The Cultural Consumption Barometer 2010. Dynamics of the Values under the Economic Crisis

TheCulturalConsumpti on Barometer Dynami csofthevaluesunder theeffectsoftheeconomi c cri si s

The Cultural Consumption Barometer Dynamics of the values under the effects of the economic crisis

Bucharest, 2014

Dynamics of the values under the effects of the economic crisis

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National Institute for Research and Cultural Training

The Cultural Consumption Barometer. Dynamics of the Values under the Effects of the Economic Crisis The book edited by the National Institute for Research and Cultural Training presents the results of the studies carried out in 2010 by the Centre for Research and Consultancy on Culture.

Authors: Carmen Croitoru (coord.)

Anda Becuț (coord.)

Tamara Băleanu Bianca Bălșan Andrei Crăciun Crăița Curteanu Oana Donose Bogdan Pălici Eugen Stancu Ștefania Voicu Translation Cristina Andrei DTP and layout: Bogdan Pălici Tatiana Cristea Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naționale a României: The Cultural Consumption Barometer. Dynamics of the Values under the Effects of the Economic Crisis Carmen Croitoru, Anda Becuţ (coord.) ; Tamara Băleanu, Bianca Bălşan, Andrei Crăciun, ... ; Institutul Naţional pentru Cercetare şi Formare Culturală. – Bucureşti: Pro Universitaria, 2014 Bibliogr.

ISBN 978-606-26-0113-3

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I. Croitoru, Carmen (coord.)

II. Becuţ, Anda (coord.)

III. Băleanu, Tamara IV. Bălşan, Bianca V. Crăciun, Andrei 008(498)

© Institutul Național pentru Cercetare și Formare Culturală Editura Pro Universitaria, Bd. I. Maniu, nr. 7, Cotroceni Business Center, corp A, et. 3, cod postal 060274, sector 6, București, Romania.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5 First edition ................................................................................................................................................ 11 Research methodology ......................................................................................................................... 13 Notes ...................................................................................................................................................... 14 Domestic consumption......................................................................................................................... 14 Public consumption............................................................................................................................... 17 High Culture ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Mass Culture ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Non-cultural leisure activities ....................................................................................................... 21 Consumer preferences ......................................................................................................................... 23 Movie genre ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Music genre ........................................................................................................................................ 24 Theatre genre .................................................................................................................................... 25 Consumption spaces ............................................................................................................................. 27 Non-attendance of high culture activities ......................................................................................... 28 Theatre non-attendance .................................................................................................................. 29 Museums and Exhibitions non-attendance ................................................................................. 31 Using the 2% provision to support the NGOs ................................................................................... 31 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................. 34 Second edition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 35 Methodology .............................................................................................................................................................. 37 Cultural consumption within the public space .......................................................................................... 37 Cinema ................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Theatre and museums – an overview ...................................................................................................... 38 Opera and operetta – a perspective on the public in Bucharest .................................................. 42 Cultural consumption within the private space ......................................................................................... 43 Private cultural infrastructure ..................................................................................................................... 43 Private consumption of cultural objects .................................................................................................. 47

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Life style and cultural consumption ....................................................................................................................... 50 Lifestyles and cultural consumption ................................................................................................................ 50 Diverse cultural experiences – factors of cultural consumption........................................................... 54 Music – a radiography of musical preferences ............................................................................................ 55 Cultural consumption among youth aged 15-34.......................................................................................... 55 Effects of the economic crisis on the cultural consumption ........................................................................ 64 Cultural consumption dynamics from the viewpoint of the economic crisis.................................. 64 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................................... 68

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Ever since 2005, the Cultural Consumption Barometer has been a useful instrument in the cultural management, providing up-to-date information on the dynamics of the values in the Romanian society. This undertaking of analysing the cultural sector aims at capturing the perception of the general population regarding topical cultural themes, at measuring the degree of the public’s involvement and participation in cultural events, at identifying the way that the general population interacts or rather “reacts” to the artistic products and creations.

While at international level such analyses are decades-old common practice, in Romania the Cultural Consumption Barometer is the only initiative of this kind, and its periodicity – annual or biennial – aims precisely at recovering the absent information on various cultural themes.

The structure and methodology of the Barometer were devised on the models of similar studies carried out by the UNESCO Statistics Institute, by the Département des Etudes Prospective et Statistique, by the Ministry of Culture and Communications of France, as well as on the model of the European Commission’s special Eurobarometers on cultural themes.

This collection of studies aims to join together all the information gathered within the Cultural Consumption Barometer carried out in 2010, in its two editions, one in spring and another one in autumn, each of them with its own themes of analysis. While in the summer edition the main themes were the level and characteristics of the

public and domestic cultural consumption, the cultural consumption preferences, the preferred cultural spaces and the civic involvement in supporting culture, in the winter edition we focused more on the analysis of lifestyles from the cultural viewpoint, as well as on the analysis of the effects of the economic crisis on the cultural consumption.

The usefulness of the information to be found in this publication depends on the interest of each reader, but we can identify several categories of directly-interested beneficiaries. For the wide public, the book presents a comprehensive analysis on the level of participation in the cultural act, offering each reader the possibility to find themselves in a certain profile of cultural consumer or to compare their own cultural practices to those of the general population.

For the experts working in the cultural and creative sectors, caietele culturadata (culturadata notebooks) – through the detailed information they provide on each cultural field, be it written culture, performing arts, national cultural heritage etc. – are a useful tool for the cultural programmes and projects that they are developing. For the experts working in other sectors than the cultural and creative ones, such as the local public authorities, this collection of studies provides statistical data, useful for the substantiation of local development programmes and projects.

Hereinafter we shall present in brief the main themes of the summer and winter editions of the 2010 Cultural Consumption Barometer

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and their relevance for various categories of readers. The analysis of the consumption within the domestic and public space was approached in both editions of the Barometer, due to their importance for various categories of readers. Thus, the information on the cultural consumption within the domestic space is important from the viewpoint of the analysis of the factors that influence consumption in general, not only the cultural consumption, providing the image of a society that is gradually withdrawing from the public space in order to take refuge in a familiar, comfortable environment. Romania is not an exception, though, because this trend is generalised at international level, being a consequence of the industrialisation and new technologies.

Under these circumstances, the data on the consumption within the public space become all the more important, as they refer to the essential conditions of democracy’s existence, in its classic sense of participation in the life of the city. The cultural institutions cannot survive without their users, without those they address to, and the latter’s withdrawal from the public space may affect the very existence of both cultural public institutions and private organisations that indirectly benefit from the cultural consumption.

The appearance of mass production means generated the mass consumption, and artistic works did not escape this trend, either. The differentiation between the mass and unique artistic creations has left room for controversies and a general opinion has not been cleared up

yet, as long as the idea of artistic creation involves uniqueness and originality. In turn, the form of mass production, distribution and consumption is clearly different from the unique form. In their attempt to classify and explain these differences, researchers from various fields have turned to certain concepts, as controversial as the analysed object itself. Therefore, the concepts of high (elitist) culture versus low (mass) culture have occurred. The terms are arguable mainly because their discriminating taxonomy, which explains the differences, but at the same time strengthens and perpetuates stereotypes and prejudices. Nevertheless, in certain cases, the two concepts offer a more nuanced image of the social and cultural field and can provide pertinent explanations for certain cultural practices and behaviours. This is why the information presented in this book may complete the picture of the Romanian cultural and creative sector from the period 2005-2010, forecasting the next five years in the meanwhile.

Ignored by researchers for a long time, leisure activities, other than cultural ones, provide important information on how people internalise the distinction between the working time and spare time – a creation of the modern era. Being an indicator of the quality of a community’s life, leisure practices reflect what experts call leisure culture - which, in post-modern societies focused on consumption, turns the wheel of the economic and cultural development. In this respect, this book provides important information on leisure practices, which most often associate with

cultural practices.

The preferences for cultural consumption and their causes are a subject that has raised the interest of social sciences researches in the last 50 years, since Pierre Bourdieu1 explained the behaviours of social distinction and reasoning through concepts like taste, style or habitus.

According to this author, the social-class division generates a common root for classification practices: the habitus - materialised in predispositions for certain meanings and perceptions . Although it does not go into an in-depth identification of the reasons which determine the differences of predisposition for certain artistic expressions and forms, the Cultural Consumption Barometer provides a hierarchy of these expressions and forms at national level, as well as a presentation of their distribution on various socio-demographic components.

The researchers following Bourdieu’s footsteps, who are faithful advocates of the habitus concept, have considered the cultural environment of creation and interaction with cultural works as a critical factor of influence on cultural practices. This is why the preferences for cultural consumption spaces may explain the level and preferences of participation in cultural events. Thus, the cultural differences are not limited anymore to cognitive differences in relating to values, but also refer to the differences of perception and use of all the senses specific to 1 Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of the Taste, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984, p. 169.

human nature. In this respect, this publication provides useful information on the cultural consumption environments preferred by the majority of the analysed population.

While explaining the cultural consumption is a relatively easy undertaking for researchers in the social sciences field, the cultural nonconsumption behaviours are harder to explain and even more difficult to analyse. However, nonconsumption, passivity and physical or intellectual sedentariness are beginning to be a constant of the post-modern society. The behaviours of non-consumption, non-involvement in the social life are a consequence of the occurrence of the generalised apathy, a reality of the postmodern society - demonstrated and analysed by contemporary researchers. Alienation, boredom, depression, along with the feeling of insecurity, translate into absence and withdrawal from the public space, by ignoring the social and withdrawing into the shell of the individual.

The last two sections of the spring edition of the Barometer provide relevant information on the reasons for the non-involvement in cultural activities, as well as on the prerequisites of the active involvement in the cultural and creative sectors by using the means of the civil society.

As we previously mentioned, in the winter edition we focused more on the analysis of lifestyles, starting from their definition given by Bourdieu: systematic products of the habitus, which become systems of socially qualified signs. Based on the predispositions determined by a certain social environment

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to which the respondents belong, we drewup profiles of cultural consumers, which may stimulate the ordinary reader to an exercise of imagination, with the purpose to identify themselves with a certain profile. The information on these profiles is also useful for experts working in various economic sectors, including cultural and creative sectors, who want to segment their market depending on the characteristics of the possible consumers of goods and services.

Going further into the basic idea of this publication – i.e. the fact that the cultural and creative sector does not exist in a glass bubble, but in the social tissue of the interaction with other sectors –, we considered that the analysis of the effects of the economic crisis on the dynamics of the cultural and social values was extremely

important.

