Guiding and enabling liminal experiences between business and arts organizations operating in a sponsorship relationship

Abstract

Through the lens of liminality, this article considers the identity work engaged in by managers working at the boundary of the organization. Liminality has been used to shed light on the ambiguous positions of temporary employees, consultants and project teams. As such, the concept has become synonymous with temporary, transient or precarious work settings. However, in this article I consider the efforts that managers make to set up and co-create the support structure they require to enter into and leave liminal experiences. I draw on a social anthropology to reconsider the movements between these ‘in’ and ‘out’ phases, and introduce two kinds of enabling roles: guide and ally. Through the use of a longitudinal case study research design the article contributes to the delineation between transitory and perpetual liminality, to include the notion of temporary incorporation. In distinguishing temporary incorporation from perpetual liminality, we can shift attention towards the possibilities of incremental learning in limen, where the subject and the context remain subject to change.