creative industries – from podcasting to theatre. On the one hand, the study finds well-known tropes, such as creative labourers (over-)working not for money, but for the joy of creating. On the other hand, the study finds an increasing attention on work-life balance, collaborative creative processes as well as on the consumers of CCI-products, which may be a new tendency or an untold story about creative work.
Keywords
Cultural and creative industries, work-life balance, quiet quitting, CCI, creative genius
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