European Cultural Values

1 Aug 2011 in Artforms, Audience Development Blog

Flags of the European Union

Flags of the European Union

“Culture and creativity are important drivers for personal development, social cohesion and economic growth.” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Back in 2007 the Education and Culture Directorate-General of the European Commission commissioned the TNS Opinion & Social to carry out a survey of public opinion on culture and its value within Europe. 26,755 people across the EU were interviewed across the 27 member states, including residents in the UK.

The survey was designed to look at how Europeans conceive the idea of culture, their involvement in cultural and artistic activities, their opinions on the value of culture and the barriers that they face in accessing cultural activities.

Although the survey was conducted back in 2007, the information and the findings give an illuminating look at Culture across Europe, which can help to inform you if you were considering touring a production across Europe, or considering a wider audience development initiative locally. I’ve highlighted below some of the key findings from the survey, the full document can be downloaded from the Europa website. http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc958_en.pdf

Key Findings

People were asked ‘What comes to mind when you think about the word ‘Culture?’’ They answered:

  • 39% Arts – performance and visual, architecture, painting, galleries etc.
  • 24% Traditions, Language, Customs and Social or Cultural Communities.
  • 24% Literature, Poetry, Playwriting, Authors.
  • 20% Education and Family Upbringing.
  • 18% Knowledge and Science.
  • 18% Lifestyle and Manners.
  • 13% Civilization
  • 13% History
  • 11% Museums
  • Under 10% said Leisure, Sports, Travel and Fun, Values and Beliefs and Other.
  • Only 2% of people said they were not interested in Culture, and only 1% said they thought Culture was elite, snobbish, posh and boring.

‘Culture’ was found to be associated closely with Creative activities – in the form of arts and literature – as well as describing your social and cultural community, it is encouraging to see so few negative reactions to culture.

There was a wide range of answers across countries, some of the more interesting statistics to emerge were: 

  • 39% of Italians and 36% of people from Spain said education and family upbringing came to mind.
  • In Spain 36% said Education and family upbringing, both much higher then a EU average of 20%.
  • In Cyprus 43% said lifestyle and manners (only 18% across the EU).
  • While in Greece 38% of people said civilization came to mind (only 13% across the EU).

These types of insights begin to show you the divergence across European countries and how closely resident’s attitudes and opinions on Culture are tied to their historical and social identities.

The Survey also asked people ‘How important is culture to you personally?’ They answered:

  • 31% Very Important
  • 46% Fairly Important
  • 17% Not Very Important
  • 5% Not at all Important
  • 1% Don’t Know.

This means a huge 77% of all Europeans feel culture is important to them personally. Culture, regardless of how it is defined, occupies an important role in the lives of many Europeans.

  • In France and Italy 88% of people said Culture was important to them personally.
  • In Poland 92% of people said Culture was important to them personally.
  • While in the UK 67% of people said Culture was important.

The survey found that urbanization exerts an influence on people’s opinions, with a higher proportion of urban based respondents indicating the importance of culture in their lives (80%) then in rural villages (72%).

The survey also asked people about their cultural consumption habits over the last 12 months (2006 – 2007). Typically these lists include mainstream media such as TV and radio, which can at times dominate survey findings, although little is different here, the survey did strive to ask respondents to indicate their consumption of Cultural TV and Radio programmes.

The following were the most popular forms of cultural activities:

  • 78% of people watched one cultural TV or Radio programme in a year, 46% watched more than 5 programmes.
  • 71% said they read one book, 37% said they had read more than 5 books in the last year.
  • 54% had visited a historical monument once, 12% had visited 5 or more times in the last year.
  • 51% of people had been to the cinema once in the last year, 17% had been more than 5 times.
  • 41% of people had been to a sporting event in the last year, 15% had been more than 5 times.

Interestingly performing arts, visual arts, heritage and music did not feature in the top 5 responses despite ‘Arts’ being the predominant answer when people were asked what ‘Culture’ means to them.