During the conference Culture WatchEurope “Culture and the Policies of Change”, organised in Brussels in 2010, Peter Inkei from Budapest Observatory drew the attention on the diminishing of the cultural goods acquisitions, of the level of participation in cultural events, on the decrease in the level of donations, sponsorships and private investments in culture, on the lowering of the national and local budgets for culture. This is why in the winter edition of the Barometer we drew-up a special section meant to capture the way that the economic crisis has affected the family budget allocated to cultural activities and goods. From this point of view, this publication provides important information on the manner in which the economic component influences Anda Becuț

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The Cultural Consumption Barometer consisted in a nationally-representative survey applied on a sample of 1100 respondents, aged over 15. For Bucharest, an extra sample of 900 cases was introduced. The maximum error of sampling on a confidence interval of 95% is +/- 3%.

The 2010 Cultural Consumption Barometer was accomplished in several stages: between the 16th and the 28th of July the information gathering was carried out; between the 10th and the 20th of August the verification of information was accomplished, and between the 20th of August and the 20th of October the data were analysed and the research report was drawn-up.

The first stage of the research was carried out by CURS, the research institute that had won the auction organised by the Centre for Research and Consultancy in the Field of Culture for survey application and data insertion. The drawing up of the survey, the verification of its correctness and application, the analysis of the answers and the drawing up of the research report were the task of the Centre for Research and Consultancy in the Field of Culture.

The sample made up by CURS, following the guidelines provided by the Centre for Research and Consultancy in the Field of Culture, was a three-stage probabilistic sample, with stratification on development regions (North-East, South-East, SouthMuntenia, South-West, North-West, Centre and Bucharest-Ilfov) in the first stage,

continuing with a random selection of the counties. The second stratification criterion was the size of the cities (cities with over 200 000 inhabitants, cities with 100 000-200 000 inhabitants, towns with 30-100 0000 inhabitants, towns with less than 30 000 inhabitants, commune-residence villages, peripheral villages).

The selection of the households was made based on voters lists: where these lists were not available, the random-route method was applied. The participants were selected based on the method of the first date of birth, the poll being applied to the person in the household aged 15 and over, who had the date of birth closest to the date of 1, regardless of the month.

The fill-in of the questionnaires was made through face-to-face interviews, at the respondents’ place of residence.

The database thus obtained was statistically weighed according to gender and age groups, as there were differences between the sample percentage of various categories and the percentage at the level of the whole population. The statistical weight coefficient was calculated as the ratio between the percentage of persons in a category within the whole population and the percentage of persons within the same category at the level of the used sample. This coefficient was used to adjust the data and to raise the accuracy degree of the results.

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Notes

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The term „cultural consumption” must be regarded as frequency of reading, of watching certain TV programmes or shows, of preferences for certain cultural products or services. The use of this term is appropriate in the context of the existence of a culture economy, based on demand and supply.

The existence of differences between the artistic expressions has led to the construction of two categories of cultural activities. The term „elitist culture” (or „high culture”) comprises those less accessible artistic expressions, which require additional education in order to be understood and preferred. Theatre, opera, ballet shows and museum visiting are included within the high culture. The „mass culture” defines artistic expressions on a large scale, as part of a consumer society and globalisation. Within this category we include going to the cinema, entertainment shows and music shows, local events and celebrations.

The „profile” or „statistical portrait” is a statistical approximation of certain characteristics a person has, as they were highlighted by a multi-criteria statistical analysis. It depicts the behaviour that a person might have, based on features that could be found in that person. Statistically, it is less probable that the respondents excluded from the statistical portrait should meet these characteristics. The statistical

profile confirms certain characteristics of the stereotype in the public space, adding new ones at the same time.

In the process of obtaining a statistical portrait, the multi-criteria analyses include various predictors which the specialised literature identifies as components of an explicative scheme for the subject in view.

Thus, the predictors (also called „independent variables”) are those factors that directly or indirectly influence the variation of „dependent variables” (i.e. the characteristics to be explained).

Domestic Consumption Within the domestic space, the most attended cultural activities are: watching TV shows, listening to music and watching movies. On the other hand, the least attended activities are reading specialised books and using the Internet.

The domestic infrastructure has begun to play an increasingly important role in the cultural consumption. Even though the stage, the cinema screen and the shelves of the libraries are the main distribution channels for cultural products, we should not disregard the extent to which the TV, the cable TV or the Internet connection facilitate this exchange. In the last years, the services provided by certain

operators – such as Internet connection or TV cable – as well as the use of specific products, such as home cinema or audio systems, have paved the way for the development of cultural activities within the household.

Table 1 depicts the frequency of certain cultural consumption activities unfolded within the domestic space. Compared to the year 2009, there are no significant differences as far as the frequency of the domestic cultural consumption activities is concerned.

Similarly to the previous editions, the most popular leisure activities – with a duration longer than one hour per day – are: watching TV shows (83%), listening to music (54%) and watching movies (52%). The least regular activities include reading specialised books – 66% of the respondents state that they never read specialised books, while 49% of the respondents do not read books in general – and using the Internet (50% of the respondents are non-consumers) or using

Table 1: Frequency of domestic cultural consumption How often

do you watch television? do you listen to music? do you watch movies?

do you listen the radio?

do you read newspapers and magazine? do you use the computer? do you read books?

do you use the internet? do you read specialised literature?

Once/ twice a year or never

Once/ twice a month

9%

4%

2%

11%

1%

the computer (48% of the respondents never use it).

As far as the radio programmes are concerned, a balance between the proportion of those who listen daily and those who seldom listen was recorded.

The Internet is about to become the most important distribution channel. The cultural products market is joining this trend, as the consumers can read books or newspapers, listen to music or watch movies. At the same time, more and more publishing houses or performance institutions have started to create web pages, which facilitate the consumers’ access to certain cultural products. Under these circumstances, the degree of Internet use is an indicator that reflects on the cultural consumption. According to the data referring to the degree of Internet use, approximately 31% of the respondents use the Internet for more than one hour daily. We can assume that for these respondents the Internet is Once/twice a week

Less than one hour per day

1-3 hours daily

Over 3 hours daily

9%

22%

31%

23%

3%

12%

7%

17%

33%

13%

17%

49%

13%

14%

11%

66%

10%

7%

5%

28% 48% 50%

5% 2% 2%

8% 5% 5%

12% 17% 22% 8% 7%

43% 38% 23% 10%

40% 14% 17% 4%

14%

20%

6%

1%

8%

12%

3%

19%

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an important source of information and communication.

Taking the importance of the Internet as a cultural consumption-medium as a starting point, we wanted to find out which is the profile of the Internet user. The outcome information following the statistical analyses depicted a user „portrait� that meets the following characteristics: a young person, who lives in an urban environment, mainly in the northern cities of the country, who allocates a very small amount of money for purchases and other forms of cultural consumption on a

monthly basis. They have a sedentary lifestyle, as they engage in sports activities very seldom or never; they do not visit museums and do not attend theatre performances.

They use the Internet very frequently and do not feel the need to read newspapers and magazines. A significant proportion of these respondents have not read newspapers in the last year. They score a medium music consumption, as they listen to music less than one hour daily. They do their shopping in the supermarket every month.

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Graph 1: Statistical profile of the regular Internet user

Public Consumption Most of the respondents attend local events and celebrations, this activity being followed by the attendance of entertainment shows and music shows.

On lower-ranking positions there are theatre, opera, operetta performances and museum visiting.

The analysis of the cultural consumption for the period 2005-2010 was performed according to two themes: the evolution of the participation in „high” and „mass” cultural activities, as well as non-cultural leisure activities.

The cultural activities that the respondents prefer to attend in the public space have a frequency similar to that recorded in the previous years. On the first positions there are the participation in local events and celebrations and the attendance of entertainment shows and music shows.

Opera and theatre performances, as well as museum visiting – activities specific to the high culture - remain the least attended.

The studies regarding the cultural consumption – carried out both in the country and abroad – have shown that the education, age and socio-economic status have a very important role in the decisional process of purchase. For this reason, we decided to analyse the unfolding of cultural activities both at the level of the general population analysed and at the level of subgroups, formed according to the abovementioned criteria.

High Culture The number of people who visited a museum has decreased comparing to the previous year, a new minimum value being recorded. Unlike this activity, the opera and theatre attendance has a positive dynamics.

We shall hereinafter analyse the various highculture materialisation forms separately.

We decided to approach the two culture categories separately because the level of the consumerist dimension is different, thus determining distinct purchase behaviours.

Theatre As we notice in Graph no. 2, the dynamics of theatre performance attendance records a growth until 2007, being followed by a decrease. After the significant decrease of 2009, the average theatre-consumption is re-entering an ascendant dynamics this year.

From the viewpoint of education, the theatre consumption is 5 per cent higher among high-educated people compared to the other respondent categories.

Although the residence environment is not an important factor in predicting the culturalproducts purchase behaviour, we notice a growth at the level of the city of Bucharest.

Thus, 17.1% of the respondents living in the capital go to the theatre once or several times a month. At national level, the percentage is 3

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times lower. We may assume that the capital’s high level of cultural infrastructure explains the differences in the levels of cultural consumption.

Graph 3: The evolution of museum and exhibition visiting between 2005 and 2010

Graph 2: The evolution of theatre attendance between 2005 and 2010

Museums/exhibitions

The dynamics of museum and exhibition visiting has been, up to the current year, similar to that of the theatre attendance.

The relative decrease of the museum- and exhibition visiting average has marked a new minimum value in the case of this cultural consumption: in 2010, approximately 15% of the respondents have used the services provided by museums and art galleries. culturadata notebooks

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Not surprisingly, the percentage of respondents who attend museums and exhibitions is higher within the urban population.

In the last six years, the Romanians have maintained their preference for history museums constant – approximately half of the respondents who have visited museums in the last year chose a history museum. The preference for this type of cultural spots is followed by that for art- and natural science museums.

Museum and memorial houses’ visiting is an activity that very few respondents repeat during the same year. Most of the interviewed persons (72%) have not visited any museums in the last year. The number of respondents who have visited these cultural landmarks is in inverse ratio to the frequency of the visits; while 13% have visited a museum or an exhibition in the last year, the percentage of those who have gone to museums/exhibitions

five times in the same period is irrelevant – 0.2%.

Graph 4: The frequency of museums or memorial houses visiting

Opera, operetta

The opera remains the least attended cultural production: only 10% of the population have attended opera spectacles this year. However, compared to the other public cultural consumption activities, it has a relatively constant dynamics: after the decrease of the previous year, in 2010 the average of opera attendance records a slight increase. From the viewpoint of consumers’ education this increase is recorded among high-educated people.

Graph 5: The evolution of opera and operetta attendance between 2005 and 2010

Mass Culture The attendance of local events and celebrations and the attendance of entertainment and music shows continue to decrease. Nonetheless, these two activities are the most appreciated cultural ways of leisure.

Mass culture is a less pretentious form of the elitist culture, addressing a much larger category of public. At the same time, the mass culture is on a trend of adaptation to the public’s requirements – stronger than the high culture’s.

Cinema Theatres The cinema-shows attendance was the field with the most interesting dynamics.

While all the other cultural manifestations (pertaining both to high culture and to mass culture) have recorded a decrease starting with 2008, the cinema-shows attendance is continuing its ascending trend, recording a decrease only in the subsequent year.

