“So to Speak”: A Discursive approach to understanding liminality in business-to-arts interactions

This article explores liminal discourse in the narratives of individuals involved in inter-organizational collaborations (IOCs) between business and the non-profit arts sector in the context of a year-long National City of Culture event. Specifically, it explores identity work in the discourse of business individuals during the early stages of corporate sponsorship of the arts. This identity work is conceived of as involving liminal states, which by their nature can invoke periods of resistance and contestation but can also lead to transformation and new possibilities. Using a case study design, the research employs critical discourse analysis to understand how business managers use language to create and enact identities, and how these identities can be shaped through conversation to allow for new ways of understanding and enacting collaborative business–art rela-tionships. By drawing on the wider social science literature on liminality, and on the inter-organizational collaboration and sponsorship literature more generally, the article provides an alternative framework within which to consider these boundary positions. The inherent fragility that is revealed in these positions points to complexity in the process of sponsorship organization in this context.