  • 41% of people visited a Museum or Gallery in the last year, only 7% visited more than 5 times.
  • 37% of people attended a concert in the last year, only 5% had been more than 5 times.
  • 32% of people had been to the theatre in the last year, 4% had been more than 5 times.
  • And only 18% of people had attended a Ballet, Dance or Opera performance, with 2% having attended more than 5 times in the last year.

These are quite revealing statistics when you considered that the majority of people said Arts were what came to mind when they think about culture, that 77% of all Europeans feel Culture is important to their lives, and yet attendance, particularly repeat attendance, is very very low. Only 5% of people attend the theatre more then once in a year compared to 46% of people who will watch a cultural television programme. This can give a real insight into the habits of European cultural consumers, and perhaps hint towards the attitudes around active engagement – ie. getting out of the house to partake in culture as opposed to sitting in front of the TV.

The survey found that participation was highest among the youngest, more educated and urbanized respondents across the EU. There was a marked decline in participation as people get older:

  • In cinema 82% of 15 to 24yrs old will have attended the cinema, 53% of 40-54yrs old ands only 24% of 55yrs+ have been to the cinema in the last year.
  • 52% of people aged 15 to 24yrs have been to a concert in the last year; where as only 27% of 55yrs+ have been to a concert.
  • While in theatre there is less of a decline; 35% of people aged 15 to 24yrs have attended the Theatre, 32% of 25 to 39 yrs, 33% of 40 to 54 yrs and 27% of 55yrs+ have attended the Theatre.

The Commission also wanted to know about the active involvement in cultural activities on an amateur basis, as an individual, as part of a group or in a class.

The most popular activity was found to be Decorating, Handicrafts and Gardening (36% of EU respondents) and 38% of people had not taken part in any of the artistic activities suggested. The next most popular answers were:

  • 27% photography or made a film.
  • 19% dance.
  • 16% artistic activities such as painting or graphic design.
  • 15% singing.
  • 12% written something.
  • 10% played a musical instrument.
  • And 3% acting.

Artistic participation was highest in Sweeden with only 7% not taking part in an activity. Whereas in the UK 26% of people had not taken part in an artistic activity. In Portugal a huge 73% of people had not taken part in an activity.

Participation in artistic and creative activities was generally found to be higher amongst the younger age groups, except for handicraft, decorating and gardening which was lowest amongst younger age groups.

The last question I will feature here looks at the barriers faced by respondents in accessing culture. They were asked ‘Sometimes people find it difficult to access culture or take part in cultural activities, which of the following, if any, are the main barriers to you?’ The survey found that:

  • 42% of people said their lack of time was a barrier.
  • 29% said it was too expensive.
  • 27% admitted a lack of interest.
  • 17% said a lack of information about the activity was a barrier.
  • 16% said that limited choice and poor quality of activities in their area prevented them for participating.
  • 13% said a lack of knowledge or cultural background was a barrier.
  • Only 8% said there were no barriers, 3% other and 1% said they did not know.  

The survey concluded that 9 in every 10 people find at least some difficulty in fulfilling their creative lives, and that 3 in 10 people lack the interest or the money to engage. The responses varied across the socio-demographics of the respondents. It was found that men were more likely then women to cite a lack of interest (30% and 23% respectively) and women (31%) were more likely then men (26%) to cite expense as a key barrier. 44% of 15 to 24 year olds said a lack of time prevented them from participating in culture.

What the survey has shown is that there are varying levels of engagement and participation in culture across countries, gender and age groups. Education levels played a significant role in determining the level of engagement in culture equally, finding that people who had more years in education had a higher level of engagement. The report explains in more detail the specific breakdown by socio-demographics, and gives an interesting look at how these key aspects aide our attitudes towards culture, and ultimately how we then value culture.

This is a great document to use for supporting your own market research, or to give a overview of how culture is viewed by different countries. Although the sample was very large, 26,755 people were interviewed, it is important to bear in mind that this was a EU wide study, and of those 26,755 people interviewed 1,310 were from the UK (which represents 0.002% of the UK population). To see all the figures for the UK I complied the stats into a document called European Cultural Value Statistics EU vs UK that you can download here.

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc958_en.pdf