Moreover, unlike the attendance of entertainment shows and music shows, of local events and celebrations, the attendance of cinema shows has had a positive dynamics in the last year. The existing differentiation between cinema shows and other cultural manifestations may be explained through the insufficient maturity of the cinema market, therefore the latter has a potential of growth by means of attracting new consumers. In the

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last three years, these new consumers have been attracted via the newly-built cinema theatres or technological development – such as 3D productions.

This growth comes after the lowest value in the past six years had been recorded in the previous year. In terms of education level, it is interesting that most of the cinemagoers are high school- or higher education graduates.

A significant increase in the cinema-shows consumption is recorded among respondents who live in Bucharest, Timişoara, Arad, Cluj, Iaşi and Bacău. This is not surprising, as the mentioned cities benefit from a high degree of cinema infrastructure, having an average of 4 theatres for 100 000 inhabitants.

Graph 6: The evolution of cinema attendance between 2005 and 2010 culturadata notebooks

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Only 11% of the respondents stated that they did not watch movies. Considering that non-attendance of cinema shows is nearly 90%, we may launch the hypothesis that the

respondents have chosen alternative ways of watching movies, which favour the private consumption to the detriment of the public consumption.

Entertainment Shows, Music shows The average of the attendance of entertainment and music shows is the lowest in the last six years. The most loyal audience remain the high school- and higher education graduates.

The frequency of the entertainment- and music shows attendance remains constant among the inhabitants of small towns (with 30 000-100 000 inhabitants).

Graph 7: The evolution of music and entertainment shows attendance

Local events and celebrations The frequency of the local events and celebrations attendance follows the downward course that started in 2007.

Although most of the cultural consumption activities have recorded higher values than in the previous year, the average frequency of local events and celebrations is the lowest in the last six years. A very large number of the local events and celebrations are financed by the public administration, which has reduced the expenses after 2007, starting with the economic crisis. The cutback of the administrations’ budgets for „Culture, leisure, religion” may be an explanation for the decrease in the attendance of this type of activities.

Even under the circumstances of the recorded negative dynamics, this activity remains the most attended by the respondents (30%). The access to local events and celebrations is usually free, which makes the respondents choose them over other cultural activities / events, such as entertainment shows (20% of the respondents have attended such an activity in the last year), movies (11%) or theatre (10%).

Graph 8: The evolution of local events / celebrations attendance between 2005 and 2010

Non-cultural leisure activities Non-cultural activities – except for travels and mall and hypermarket attendance – have had a positive dynamics in the last year.

We considered the analysis of the noncultural leisure ways to be necessary, as they represent a very important component in the lives of the respondents. Considering that the respondents’ spare time is limited, choosing a non-cultural activity entails giving a smaller importance to cultural activities.

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Hypermarkets, Malls The attendance of malls and super/ hypermarkets continued to decrease, recording in 2010 a 30% decrease compared to 2008.

Compared to the previous year, the average of products purchase from malls or hypermarkets recorded declines in the case of all respondents, regardless of their education level. An increase of the consumption compared to 2009 was recorded among persons from Bucharest and North-Eastern Romania. Not at all surprisingly, these spaces are chosen mainly by the inhabitants of Bucharest or of other cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants.

Discos, Clubs While in 2009 only one out of ten Romanians spent their spare time at the disco / club, in 2010 the number of people who attend this activity reached 23%. Education does not influence the frequency of this activity, and the values expressed within the general collectivity remain constant within the respondent categories. The only exception is present among respondents who graduated from a post-university school, who stated that they seldom or never went to the disco / club.

Sports Events

The average of sports events attendance is slightly increased compared to the previous year. After the significant fall of 2009, the attendance of sports competitions remains constant among the majority of the respondents. At the same time, the frequency of these activities grows by 20 percent among post-high school graduates and diminishes among the post-university graduates.

Body Care

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Graph 9: Frequency of shopping at the mall or hypermarket between 2005 and 2010

This activity scores the lowest nonconsumption level: 33% of the respondents stated that they went to the mall or hypermarket very seldom or never.

The frequency of body-care activities attendance has an evolution similar to that which we have just presented. Generally, compared to 2009, the attendance of this type of activities had a growing trend. However, among the respondents who have graduated from a post-university school, the frequency dropped by 20%. A possible explanation for

this decrease may be the raise of the work volume; a raise that led to the decline of the leisure activities, such as body care.

Travelling

The average of respondents’ spare-time spending in travels recorded irrelevant modifications compared to 2009. The stability of performing this activity is due to the respondents’ tendency to rather address the satisfaction of primary needs than secondary ones, such as the wish to travel. Similarly to the last two years, the high school graduates and university- and post-university graduates in particular are the respondent categories where there is a balance between those who perform and those who do not perform this type of activity.

Parks, Green Areas

Unlike the other types of public consumption (which recorded significant declines in 2009 compared to 2008), the performance of various activities in parks or green areas has had the same frequency in the last two years. The slight increase recorded in 2010 is part of the constant evolution of this type of public consumption. This evolution may be explained through the fact that spending one’s spare time in the park is not influenced by economic factors, like the other noncultural activities.

Church

Starting with 2006, when the maximum value of church attendance was recorded, the value

of this indicator has been in constant decline.

According to the data collected in 2010, half of Romania’s population goes to the church very seldom or never.

Consumer Preferences Movie Genre The most watched movies are comedies, adventure/action/detective movies, romance movies, cinematheque movies and thriller/suspense movies

A list of the movies watched by the respondents is presented in Table 2. The order of movie genres preferences has not changed too much compared to the previous years. The most watched movies remain the commercial movies (comedies – 19%, adventure/action/ detective movies – 18% and romance movies – 14%). The percentage of respondents interested in movies with a high cultural content has dropped: the historical genre is preferred by 4.6% of the respondents, while the documentary is watched by 3.7%.

Table 2: Favourite movie genres

What type of movies do you watch most often?

Comedies

19.30%

Cinematheque (any kind)

9,36%

Adventure/ Action/ Detective Romance

Thriller/ Suspense Do not wach Drama

17,68% 13,83% 7,39% 6,23%

6,14%

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Historical

4,55%

Indian (Bollywood)

2,25%

Horror

Documentary Others

Science fiction

Don`t know- No answer For children Parodies

Cartoons

Biographies Sex/ Porn

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4,04% 3,68% 1,69% 1,45% 1,30% 0,34% 0,27% 0,21% 0,19% 0,10%

The action/adventure/detective movies consumption had an interesting evolution. In 2008 and 2009, this genre was preferred by more than a third of the respondents, being on the first position. This year, comedies are the most preferred by the respondents, and the percentage of people who prefer action/ adventure/detective movies has halved.

When comparing to the preferences of the total population analysed, there are several differences if we consider the last level of education completed. Thus, the preference for action/adventure/detective movies is stronger among the people who graduated from a university or from a vocational school. A significant per cent (19%) of the respondents who have graduated from postuniversity schools prefer the cinematheque movies.

The proportion of those who do not watch movies increases with the decline of the respondents’ education level, reaching 29% among the persons with no education.

The number of respondents who prefer

historical movies or documentaries – with a high cultural content – doubles in the case of persons with post-high school and university education, when compared to other respondents with other levels of education.

Music Genre

Most often the respondents listen to traditional folk/ethno music, Romanian pop music, manele, foreign soft and pop music .

More than half of the respondents listen to music in Romanian. Therefore, the music genres preference order presented in Table 3 is not surprising at all; similarly to the previous years, the respondents prefer traditional folk music, Romanian pop music and manele.

The preference for a certain musical genre has different degrees, according to the age of the interviewed persons. Traditional folk music is preferred by more than half of the respondents aged over 45. Table 4 shows that younger persons are much more attracted to manele when compared to the total of the respondents. At the same time, three musical genres that score too low a percentage at the general collectivity level to be taken into account are preferred by 13% of the respondents aged 15-29 (electronic / house music), by 6% of the respondents aged 15-29 (rock / alternative music) and by 6% of the respondents aged over 60 (symphony / opera music).

Table 3: Favourite music genres

What kind of music do you listen most often?

Traditional folk

34%

Foreign soft

10%

Romanian soft Manele

13% 10%

Foreign pop

7%

I don`t listen to music

4%

Electronic/ house

4%

Rock/Alternative

3%

Symphony/Opera

3%

Autochthonous Pop

3%

Rap

2%

Religious-including church-performed

2%

Others

1%

Latino

1%

Traditional Gypsy

1%

Jazz/ Blues

1%

Don`t know-No answer

1%

Cultural-ethno ( Turkish, Hungarian)

1%

Table 4: Favourite music genres by age Favourite music genres

Traditional folk Romanian soft Manele

Foreign soft

Foreign Pop

I don`t listen music Electronic/ house

15-29

> 60

Total

21,45% 10,90% 4,62%

0,84%

10,01%

0,69%

11,34%

4,55%

4,84% 7,96%

30-44

Age (years) 45-59

28,85% 52,31% 57,56 % 34,30% 14,74% 15,00% 14,71 % 13,01%

13,49% 13,14% 7,31% 14,19% 9,94%

3,46%

13,15% 0,96%

0,38%

2,88%

4,62%

2,94% 0,84%

0,84 %

9,66% 7,55% 4,00%

Rock/ Alternative

6,23%

2,34%

2,69%

0,42%

3,00%

Autochthonous Pop

4,15%

4,81%

0,77%

0,42%

2,73 %

Symphony/ Opera

0,69%

2,56%

3,08%

5,88%

2,91%

Theatre genre

Most of the respondents are attracted to comedy plays.

Comedies are on the first place in the top of the interviewed persons’ preferences.

A great part of the respondents prefer, however, open-air performances. In a context where theatre is perceived as a form of elitist culture, open-air performances are much closer to the mass culture, therefore attracting a larger number of spectators.

It is not at all surprising that most of the respondents (43%) attend state theatres.

These are followed by absolute nonconsumers (41%), i.e. those respondents who have never seen a play. The independent theatre reaches 6% of the respondents.

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Table 5: Types of plays preferred by respondents

What kind of theatre play do you prefer?

First

Second Third Forth

Comedy 35%

Drama

29% 0% 0%

Theatre Consumption in Bucharest

12% 0% 0% 0%

The notoriety ranking of the first 5 theatres in Bucharest is as follows: Odeon Theatre, Bulandra Theatre, Nottara Theatre, Masca Theatre and the Comedy Theatre

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We have drawn-up two tops of the theatre consumption in Bucharest, illustrating the theatre hierarchy according to notoriety and attendance degree.

The first five theatres according to notoriety are: Odeon Theatre, Bulandra Theatre, Nottara Theatre, Masca Theatre, Comedy Theatre, and the first five most attended theatres are: „Ion Luca Caragiale” National Theatre, Nottara Theatre, Comedy Theatre, Bulandra Theatre, Ţăndărică Theatre.

