This dissertation aims to explore how and why change occurs, despite the tacit inertia in organizations and societies, and the stickiness of identities, norms and routines. It focuses on how actors organize and manage for change in complex environments, and explores the antecedents, process and consequences of such efforts. It aims to answer theoretical questions derived from puzzles in organizations, fields or societies that extant literature has not sufficiently acknowledged nor explained. It draws on, and contributes to, several theoretical domains, including history, identity, and materiality, which enable studying various aspects of organizing for, and organization of, change. In doing so, this dissertation highlights the role of materiality in instigating, manifesting and reacting to change, in concert with actions, objectives and identity changes. It also provides an understanding of change as a result of individuals’ felt need for reacting to the past or the status quo, and highlights how discursive and non-discursive means can enable using history as a means for enduring or temporary change initiatives. Keywords: people; change; identity; history; materiality; creative industries