Passion and reinvention of place

In the last decade Sweden has seen the rise and fall of at least a handful of entrepreneurial artistic enterprises that have renegotiated and reinvented the places where they have physically been located, especially from a social perspective, but also from an economic. Tensta konsthall, Dalhalla and Edsvik konst och kultur are three examples of art enterprises with distinct geographical as well as social identities, that generated many emotional reactions both in their initiators, their public and other stakeholders. All these three cases generated an immediate response among professionals and art lovers of various kinds from their start, but they also generated other feelings over time. All three enterprises have had heated conflicts that have partly been staged in the public sphere. Through a detailed study of the elements of emotions connected with art enterprises, the area of arts management can be enriched, as well as the discipline of marketing. The founder’s legacy is a concept partially discussed in relation to the management of non-profit organisations, but very little is yet done in business studies that harbours emotions to the extent they seem to be present in art enterprises, especially given the factor of specific geographical or social locations