Theatre notoriety and attendance determinants. We can notice that the notoriety and the attendance of a theatre do not always coincide, and this happens because the notoriety and the attendance of a theatre do not point out to the same thing and are determined by distinct factors. Thus, notoriety mainly pertains to the theatre’s

Open air Variety performance theatre 12%

10%

37%

0%

34% 57%

Children plays

30% 25%

3% 6%

18% 63%

Don`t know/ No answer 28% 0% 0% 0%

Table 6. The notoriety and attendance top of theatres in Bucharest The notoriety top of theatres in Bucharest

The attendance top of theatres in Bucharest

Bulandra Theatre

Notarra Theatre

Odeon Theatre

Notarra Theatre Masca Theatre

„Ion Luca Caragiale” National Theatre Comedy Theatre

Bulandra Theatre, Țăndărică Theatre

Comedy Theatre

„Ion Creangă” Theatre

„Ion Luca Caragiale” National Theatre

The Small Theatre

The Small Theatre, Țăndărică Theatre, „Ion Creangă” Theatre

Odeon Theatre

The Very Small Theatre

The Very Small Theatre

Metropolis Theatre

ACT Theatre and Metropolis Theatre

Other Theatre

Other Theatre

The Jewish State Theatre ACT Theatre

The Luni (MONDAY) Theatre of Green Hours Club

Masca Theatre

The Luni (MONDAY) Theatre of Green Hours Club

image capital, its presence on the media channels, its involvement in cultural projects and events addressing a wide audience, the age of the theatre, and it indicates the number

of persons who heard about the respective theatre (but without necessarily having attended it). The attendance mainly pertains to the cultural consumption preferences and practices of theatre consumers, the theatre’s repertoire, its promotion media or its accessibility (how easy it is to find the theatre’s location).

Consumption Spaces Cultural institutions are the most attractive spaces for cultural activities. At the same time, we notice an increase of the preference for cultural activities that take place in the parks.

The space where the performance takes place is extremely important, as it is one of the basic elements of creating an adequate ambience. Furthermore, because of the variability of the cultural service, the performance differs according to the space it takes place in. The attended consumption space is reflected to a certain extent on the type of the performance.

Most of the respondents who prefer drama plays are attracted to cultural institutions.

The public space (park and public square) is prevalent when it comes to comedies and children’s plays.

The most attractive spaces for cultural activities performance are cultural

institutions (28%). The attendance of the same space by 18% of the interviewed persons shows the non-correlation between the space supply and demand, because of the precarious infrastructure of some cities.

The degree of attractiveness of the cultural institutions is equalled by that of the parks’.

A significant percentage of the respondents (18%) did not express their preference for a certain consumption space. The distribution of the other respondents’ preferences is presented in Graph 10.

Graph 10: Venue preferences

An important component of the consumption space is the public space. The high degree of accessibility of this space makes it ideal for organising diverse events addressing a heterogeneous public. Notwithstanding these characteristics, the level of attendance of events held in the public space is low, shifting around 10%.

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Table 7: Frequency of attendance of events held in the public space Where did they take place?

Sport competitions

Cultural activities (concert, play, cinema projection) Protes, manifestation

Street

Elsewhere

2% 9%

5%

6%

2%

6%

2%

1%

3%

0%

11%

Political, electoral manifestations

3%

2%

Non cultural events (markets, fairs)

6%

Religious manifestations

1%

Other events

The public space seems ideal for organising celebrations, 30% of the respondents stating that they attended such events. Surprisingly, the second position in the top of activities performed in the public space is taken by cultural activities (21% of the respondents attended concerts, plays or movies in this space), which shows the attractiveness exerted by the cultural services upon the respondents.

Non-attendance Culture Activities

28

Park

Celebration

Parade, caravan

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Public square

of

High

The non-consumer of theatre and the nonvisitor of museums very seldom participate in any kind of cultural activity. Nonconsumers are high school graduates and they prefer listening to music or watching sports competitions.

0%

9% 2% 4% 1% 1% 0%

1% 5% 4% 3% 2% 2% 0%

5% 4% 0% 5% 2% 5% 3%

Did not participate

Don`t know/ No answer

78%

1%

85% 93% 69% 91% 81% 91% 90% 91%

1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 5%

Museums, theatres and opera houses -cultural institutions specific to high culture -are financed from the state budget, their main role being to provide value to a large part of the population. At the same time, the costs of cultural goods production go up, forcing the creators to adapt to the market requirements.

And, like any other market, the cultural market needs consumers in order for it to grow. The elitist cultural goods market meets more challenges in attracting the public, as it has a low consumerist dimension.

The year 2007 marked the peak of the elitist cultural consumption. In the following years a mostly negative dynamics was recorded. While in the case of theatre and opera performance attendance this year a slight improvement is recorded, museum visiting is still on a negative trend.

Non-participation in elitist cultural activities can be explained through their very nature. Elitist cultural activities are directed

to a relatively small audience, with a high level of education and a medium or even high income.

When trying to explain the low attendance of places pertaining to high culture, we drewup the statistical portraits of the theatre non-consumer and of the museums and exhibitions non-visitor.

Theatre Non-attendance The year 2009 marked the lowest value of theatre consumption in the last six years.

A possible explanation of this phenomenon is the defective infrastructure. In Romania there are 96 theatres - with less than 30 000 seats.

At the same time, under the economic crisis, the price of a theatre ticket might be deemed

Dynamics of the values under the effects of the economic crisis Graph 11: The Statistical Profile of the theatre non-consumer

29

Graph 12: Statistical profile of museums and exhibitions non-visitors

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too high.

In 2005, 76% of the respondents stated they went to the theatre very seldom or never. In 2010, the percentage of theatre non-consumers rose to 90%. Although the consumption dynamics in the last three years has been strongly influenced by the economic

crisis, the lower and lower percentage of high culture consumers cannot be ignored.

The theatre non-consumer pays very little money for cultural activities. The low level of the income percentage that goes to culture is justified by the fact that this nonconsumer seldom participates in any kind

of cultural activities. He or she reads very little or does not read at all; he / she does not visit museums / exhibitions. The only cultural activities that draw this kind of respondents’ interest are local events and celebrations – activities that most often come for free. In the absence of performing cultural activities, the theatre non-consumer pays a high attention to activities pertaining to body care. He or she seems to be more passionate for sports activities, which he/she watches weekly. Despite this, he/she goes to the park very seldom or never. As far as education is concerned, most often this category of public graduated from a secondary school (vocational school).

Museums and Exhibitions Non-attendance

In 2010 the visiting of museums and exhibitions scores the lowest value in the last six years. Unlike other cultural activities, it continues its negative dynamics. An explanation of this situation is the fact that the respondents usually visit museums and exhibitions located outside their town of residence. Thus, this activity requires expenses that the respondents do not want to undertake for the moment.

The museum/exhibition non-visitor is not attracted by elitist cultural activities, he or she does not attend opera or theatre.

He/she lives in small towns, therefore one of the explanations for the non-attendance

of high culture may be the low level of the cultural infrastructure. The absence of the infrastructure may also be one of the main elements which hinder the allocation of money for cultural activities. He/she uses the Internet frequently, usually more than one hour a day.

Besides using the Internet, this segment of respondents listen to music in their spare time. They graduated from an intermediate school (middle school or vocational school).

Using the 2% provision to support the NGOs In Romania, tax-paying persons have the possibility to support the activity of the civil society by redirecting 2% of the income tax towards a foundation or association. As this is not a donation or sponsorship, but a system through which the taxpayer decides on the destination of a part of the due tax, the „2% provision” can easily become an income source for the NGOs. However, the number of persons who fill in the 230 Form1 is quite small. In the current edition of the Cultural Consumption Barometer the population’s knowledge on this fiscal provision and the behavior of those who have used it so far have been assessed.

Although the „2% provision” is not recent and it was included in the Law 571/2003 on 1 A form that must be filled in and submitted to the fiscal authorities in order to redirect 2% of the income tax towards an NGO.

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the Fiscal Code (modified by the G.O.2 138/2004 and approved through the Law 163/2005), more than half of Romania’s population (57%) has no knowledge of its existence.

The selection of the beneficiary organisation was made primarily based on information coming from sources close to the respondent. Thus, most of those who used the fiscal provision (39%) made their decision based on information provided by friends, colleagues, family members. Knowing the members of the organisation directly also guides the selection of the beneficiary (23% - equal to the empathy for the organisations’ goals).

Graph 13: The rate of people who know about the 2% system

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Among those who state that they have heard about the 2% system, only 36% also know the period when the 2% income-tax redirection form must be submitted.

Up to the present, 25% of those who know about the 2% system have already used it several times, and 15% only used it once.

The non-governmental organisations that benefitted from the taxpayers’ highest attention were in the field of health and social services, 42% and 26% respectively of those who have used the 2% provision having chosen foundations or associations from these fields. Approximately 15% of those who submitted the 230 Form directed money towards NGOs pertaining to the field of „Culture, art, sports and leisure”.

2

Government Ordinance.

Graph 14: The rate of those who know the period for submitting the 230 Form

A relevant indicator for the degree of taxpayers’ knowledge on the 2% system is the proportion of those who know the exact amount of money that they have redirected towards a certain NGO, by filling in and submitting the 230 Form. Thus, only 19% of those who redirected money also know the amount which the respective organisation will receive. In most of the cases (55%) the amount is smaller than 100 RON. Larger

amounts, between 501 and 1000 RON, were recorded only in 13% of the cases of those who knew the exact amount of the 2%.

Table 7: The destination of contributions made through the 2% system In what field do the NGOs operate, to which you have redirected 2% so far?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Health care

42%

Schooling, education, research

20%

Social services Religion

Culture, art, sports, leisure

Philanthropy and volunteering Environment protection

Protecting civic rights and promoting civic interestsz Presentation of business and professional interests

10. Women`s rights and gender equality 11. Others

12. Economic and social development 13. International cooperation

3.

<100 ron

101-500 ron

15%

501-1000 ron

11% 6%

4.

5.

6% 5%

NO 81%

55% 32% 13%

Table 12. The rate of those who find the 2% system useful

4% 3%

Whether you have donated money through the 2% system or not, please indicate the extent to which you find 2% system useful?

2%

I heard about it from friends/ family/ colleagues 39% I know NGOs members

23%

I am a member of this NGO

6%

I heard about from mass-media

19%

Whether they had the chance to direct a part of the income tax through the 2% fiscal provision or not, most of those who know about this system consider that it is useful (83%).

6%

I empathize with the NGOs aims and objectives

YES

The amount of money received by the NGO

24%

What convinced you to direct 2% of your income tax to this organization/these organizations (multiple answers)?

2.

Do you know the exact amount of money that went to the NGO after you submitted the form?

Table 11. The amount of money received by NGOs

26%

Table 9: Factors that determined the selection of a particular organisation 1.

