Building a Legacy that Lasts: Rethinking the Business of Culture

The Business of Culture: Old Roots, New Wings

Culture is often seen as timeless — an heirloom passed down through generations. Yet for cultural entrepreneurs, the challenge is ensuring that these traditions remain alive, relevant, and valued in today’s fast-changing markets. This is where business thinking meets cultural preservation: innovation becomes not a departure from tradition, but the very tool that sustains

What is cultural entrepreneurship?

Cultural entrepreneurship, is the craft of turning community-shaped cultural meaning into viable offerings — products, services, and experiences — without stripping that meaning of its soul. It doesn’t “manufacture” demand; it recognizes and serves existing cultural desires, then articulates their social, emotional, and symbolic value alongside economic value. Tools like a Cultural Business Model Canvas help map revenue with heritage, impact with identity, and innovation with continuity

Professor Somesh Singh is the Co-Founder of Craft Village, Former Head of Apparel & Textile, NID, Ahmedabad and former Director at the Institute of Apparel Management, with 30 years of industry expertise. He took a Masterclass for the first cohort of Culture Catalyst 2025-26, India's first investor led business accelerator for cultural brands by PCP & AIC-ISB with support from NICEorg, on the Business of Culture.

In his masterclass, he unpacked how cultural entrepreneurship is distinct from other forms of enterprise. Unlike conventional businesses that create demand through disruption, cultural businesses tap into existing cultural meaning shaped by communities over centuries. The role of the entrepreneur is to recognize, refine, and share these meanings — building ventures that carry both economic and cultural value.

What are the 4Ps of cultural entrepreneurship that need attention :

• Product: Culture itself becomes the product — whether as craft, food, or experience.

• Packaging: Beyond wrapping, packaging is about creating an immersive cultural experience.

• Placement: Distribution is as much about non-conventional channels — festivals, community platforms, digital storytelling — as it is about shelves.

• Promotion: Branding for cultural businesses relies less on slogans and more on intangible value, symbolism, and heritage

The importance of innovation with responsibility

True innovation in cultural enterprise renews traditions without eroding them. It pairs eco-conscious design and circular practices with respect for provenance, people, and place — so a product carries not only market appeal but also heritage, identity, and continuity. Practically, this means choosing materials and processes that minimise environmental impact, documenting origin and craft techniques, and ensuring artisans share fairly in the value created.

In practice, “responsible” spans four layers:

• Heritage & Continuity: Preserve core techniques, motifs, and narratives — update forms and use-cases, not the meaning at their core.

• Sustainability & Circularity: Design for durability, repair, reuse, and responsible sourcing; consider biodegradable, up-cycled, or regionally appropriate materials

• Community & Livelihoods: Build fair, stable income models (advance payments, transparent pricing, long-term orders) and inclusive value chains that foreground women, indigenous, and minority artisans

• Experience & Storytelling: Use packaging, retail, and digital media to stage the whole cultural experience — from origin stories to rituals of use — turning promotion into education and stewardship

Responsible innovation also benefits growth

• Clearer cultural meaning differentiates the brand

• Circular design reduces waste and cost over time

• Inclusive collaboration strengthens resilience across generations

  
  

When done well, the outcome is a venture that customers love, communities trust, and future generations can inherit — old roots with new wings. The business of culture, then, is not simply about profit. It is about ensuring that what is most human in us — our creativity, traditions, and shared stories — find its rightful place in the markets of today and tomorrow

As Professor Somesh reminded the cohort, in an age where technology, cloned creativity, and formulaic repetition are everywhere, culture remains the last true human moat. Cultural enterprises, he suggested, aren’t merely jostling for space in crowded markets — they are reclaiming the arena itself, shaping futures with meaning rooted in heritage

Curious to see who made it to the program? Click Here for cohort details!

To keep up with more stories from our cultural entrepreneurship community, please follow us on Instagram and Linkedin