Pages: 46-60
Introduction. The article analyzes two case studies of recent cultural entrepreneurship from Romania, namely the Communist Consumer Museum in Timișoara and the Ferestroika Museum in Bucharest. Based on secondary literature about recent entrepreneurial developments in post-socialist countries and on participant observation, the article aims to construe the internal advantages and weaknesses of the two museums, as well as the opportunities and threats which exist in their regional and national entrepreneurial ecosystems, in order to identify possible means by which the two endeavors can withstand the current period, marked by economic turbulence.
Aim of the study. The article argues that while such projects are part of a larger entrepreneurial ecosystem, at a worldwide level, which relies heavily on retromania (i.e. the usage of past models for present and future projects), they also present several local specificities, as their contribution is not only economic, but nuances the ways in which younger generations interpret a communist past they never lived in reality.
Keywords: cultural entrepreneurship; post-socialist brands; post-communist memory; nostalgia; museum.
JEL Classification: M130, I250