Table 10: The rate of those who know the exact amount of money directed through the 2% form

23% 15%

Very high degree

36%

Low degree

6%

High degree Neutral

Very low degree

47% 11% 0%

We note that still a small part of the population has knowledge on the possibility of redirecting a part of the income tax towards NGOs. Among those who have heard about the 2% system, the number of people who have accessed it so far is nearly half. The attention

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of those who redirected money was mainly directed to organisations that supplement fields with difficulties in operation, which address immediate needs (health, social services, schooling), or organisations addressing fields that enjoy a great part of the populationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trust (religion). Those who directed a part of their income tax chose the receiver of the money mainly based on information received from close persons or from members of the respective associations. The directed amounts are mostly under 100 RON, but we have to consider that usually (about 81% of the cases) the exact amount that would go to the NGO is not known.

Conclusions

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Ever since the first edition of this study, a growth of the private consumption to the detriment of the public consumption has been noticed. The purchase of equipment that facilitates the private consumption makes the respondents prefer the comfort of their own home, thus paying a low attention to cultural institutions.

Generally, the private cultural consumption has values similar to the last years, reflecting the habitude degree which these activities have in the respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives.

While the domestic cultural consumption dynamics shows no major modifications, we cannot say the same about the dynamics of

the public cultural consumption. The year 2009 marked the record of a minimum value in the case of all the activities specific to the public cultural consumption, while this year they begin to have a positive dynamics.

The entertainment / music shows and the local events/celebrations are activities that continue their negative trend, while the theatre performances and cinema shows record a positive evolution. The discrepancy between the evolutions of cultural activities shows that, because of the economic crisis, the respondents are bound to choose certain activities to the detriment of others.

Although we notice certain improvements of the cultural consumption, this sector continues to be affected by the economic crisis.

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Methodology The survey was carried out using the face-toface interviewing technique, based on a standardised questionnaire. The sample volume was 3 500 persons (3000 persons at national level, with an additional sub-sample of 500 persons in Bucharest), aged at least 15. The sampling error was +/- 1.8%, at a confidence level of 95%. The type of the sample was probabilistic, three-staged, with proportional allocation and stratification in the first stage.

The criteria used for the stratification were the cultural area (18 areas) and the urbanisation degree (7 categories). The data collection was made in the period December 2010 – January 2011.

CULTURAL CONSUMPTION WITHIN THE PUBLIC SPACE Cinema The cinema shows consumption is keeping its declining curve of the last years.

Only 31% of the respondents living in the urban environment are used to attending cinema theatres. This public is mainly repre-

sented by persons with high education, 47% of the respondents being university graduates. It is worth mentioning that most of the cinemagoers are young people, aged 15-34.

Over 60% of the respondents who go to the cinema are used to attending festivals annually. Thus, this trend that occurred in the West in the ‚80s is beginning to set in the Romanians public’s preferences, too, opening their appetite, based on niches (Klippel, 2008) In the last 4-5 years, a series of film festivals have appeared in large cities, which may be considered crucial in the construction of the contemporary cinephilia (De Valck, 2005).

They have various dimensions: from international events to student festivals, non-governmental organisations or cultural institutes get involved in their set-up, in cooperation with various local partners. Although we may say that Bucharest holds a certain monopoly, as many festivals are organised here, in the last years important events have appeared in other cities, too. Events such as Transylvania FF (in Cluj-Napoca), B-est, Next, One World (Bucharest), Iaşi FF (Iaşi), Astra Film (Sibiu).

Timishort (Timişoara), BIFF (Braşov) are drawing more and more spectators, attracted by the possibility of watching a première or of seeing a rare film that cannot be watched elsewhere.

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Theatre and museums â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an overview Teatru Going to the theatre remains a cultural activity frequently attended by only a relatively low percentage of the population.

In 2010 the attendance rate has not changed significantly, showing a stabilisation trend after the significant decrease of 2009, caused mainly by the economic crisis impact.

81% of the respondents state that they never go to the theatre, while 16% state that they rarely attend this cultural activity. Only 3% of the respondents go to the theatre several times a month.

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Graph 1. Frequency of theatre attendance

Youngsters, pupils and students are the most active theatre consumers, with average attendance rates two times higher than the national average.

The attendance rates of theatre performances within various demographic categories are quite interesting. In terms of age, young people under 30 stand out as the most active theatre consumers. It may seem surprising, but among school-aged youngsters (15-19 years old) the attendance degree is the highest, with an attendance rate 1.7 times higher than the national average.

The positive relation between the education framework and the theatre attendance is also sustained by the high attendance-rates among pupils and students, two times higher than the level of the whole population. A possible explanation pertains to the encouragement to go to the theatre, coming from schools and high schools, as well as to the theatre attendance in a school-organised framework. At the same time, the time restrictions that hinder the theatre attendance are often lower among youngsters, while the financial restrictions (i.e. the ticket price) are diminished by the various incentives which young people benefit from (e.g. discounts on the ticket price).

Table 1. Theatre attendance rates by age Age category

Attendance rate %

15-19 years old

32%

35-39 years old

18%

20-24 years old 25-29 years old 30-34 years old 40-44 years old 45-49 years old 50-54 years old 55-59 years old 60-64 years old 65-69 years old 70+ years old

The whole population

28% 31% 23% 20% 18% 15% 15% 16% 9% 5%

19%

Persons with higher education have double attendance rates compared to the national average and 7 times higher rates compared to middle school graduates.

Table 2. Theatre attendance rates by occupation Occupation

No occupation Employed Homemaker Retired Retired due to illness (invalid) Unemployed Pupil Student

Attendance rate % 0% 27 % 5% 9% 7% 10 % 41 % 45 %

On maternity / child care leave

31 %

Looking for the first job The whole population

13 % 19 %

Active military personnel

0%

Education is also an important factor for the theatre attendance. Generally, the attendance rate grows proportionally to the education level, the exception being the vocational school graduates, whose attendance rate is approx. 5 times lower than the national average. Short- or longterm higher education graduates have double attendance rates compared to the entire-population average and 7 times higher than the persons who have only graduated from middle school.

In terms of the residence environment, the city inhabitants have the highest degree of theatre attendance, a situation closely related to the geography of the cultural infrastructure. Only 7% of those who live in the rural areas go to the theatre, a rate 4 times lower than the rate in the urban areas.

Table 3. Theatre attendance rates by education level Education level

Attendance rate %

No education

0%

Primary school

1%

Middle school

9%

Vocational school

4%

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Foreman school High school- first level High school- level 2/ Baccalaureate

5% 14 % 18 %

Post-high school education

26 %

Short-term higher education / College

45 %

Long-term higher education

53 %

Postgraduate studies

52 %

The whole population

19 %

Museums/Exhibitions Museum/exhibition visiting is one of the highest-rated cultural activities within the population.

Approximately 25% of the respondents state that they visit museums or art exhibitions. 22% of them rarely attend museums/exhibitions, and 3% - a couple of times monthly, while the percentage of those who state that they visit a museum or exhibition weekly is insignificant.

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Graph 2. Frequency of museum/exhibitions visiting

Similarly to theatre consumption, youngsters’ degree of museum attendance is higher than other age categories’.

35% of the respondents aged 15-19 – 10 per cent above the national average – go to museums. Similar attendance rates were recorded within the 20-24 and 25-29 age categories, respectively.

The differences between the urban and the rural environment are significant this time, too. 34% of the urban-areas inhabitants state that they visit museums, which means an attendance rate 2.6 times higher than the attendance rate among the inhabitants in the rural environment.

In terms of occupation, not only pupils and students have visiting rates above the national average, but also persons who work and those who are on maternity leave.

In terms of education, higher education seems to have a significant impact upon visiting rates. 56% of the respondents with long-term higher education visit museums or exhibitions – double compared to high school graduates and 4.6 times higher visiting rate compared to middle school graduates. Postgraduates are the most active consumers, as 67% of them visit a museum or an exhibition.

Table 4. Museum/ exhibition visiting rates by age Age

Attendance rate %

15-19 years old

35 %

20-24 years old 25-29 years old 30-34 years old 35-39 years old 40-44 years old 45-49 years old 50-54 years old 55-59 years old 60-64 years old 65-69 years old 70+ years old

The whole population

38 % 36 % 31 % 33 % 27 % 19 % 18 % 22 % 17 % 12 % 7% 25 %

Participation rates by occupation depict a diverse image. Similarly to theatre attendance, pupils and students visit museums to a higher degree than other occupational categories, which supports the hypothesis that the school/university life has an important cultural dimension.

Persons who work, as well as those who are on child care leave have also a visiting rate higher than the national average: 10 and 4 per cent, respectively.

Table 5. Museum/ exhibition visiting rates by education Education level

Attendance rate %

No education Primary school Middle school Vocational school Foreman school High school- first level High school- level 2/ Baccalaureate Post-high school education Short â&#x20AC;&#x201C;term higher education /College

4% 2% 12 % 9% 12 % 20 % 28 % 29 % 53 %

The whole population

25 %

Long-term higher education Postgraduate studies

56 % 69 %

Table 6. Museum/exhibition visiting rates by occupation Occupation

Attendance rate %

No occupation Employed Homemaker Retired Retired due to illness (invalid) Unemployed Pupil Student

0% 35 % 11 % 12 % 15 % 17 % 46 % 54 %

Active military personnel Looking for the first job

0% 20 %

On maternity / child care leave The whole population

29 % 25 %

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Opera and operetta – a perspective on the public in Bucharest Going to the opera and operetta are cultural activities attended by a low percent of the population. For this reason, the opera and operetta consumer’s profile was made only for Bucharest, as the additional sample allocated to the capital favoured this analytical perspective.

75% of the interviewed persons never go to the opera and operetta.

Who are those who go to the opera/ operetta?

There is a myth that opera and operetta are cultural activities accessible mainly to those with high incomes. However, in Romania, the differentiation of attendance in terms of income is not as relevant as the differentiation by education.

Graph 4. Opera and operetta attendance rates by age

For instance, those with low incomes represent 52% of those who attend opera and operetta, while the proportion of those with medium- and high incomes represent 21% and 27%, respectively.

The majority of opera/operetta goers are young.

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Graph 3. Frequency of opera and operetta attendance in Bucharest

The distribution by age of opera and operetta spectators is an interesting aspect, too. Furthermore, in this context, the general opinion that „today’s youngsters” do not go to the opera and operetta anymore, being more interested in mass and popular culture products is rebuffed. As the results show, young people represent the largest part of the opera and operetta spectators.

cultural consumption within the private / domestic space Private cultural infrastructure The private cultural infrastructure consists in domestic goods that facilitate the access of the population to cultural services. In this section we included a series of indicators specific to the private cultural infrastructure that were also included in the previous editions of the Cultural Consumption Barometer.

