FERM 2025 | Actor Florin AIONIȚOAIE (Mihai Eminescu Theatre, Botoșani): “Culture, when expressed in unconventional spaces through local initiatives, is not merely a symbolic or artistic act, but an act of development with economic and social efficiency”

REGIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM MOLDOVA 2025

19th Edition – Vatra Dornei, July 9–13, 2025

Thematic Panel:

Culture and Regional Identity – Tradition, Innovation, and Social Cohesion

Speaker:

Florin Aionițoaie – actor at the “Mihai Eminescu” Theatre in Botoșani

Topic of the intervention:

“Cultural interventions in unconventional spaces – culture as community regeneration”

Within Panel 10 – “Culture and Regional Identity – Tradition, Innovation, and Social Cohesion”, Florin Aionițoaie – actor and promoter of cultural projects with social impact – discussed a crucial topic for the future of regional communities: cultural interventions in unconventional spaces as a driver of community regeneration.

Culture in Silent Spaces – Abandoned Spaces with Regenerative Potential

“It is often said that a place where nothing happens automatically becomes a silent space. Yet, precisely these seemingly mute places – former schools, abandoned factories, closed cultural centers, or forgotten gardens – offer culture the opportunity to rediscover its true vocation: to repair, reconnect, and restore trust within the community,” opened Florin Aionițoaie, expressing a concept that is both simple and profound.

1. Abandoned Spaces – Cultural Resources with Regenerative Potential

Florin Aionițoaie highlighted that abandoned post-industrial or rural spaces constitute a “suspended memory” – places that previously served economic, educational, or spiritual purposes, but which, although now empty, retain significant potential.

“These spaces, though seemingly inactive and often perceived as financial burdens, become latent resources in the hands of artists, educators, and local communities. Through moderate investments, they can be transformed into centers for creation, education, and dialogue. These are temporary, flexible, and adaptable interventions – not costly restorations – but smart and emotionally impactful uses of these spaces.”

2. Culture as an Investment with Economic and Social Impact

Florin Aionițoaie rejected the perception that art represents merely an expense.

“European studies demonstrate that investments in culture generate some of the highest social returns.”

He emphasized culture’s role in reducing marginalization, stimulating local tourism, supporting creative entrepreneurship, and strengthening the community’s image.

To illustrate this, the actor discussed a concrete example: a festival organized “from the ground up”, held in a disused hall, attracting hundreds of visitors, promoting local producers, and creating temporary employment opportunities in regions delayed by other investments.

“Compared to rigid infrastructure investments, cultural costs are much lower, and their economic efficiency is indisputable.”

3. Local Initiatives – The Engine of Community Art

Florin Aionițoaie emphasized that most cultural interventions have their roots in local initiatives, representing authentic collaborations between artists, teachers, NGOs, young people, artisans, religious leaders, and visionary mayors.

To illustrate this principle, he provided concrete examples: transforming a former school in Bistrița into a community cultural center; creating a storytelling lab in an abandoned mill in Mehedinți, initiated by educators; organizing theater workshops in the yard of a closed school in Botoșani, with active involvement from parents and children.

“These projects go beyond aesthetic value, representing true forms of regional regeneration. They build a new community identity based on collaboration, creativity, and the valorization of local memory. Culture thus becomes a language of reconnection and a tool for social reconstruction.”

4. Reinterpreted Tradition – The Foundation of Social Cohesion

Florin Aionițoaie highlighted the importance of avoiding the folklorization of tradition, meaning turning it into a mere decorative object, detached from its authentic context. Instead, cultural interventions should reintegrate tradition into contemporary life through intentional and lively reinterpretation.

“Tradition should not remain an object displayed in a showcase but should be continuously circulated and reinterpreted.”

5. Community Guilt and the Reparative Role of Culture

Florin Aionițoaie addressed a topic often left unspoken but fundamental: the collective guilt generated by community neglect, marginalization, or unresolved conflicts.

“This guilt produces deep social fractures. Culture does not intervene to judge but to create spaces for recognition and symbolic repair. A performance on alienation, staged in an empty hall, can affect an entire community. A film screening in a courtyard can spark an essential conversation about decency.”

He emphasized that, in this context, dialogue facilitated through culture represents in itself an act of community healing.

Conclusion: Culture as a Model for Sustainable Development

Florin Aionițoaie concluded by emphasizing the essential role of culture in sustainable development, highlighting the importance of caring for space, memory, and human relationships. Cultural interventions in unconventional spaces should not be perceived as mere aesthetic experiments, but as viable models with demonstrable economic efficiency and real social impact.

According to him, the success of this model relies on local initiatives and trust in the community’s capacity to build and rebuild together. Culture does not represent a resource consumption but a living force, an active tool for community reactivation and facilitation of communication.

To build a coherent regional identity, it is essential not to limit ourselves to nostalgic returns to the past, but to generate living spaces that harmoniously connect past, present, and future. Culture, through its discreet, intelligent, and profound interventions, has the unique ability to achieve this connection.