THE ORGANIZATIONAL SHAPING OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY - THE CASE OF LESBIAN AND GAY FILM-FESTIVALS IN NEW-YORK

Using information gathered during fieldwork on New York lesbian and ga y film festival organizations this paper argues that scholarship on id entity has nor paid sufficient attention to the organizational mediati on of collective identity. The shape of collective identity - how inte rnal instabilities and diversities are accommodated, in this case - de pends not only on the emergent characteristics of the ''collective,'' but also on the resolution of challenges particular to organizational fields. Two very differently conceived lesbian and gay festival organi zations, sites at which decision making about collective identity is o ngoing and self-conscious, are examined. The analysis traces how each responds to two related tasks: maintaining community legitimacy, which requires racial diversification, and surviving within an altered inst itutional environment. Rather than imposition from ''above'' or constr uction from ''below,'' the adaptive responses by organizations (to cha nges in both community expectations and the resource environment) tran sform the collective identity formulations reaching public visibility.