Moreover, we followed the development of the private cultural infrastructure from the viewpoint of the number of music and film CDs, DVDs, as well as of the number of books in the household. Apart from observing the distribution and analysing the private cultural infrastructure, we also delineated possible explanations for the poor development of the latter.

The analysis of the indicators’ distribution in terms of cultural infrastructure was made by classifying the products into the following categories, according to criteria such as the modality of using the products, their lifecycle duration, the importance of technologydevelopment in their production.

Active objects

The objects that we defined as active are those which in time are not operable anymore due

to deterioration, to their depreciation in time and which cannot be repaired by the users, because the costs of their reparation are too high or because the users are not able to repair them. Thus, along with their deterioration in time and the technological development, they end up being replaced with new ones.

According to Gregson, the replacement of objects no longer used involves – from a social point of view – a routinised practice that also requires learning, as a new object is accompanied by experimentation (for example: updating the contacts on the mobile phone, learning how to use a digital device).

These also involve new circumstances, such as developing new routines and skills in using the products in order to consolidate new practices.

Baudrillard explains the relation between people with reference to the objects around them through the fact that we are assisting to the objects’ continual modification, to their appearance or disappearance, in contrast with the past, when objects used to survive several generations. In marketing, this is explained through the life-cycle of the product which enters its decline period at a certain point in time. In this category we included the following objects: television set, mobile phone, DVD player, home cinema system, video camera, radio set, tape recorder, CD player, MP3 player, iPod, digital devices, computer/laptop.

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Figure 1. The universe of cultural objects within the domestic space

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Passive objects

Tool-objects

Another category of objects, situated at the opposite pole from the active ones, is represented by passive objects with a symbolic capital, whose definition is influenced by the values and meanings they embody. According to Baudrillard, these are â&#x20AC;&#x17E;cultural indices of timeâ&#x20AC;?. In the category of passive objects, having symbolic capital, we included: paintings, sculptures, various types of collections, old (valuable) books, vinyl records. The analysis of their distribution was made in the section referring to the Private consumption of cultural objects.

The third category of goods is represented by tool-objects, having the role of instruments, which facilitate consumption, but the operation and production of which are not linked to the technology- development. Examples of such objects are the following: encyclopaedias, foreign languages dictionaries, specialised dictionaries, musical instruments.

Connection objects In this category we included connection objects that ensure and improve the use of the objects in the active objects category and provide a diversification of the cultural consumption. An example is that of the satellite antenna, which allows the access to a very large number of TV programmes.

Active objects

The TV set, the mobile phone, the radio set and the computer are found in the top active objects present at the level of the private cultural infrastructure.

The distribution of the active objects shows that in the Romanian universe the most present objects bought in 2009 or before 2009 are: TV set (93%), mobile phone (72%), radio set (53%), computer (48%), DVD player (37%).

The will to buy active objects is low (under 2%).

The results show low percentages (under 2%) in terms of the will to buy active objects.

As regards the will to buy, the 2009

Eurobarometer data show that Europeans are worried about the decline of the buying rate for goods within the household, and that the situation has improved in the last year, though. However, the changes that began in 2008 vary from one country to another, a possible explanation being the intensity of the economic-crisis perception from one country to another. The feeling of purchasingpower decline in the case of household goods increased by 18 per cent in Romania, according to the 2009 Eurobarometer data.

The tool-objects (foreign languages dictionaries and encyclopaedias) are present to a higher degree at the level of the domestic universe.

A proportion of 46% of the respondents indicated that they had foreign languages dictionaries and 26% of the respondents said that they had encyclopaedias (general dictionaries).

Besides the small number of film and music DVDs and CDs, the domestic universe is also characterised by a small number of books in the household.

Most of the respondents indicated that they had no music CDs/DVDs (55%) or

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movie CDs/DVDs (65%). 23% percent of the respondents stated that they had no books in the household and 22% indicated that they had between 1 and 20 books in the household.

A possible explanation for the above results might be given by the Internet consumption, which provides music, movies and books only by paying low registration fees. In terms of access to goods over the Internet, this experience may require a change in the way the consumers get involved; by paying their Internet connection fee, they see the access to goods as an image of the gift, according to Baudrillard. From Baudrillard’s point of view, the excess of Internet goods may result in the perception of the goods as an image of the gift, of the „unfailing generosity”.

Table 7. Distribution, frequency of active objects within the private cultural infrastructure Do you have at home, in your household...?

TV set

97%

Radio set

54%

Mobile phone

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Yes

Computer, laptop DVD player

81% 51% 39%

Tape recorder

35%

Digital photo-cameras

29%

CD-player

31%

Mp3 player

20%

Video camera

12%

Home cinema system

10%

iPod

5%

Table 8. Distribution of tool-objects within the private cultural infrastructure Do you have at home, in your household...?

Da

Foreign Languages Dictionaries

44%

Encyclopaedias (general dictionaries)

27%

Specialised dictionaries

22%

Musical Instruments

8%

Table 9. Distribution of movie- and music CD-s and DVD-s within the private cultural infrastructure Movie CDs/DVDs - bought or received

Music CDs/ DVDs - bought or received

None

66%

55%

Between 1 and 10

14%

14%

Between 1 and 20

8%

12%

How many… are there in your household?

Between 21 and 50

7%

13%

Between 51 and 100

3%

5%

Between 101 and 500

1%

2%

Over 500

1%

1%

Private consumption of cultural objects Cultural objects are those objects held for their meaning, which do not have a practical utility. We followed the presence of 17 types of cultural objects within the households.

We consider cultural objects those personal objects that people possess and purchase for their meaning. Baudrillard ([1968]1996) makes a distinction between the first two main functions of the personal objects: to be used and to be owned.

Cultural objects do not have a practical utility, they are only owned for their role of meaning or distinction (providing a status) (Bourdieu, 1979). Another role that cultural objects may have is to bring culture within the personal and domestic space of the household, a role that we

might call domestication of culture, by adapting what Baudrillard called (1996, 84) â&#x20AC;&#x17E;the domestication of culture through the private consumption of antiquitiesâ&#x20AC;? to the context of culture consumption through cultural objects.

Cultural objects consumption also pertains to the symbolic space of people, characterised by the lifestyle (Bourdieu, 1984, 1989). For some people, cultural objects may provide an identity to the domestic space, pertaining to the personal aesthetic taste, expressed through the manner the domestic space is set-up and through the interior design. Another category of objects are antiquities (Baudrillard, 1996, 74). Collections (of old objects), which we also included in the analysis, are a similar category. We consider collections a type of cultural objects because, through the activity of collecting, these objects lose their initial utility, being owned for their abstract meaning, thus accumulating value either as a set, or as single objects.

Starting from these approaches and from the categories of cultural objects included in this analysis (see Text Box 1), we obtained some characteristics of the private consumption of cultural objects.

Most of the households (72%) do not possess either of the cultural objects included in the analysis. 20% of the households have 1-2 types of cultural

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objects, and 8% have at least 3 types of cultural objects.

In order to see the distribution of the cultural objects, we calculated how many types out of the 17 included in the analysis are owned within the households. Based on the way the recorded per cents were distributed, we divided the households into three categories: households lacking any cultural objects (72%), households with 1-2 types of cultural objects (20%) Text Box 1. Types of cultural objects included in the analysis

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• Classic paintings (copies, replicas or originals) • Modern or contemporary art paintings (copies, replicas or originals) • Classical sculptures (replicas or originals) • Modern or contemporary art sculptures (replicas or originals) • Old (valuable) books • Old music vinyl records (for gramophone / phonograph) • Phonograph / Gramophone • Vintage collectible clothing • Antique collectible household items • Special-use collectible items (typewriters etc.)

• Postcard collection • Stamp collection (any kind of stamps) • Magazines collection (any kind of magazines) • Old photos (other than personal/family photos) collection • Coin collection • Stuffed animals collection (Taxidermy) • Butterfly collection

and households with more than 3 types of cultural objects (8%).

Approximately 14% of the households possess classical paintings (copies, replicas or originals). Ordered by recorded percentages, there follow: modern / contemporary art paintings (copies, replicas or originals) (8%), magazine collections (5%) and old (valuable) books (5%) and vinyl records (4%) Table 10. Frequency of cultural objects within households Do you have in your household ...

Rates

Classic paintings (copies, replicas or originals)

14,4%

A magazines collection

5,3%

Modern or contemporary art paintings (copies, replicas or originals) Old (valuable) books

Old music vinyl records

8,3% 5,2% 4%

A stamp collection

3,8%

Classical sculptures (replicas or originals)

2,8%

Antique household collectible items Vintage collectible clothing

Old photos (other than personal/family photos) collection Modern or contemporary art sculptures (replicas or originals)

2,9% 2,7% 2,3% 2,2%

A coin collection

2%

A postcard collection

1,9%

A phonograph / gramophone

1%

Special-use collectible items

1,3%

Stuffed animals collection (Taxidermy)

0,5%

Sample total

3500

Butterfly collection

0,3%

A drawback of the results is given by a possible difficulty in the respondents’ understanding of the item. In this respect, respondents might have different perceptions on the definitions of some objects, such as classical paintings, a term that may include not only classical-art objects, but also old „apartment art-paintings”, for instance.

Those who own cultural objects are mainly active, cultural omnivore-type persons, aged 35-44.

The profile of those who have cultural objects in their households was outlined as follows: • They have a high degree of practising a leisure activity / having a hobby and creative activities (painting, singing, writing);

• They are more inclined towards consuming objects with cultural value (for example, they own musical instruments, in higher proportions than those who do not own cultural objects); • In their spare time, they prefer to read or to have a walk / to travel, unlike those not having cultural objects, who prefer to watch TV in their spare time; • They are mainly active persons, aged 3544; • They have a higher level of education, and their schooling profile pertains rather to fields such as architecture, technical field / engineering, humanities (history, journalism, communication) than to exact science fields, social sciences or arts; • They are mainly from large cities or from Bucharest and they mainly live in large apartmentss; • They consider that education, culture, friends and leisure are very important – to a higher degree than those who do not own cultural objects.

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life style and consumption

cultural

Lifestyles and cultural consumption

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Starting from elements that pertain to lifestyles, individual values or sociodemographic characteristics, measured within this edition of the Cultural Consumption Barometer, we aimed to devise a classification that would reflect current and potential cultural consumer types. Following the data analysis, four such types were identified.

The categories of indicators used in making this classification were: − The frequency of „domestic” cultural consumption practices (TV and radio programmes consumption, listening to music, reading the news, written culture consumption); − The frequency of „public” cultural consumption practices (cinema, theatre, museums, entertainment shows, local celebrations and festivals); − The frequency of other practices in the spare time (mall/hypermarket shopping, sports competitions attendance, travelling, sports practising, discos/clubs attendance, walking in the park / green areas); − The time budget (allocated to work, rest, various leisure activities etc.);

− Values (importance given to family, work, education, friends, spare time, money, religion); − Age, occupation, education, personal income, residence environment, type of residence town.

