The field of cultural practices, as a space of social, intellectual and economic exchange, seems appealing in Iran today explaining the involvement of various players. For many young Iranians, who are willing to gain access to global culture, artistic practices play an important role in contributing to their experience of subjectivation. But also, the elite that was formed after the revolution of 1979 considers “culture” as a space of opportunity both for building new scales to exercise their power and financial investments. For instance, the development of the art market at the regional and global scales has had local repercussions at the local level(s). The category of intermediary players namely curators, academic and non-academic writers, art experts, “cultural entrepreneurs”, etc. has been shaped thanks to the mobility of art professionals and circulation of ideas and was strengthened gradually leading to the professionalization and institutionalization of artistic practices at the local level. While in a broader neoliberal context, the Iranian state has delegated its responsibility in the field of contemporary art development to various private and semi-private actors, the emergence of Art entrepreneurialism has reconfigured the role of public and private stakeholders in defining cultural policy and managing the relevant spaces. The legitimacy of the private and semi-private sectors is often built upon their access to various spheres of influence at regional and international levels and on the absence of the constraints public stakeholders are often faced with. In addition, the outsourcing of the cultural sector coincides with the ambitions and anxieties of individuals hoping to make new symbolic and financial capital out of a strategic rapprochement with the arts community or art-collecting. This situation has resulted in a monopoly system that has increased the precarity of many artists’ career but also contributed to the emergence of new peripheries that contest the current system. The presentation is based on recent fieldworks carried out in Iran in 2017 and several interviews conducted with Iranian artists and entrepreneurs.