The classification was made through the two-step cluster analysis.

Urban consumers with high potential for diverse activities

This type of consumer has resources that favour the access to cultural products. This mainly refers to the proximity of a cultural infrastructure (this consumer lives in an urban environment, primarily in very large cities, with more than 200 000 inhabitants) and to the cultural- and leisure offer that comes with it. Furthermore, this consumer has a high education-level (university) and financial resources (higher incomes, in particular). He / she stands out through the categories of values to which he/she gives the most importance (spare time, friends, culture) as well as through his/her healthier lifestyle (it is more probable that they walk, travel, practise sports).

The cultural consumption is high, both in terms of domestic activities (reading, for example) and in terms of „public” cultural activities (theatre, cinema etc.). Thus, these

consumers have a high potential to access and consume a wide range of cultural goods.

Table 11. The urban cultural consumers with high potential for diverse cultural activities

25 % of the respondents

• Cultural consumption is high, both in the domestic and in the public space; • Give significant importance to spare time, friends, cultural issues; • The youngest of them sometimes spend their spare time in clubs or discos; • Frequently attend malls for shopping or attend sports competitions; • Have a healthier lifestyle: 25% of them practise fitness sports several times a month, 19% travel outside the town several times a month, 61% frequently take walks in green areas; • Generally, they are busy persons, as they remunerated working hours occupy a great part of their time budget; • They are mainly found in large urban centres, with over 200 000 inhabitants; • The average age is the lowest – 40 years old – and the categories of young people are very well represented; • Have the highest level of education: 42% higher education, 8% postgraduate, 25% high school (with baccalaureate); • Many of them have occupations that require higher education (42%) • Have the highest incomes, on average (1208 RON – average individual income).

Urban consumers with high potential for „mass” events Having access to a mostly precarious cultural infrastructure (they mainly live in small towns, with under 100 000 inhabitants, most of them do not have cinemas, theatres, auditoria etc. in their town), and having also certain sociodemographic features (for example, mostly secondary education, lower incomes), this category has a low cultural consumption.

However, the practice of some activities (such as reading, occasional attendance of performance arts events, the preference for walking in the park or green areas) and the importance given - to some extent - to leisure and education suggest a potential for „mass” events attendance. Actually, even though they do not have access to a very rich leisure (or cultural) offer and they do not have significant individual (financial or educational) resources, either, this category has developed a form of consumption less intense than the previous category’s, which selectively combines consumption elements, both domestic (reading, movie watching) and public (occasional attendance of a play or local event).

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Table 12. Urban cultural consumers with high potential for „mass” cultural activities 31% of the respondents • Public cultural consumption is generally low. Yet, occasionally they go to the theatre or entertainment shows, attend sports competitions, local celebrations or spend their spare time in the mall; • Prefer walking in the parks / green areas to a higher degree;

• Go to cult places quite often (45% - several times a month);

• Intensely consume TV programmes, watch movies frequently and consume written culture;

• Strongly value family, money, work and religion. In addition, they are interested in leisure and education to quite a significant degree; • Are active on the labour market, but benefit from more spare time; • Are mainly inhabitants of medium and small towns; •

The average age is 59;

• The education level is medium (26% vocational or trade school, 10% first level high school, 28% high school with baccalaureate, 7% post-high school);

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• In terms of occupation, they are mainly qualified workers or service workers (sales assistants, sales agents etc. – 12%); • In terms of income, the average individual income is 729 RON;

Rural non-consumers, with potential for „mass” events

a

slight

This category comprises an important part of the cultural non-consumers, who have neither access to a cultural infrastructure, nor to a cultural offer, and who also have few resources to access possible events or cultural goods (relatively low education level, low income – a high statistical weight of persons with no occupation –, they give a special importance to family, religion, but also to work and money).

However, a part of these respondents may have a certain potential to access „mass” cultural events. This refers to a segment of young people, with medium education, who occasionally go to discos, attend entertainment shows or travel in their spare time.

Rural non-consumers, with no identified potential

The very low education-resources, the very low income-levels and the old age are the main characteristics of this category of the population living in rural areas.

They spend the greatest part of their spare time taking care of the household, they go to church (or another cult place) often and they attend local celebrations very rarely.

Considering the characteristics of this type of non-consumers, it is difficult

to identify any potential of cultural consumption.

Table 13. Cultural non-consumers from rural areas, with a slight potential for „mass” cultural activities

27% of the respondents

• Are absent from the cultural consumption landscape, they actually do not attend any cultural institutions (except for the rare visiting of some museums); • Leisure is limited. The youngest of them sometimes go to discos, attend entertainment shows or travel; • Go to cult places often (53% several times a month)

• Within the domestic space, they listen to music or watch TV programmes very often; • gion;

Strongly value family, work, money and reli-

• In terms of time budget, they may be persons who work many hours daily or who, although they have no jobs, they have many obligations (such as taking care of the household or of other members of the household); • •

Mainly live in a rural environment; Average age is 43;

• The education level is relatively low (23% middle school, 25% vocational school), yet there is also an important category of high school graduates (27%); • Generally, they are persons with no occupation, only 36% of them being employed (most of them qualified workers); • Have low incomes (531 RON – average individual income);

Table 14. Cultural non-consumers from rural areas, with no identified potential for cultural activities

17% of the respondents

• Similarly to the third category, they are absent from the cultural landscape, as they do not attend any cultural institutions; • tions;

They rarely attend local events / celebra-

• They go to cult places often (51% go to church several times a month); • Within the domestic space, they listen to music or watch TV programmes very often (yet to a lower degree than the other rural category); • They strongly value family, religion and money;

• They spend most of the day taking care of the household; • •

They live in a rural environment; The highest average age (69);

• The lowest education-level, their occupation having been mainly land worker (individually or within an association – 36%), qualified worker (23%) or unqualified worker (12%) • They have the lowest incomes (446 RON average individual income).

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Diverse cultural experiences â&#x20AC;&#x201C; factors of cultural consumption Cultural experiences are important factors of the cultural consumption. The rate of performance attendance is much higher among the persons who also attend other cultural activities (philharmonic, opera, museum, cinema). The persons who attend performance arts have a museum / exhibition visiting rate double compared to the national average.

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Besides demographic factors, another set of factors seem to have a significant impact on the theatre attendance rate. A research carried out in 2008 in Canada emphasises the close relation between the cultural activities attended by the respondents, going beyond demographic aspects. The study speaks about the existence of a â&#x20AC;&#x17E;culture microbe â&#x20AC;&#x17E;, in that persons who attend a certain type of cultural activity have a higher probability to attend other types of activities, too. From this viewpoint, the theatre attendance rates are significantly higher among people who also consume other types of culture. Thus, among those who state that they go to the philharmonic or the opera, approximately 85% - or 4.5 times higher than the national average - also go to the theatre. Those who go to museums / exhibitions or to the cinema have a theatre consumption rate 2.5 times higher than the national average.

Graph 5. Theatre attendance rates for respondents who participated in other cultural activities

The respondents who state that they attend performance arts (either theatre, opera or philharmonic) have a museumvisiting rate 2.7 times higher than the national average. Although the differences are smaller, cinema consumers or festival attendees go to museums to a higher degree, with attendance rates of 58% and 53%, respectively.

The presence of information on performance arts within art galleries, museums and festivals might have high chances to attract a new public.

The close relation between various cultural activities noticed both in the case of theatre consumption and in the case of the visiting behaviour has a series of important implications. First of all, it proves that attracting the public towards a certain

type of cultural activity may have positive effects on the rate of attendance of other activities. Secondly, these statistics show the marketisation potential of a cultural activity among the participants in other activities.

explained through the rise of the negative opinions on this genre in the last years, among other factors.

Cultural consumption among youth aged 15-34 Young people in the young adults category have more time for leisure activities and have very low or no income, while young people in the middle-youth have more significant financial resources, but have less spare time.

Graph 6. Museum/exhibition visiting rates for respondents who participated in other cultural activities

Music – a preferences

radiography

of

musical

The top of the most preferred music genres does not vary significantly compared to last year, the so-called „mass” culturerelated genres are prevalent. On the first three positions there are traditional folk music (53%), Romanian soft music (46%), foreign soft music (27%).

We can notice a slight decrease in the popularity of the manele, which, according to the data collected in 2007, were the third in the top of respondents’ preferences. The popularity decline of the manele might be

Young adults (aged 15-24) have a higher spare-time budget than middleyouth (aged 25-34). On the other hand, the relation is inversed in the case of the financial resource variable. The first agecategory has a smaller budget than the second category discussed.

According to the graph below, the lack of time is the main factor that prevents middle-youth from participating in cultural activities. We notice an increase of the time available for cultural activities from the age of 55 to the age of 75.

Both young adults and middle-youth spend more on cultural activities, compared to other age categories. The myth of young people who run away from the cultural consumption might rather be a stereotype than a reality.

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Table 15. Top of the Most Preferred Musical Genres (multiple frequencies) Preferred Music Genre

Frequency

Most numerous audience by age

Most numerous audience by education level

Traditional folk

53%

45- 64

Romanian soft Foreign soft

46%

46%

25-44

Middle school Vocational school

Ethno/ Modernised Folklore

27%

15-45

Manele

20%

35-54

Foreign Pop

12%

15-34

25-44

High School High School

Middle school Vocational school Middle school Vocational school Higher education

Compared to the other age groups, the youth aged 15-24 and the persons over 65 years old spend much more on cultural activities. In terms of non-spending behaviour we notice a growth with aging (up to 5564 years old) and a growth of the spending behaviour after the age of 65. culturadata notebooks

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Graph 7. Percent of those who say that the lack of time prevents them from participating in cultural activities, by age.

The cultural consumption of youth aged 25-34 who have children is lower than that of those who have no children.

Having children reduces middle-youthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural consumption. Youth aged 2534 with children might be a niche for the cultural institutions, which could develop strategies targeting this public in the future. In this respect, an example is Fabrica Club, where parents may come with their children, as the club has a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playground.

Graph 8. Expenses for cultural activities in 2010, by age groups

Middle-youth with children scored lower percentages for theatre, cinema and museum attendance than those in the same analysed age-category, who have no children. On the other hand, young people with children go to the hypermarket more often (39.7%)

compared to those who have no children, and an explanation for this might be the fact that hypermarkets have playgrounds and provide various ways of involving all the family when going shopping.

Youth aged 15-34 consume more digital culture and technology than the other age categories.

Digital culture refers to DVD-players, video cameras, CD-players, MP3 players, iPods, digital photo-cameras, computer/laptop and Internet connection. Higher purchases of digital goods were made by the 15-34 age groups to a high degree. An interesting aspect is that young adults remain on equal or higher positions compared to middle-youth in terms of digital-technology purchases, although they have smaller financial resources.

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Table 16. The percent of those who bought the digital devices in 2010 or before 2010, by age groups Age

15-24 25-34

DVD player

Video camera

47.9%

40.7%

74.5%

68.9%

CD player

MP3 player

36.9%

45.3%

51.8%

Internet consumption Young adults use the computer at home between 1 and 3 hours daily for professional purposes (34.1%), and 1-3 hours daily for entertainment purposes (41.3% for games, listening to music).

Types of cultural consumption recorded within the young population in Romania’s urban areas

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Starting from elements pertaining to lifestyles (ways of leisure), individual values or sociodemographic characteristics, measured within the Cultural Consumption Barometer for the winter of 2010, we classified the young population in the urban areas with a view to identifying the current and potential types of cultural consumers, specific to this age category.

In the „youth” category we included the respondents whose exact age was between 15 and 34, at the time of the interview.

78%

IPod

91.5% 33%

Digital photocamera

Computer/ laptop

Internet

52.8%

54.2%

52.3%

68.8%

59.7%

59.9%

The data used in devising this classification were: • The frequency of „domestic” cultural consumption practices (TV and radio programmes consumption, listening to music, reading the news, written-culture consumption); • The frequency of „public” cultural consumption practices (cinema, theatre, museums, entertainment shows, festivals, local celebrations); • The frequency of other leisure practices (mall/hypermarket shopping, sports competitions attendance, travelling, sports practising, discos/clubs attendance, walking in the park / green areas); • The time budget (allocated to work, rest, various leisure activities etc.); • Values (importance given to family, work, education, friends, spare time, money, religion); • Age, education, personal income, type of residence town; Alături de aceste elemente, am inclus în anIn addition to these elements, we also included in the analysis objective factors pertaining to the dimension and diversity of the leisure- and

cultural offer available in the close proximity (in the residence town). In this respect, we created an aggregated measure (the dimension of the local infrastructure) which would reflect the number of types of leisure- and cultural infrastructure elements available to the respondents.

Although the data do not comprise information on the actual activity held in the respective institutions / locations, their simple existence in an urban town increases the probability that the residents benefit from a various cultural environment and access various cultural products and ways of leisure, at least occasionally.

The institutions and locations comprised in the Local Infrastructure Index are: Table 17. Dimension of the locally-available leisure- and cultural infrastructure Type of cultural infrastructure

Present

Absent

Bookstore Museum Theatre Cinema Galleries Library

1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0

Auditoria

1

0

Culture House

1

0

Handicraft store

1

0

Opera/Operetta theatre

1

0

Philharmonic Disco Gymnasium

1 1 1

0 0 0

Heritage landmarks

1

0

Stadium Regional or county market Specific celebrations / festivals

1

0

1

0

1

0

Index maximum value

17

-

Index minimum value

-

0

The identification of the current and potential types of cultural consumers was made through the two-step cluster method.

The data analysis resulted in four types of youth, specific to Romaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban areas.

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Pupils and students with high potential for a diverse cultural consumption

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This category is made up from youth aged 18 on average, and its main feature is that it comprises young people – pupils, students – who are still within the education system.

This reflects on all the variables included in the analysis. In terms of „time budget”, a usual day mostly means learning hours and „spare time” hours. „Culture”, „friends” and „spare time” are very important values for this youth category. Thus, within the domestic space, their cultural consumption combines cultural products such as audio-video and written culture, while in the public space they access various types of culture, within the limits of their financial resources.

Here we can find all types of towns (small town, under 30 000 inhabitants, medium town, with 30-100 000 inhabitants, city with 100-200 000 inhabitants, large city with over 200 000 inhabitants). However, if we also consider the existence of cultural institutions or leisure opportunities within the town, this category mainly exists in areas with high values of the Local Infrastructure Index (values above 14 in general).

Table 18. Youth in the urban environment, still within the education system, with potential for a diverse cultural consumption 9% of the respondents

• Are mainly pupils and students, aged 18 on average (mainly young adults aged 15-24);

• A significant part of the time budget is divided between the learning hours and „spare time” hours; • Mainly give importance to leisure, friends and cultural issues;

• The cultural consumption is high, both in the domestic and in the public space; • They often go to clubs or discos (47%), malls (41%), attend sports competitions (32%), watch movies at the cinema (24%) or go to entertainment shows (23%);

• Mainly have a healthy lifestyle, 73% of them often walk in the park/green areas, 41% practise fitness sports; • Can be found in all types of towns, yet they are mainly found in those towns with a developed infrastructure; • Have the lowest individual incomes.

Employed youth who predominantly prefer „mass” events Identified primarily in towns with a high level of infrastructure (60% in towns with an infrastructure index above 14) or with a medium infrastructure level (30% in towns with values between 11 and 14), this category of respondents are aged 28 on average – mainly middle-youth (76% of them are between 25 and 34 years old).

They are graduates who have entered the labour market. „Culture”, „education”, „friends” or „spare time” are important, but these values only come after „family” and „work”.

Within the domestic space, 60% of the respondents balance the consumption of media (audio-video) products with reading books, magazines, newspapers etc. (written culture), while 33% intensely consume only audio-video media products.

The cultural consumption within the public space is mainly directed to „mass” events, such as festivals or local events.

Table 19. Employed youth in the urban environment, who predominantly prefer „mass” events 34% of the respondents

• • •

• •

• •

•

•

•

•

Are mostly graduates, employed, aged 28 on average (mostly middle youth aged 24-34); Remunerated activities are predominant in their time budget; „Work” and „family” are the most important values, yet other values, such as „culture”, „friends” and „leisure” are also important; Are educated (38% are higher education graduates, 22% are high school graduates); The domestic cultural consumption is sizeable and diverse for the most part of this youth category; Within the public space, „mass” events are preferred; Rarely attend local events (68%) and music/ film festivals (48%), while 19% often go to the cinema; As far as high culture is concerned, 44% rarely visit museums and 31% rarely go to theatre; Make more time for other leisure activities, such as walking in the park (57% - often), going to the mall (30% -often) or travelling (12%); Are found in urban towns of all types, in similar proportions, but only in those towns with a high or medium cultural infrastructure index; Compared to the other youth categories, they have high incomes (they earn 1129 RON/month on average);

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Employed youth in large cities, inclined towards a sizeable and diverse cultural consumption

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A special category of respondents is represented by youth aged 27 on average, middle youth aged 25-34, residents in large cities (over 200 000 inhabitants, with a high level of cultural infrastructure) and who have a sizeable and diverse cultural consumption (as regards both the domestic and the public component).

They stand out through their most appreciated values – „culture”, „leisure” and „friends”. They work quite a lot, yet they manage to save some time for other activities, too.

They are the most educated youth, 44% of them being higher education graduates, 28% high school graduates, and 16% postgraduates.

They have the most intense cultural consumption, both domestic (they read the most, for example) and public. Their lifestyle is healthier to a high degree, similarly to youngsters who are still within the education system.

These young people in the urban environments earn the most as well.

Table 20. Employed youth in large cities, inclined towards a diverse cultural consumption 43% of the respondents

•

•

•

•

•

• • •

•

•

Are aged 27 on average and mostly belong to the second important youth category (middle youth, aged 25-34); Live in large cities (cities with over 200 000 inhabitants, including Bucharest), well equipped with cultural infrastructure; Are employed persons who work and rest a lot, but also save time for entertainment activities, access to cultural goods etc.; „Culture”, „friends” and „leisure” are the most important values, even though this is not entirely reflected in their time budget; The most educated youth category (44% higher education graduates, 28% high school graduates, 16% postgraduates); Among the young people, they are the most frequent readers of books or newspapers; They have the highest public cultural consumption; They often go to the cinema (38%), attend sports competitions (27%), entertainment shows (16%) or local events (14%); Are the most frequent consumers of „elitist” cultural events: they often go to opera / operetta (10%) or theatre (10%), they visit museums (9%); They have the highest incomes (1592 RON / month);

Cultural non-consumer youth They are residents of all types of urban towns, regardless the latter’s size or the level of cultural infrastructure- and leisure access.

Their time budget may consist either in many hours of poorly-remunerated work (if we consider the income level), or in many hours dedicated to other useful, but non-remunerated activities (such as taking care of some members of the household).

Family is very important for this youth category.

Within the domestic space they mainly consume audio-video media products.

The public consumption is rather low; they rarely attend an entertainment show, a local festival or a cinema theatre. Other leisure activities, such as walking in the park or practising a sport, are also rarely found within this category.

They have the lowest level of education (35% have a baccalaureate diploma, 23% are middle-school graduates, 13% are vocational school graduates, and 13% graduated from the first high school level) and the lowest incomes, second to the pupils and students category.

Table 21. Youth in urban environment, noncultural consumers 14% of the respondents

• Are aged 27 on average, most of them belong to the 24-34 age category; • Are found in all types of towns, regardless the towns’ size or the local cultural equipment level; • Are persons who work a lot, but their work is either poorly-remunerated, or it consists in household obligations, such as taking care of other people; • „Family” is their most important value; • Have the lowest degree of education; • The domestic cultural consumption consists almost exclusively in audiovideo media; • Rarely attend local events (27%), cinema theatres (21%) or entertainment shows (11%); • Have low frequency rates in terms of outdoor activities, such as walking in the park or travelling; • Have the lowest incomes, second to the unemployed youth (688 RON / month).

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effects of the economic crisis on the cultural consumption Cultural consumption dynamics from the viewpoint of the economic crisis

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The research on the economic crisis focused on the analysis of its effects on cultural organisations, and the cultural consumption component was studied mainly from the viewpoint of the importance of consumers within organisations. At the same time, the measurement of the economic crisis’ impact on the cultural consumption faces difficulties because of the latter’s specific features.

The respondents’ level of income is one of the factors that influence cultural consumption. The distribution of respondents in terms of the household-income dynamics is presented in Graph 9.

The start of the economic crisis generated numerous opinions on the cultural consumption evolution. The hypothesis that, despite the economic crisis, a significant category of the population shall continue to allow a percentage of the incomes to cultural activities to the detriment of other ways of leisure seems to be confirmed by the fact that 49% of the respondents who consider that their income is merely sufficient to cover their basic needs still allow monthly amounts

Graph 9. Respondents’ distribution in terms of the household-income dynamics

for cultural activities. Furthermore, 70% of those who consider that their income is sufficient for a decent living, but not for the purchase of expensive goods, allow a percentage of their income for cultural activities. Surprisingly, out of the respondents who consider their income to be sufficient for everything they need, 59% do not allocate money for cultural activities.

The decrease in the number of respondents who allow money for cultural activities along with the growth of the income level shows a reduced influence of the income on respondents’ orientation towards cultural goods.

The last two categories of respondents – those who manage to also buy some more expensive goods, but renounce other expenses and those who manage to have everything they need without renouncing anything – raised the income percentage

allocated to cultural activities. These respondents are not affected by the economic crisis, being the only categories of respondents who score a growth in the income percentage allowed to culture.

Although an important number of respondents have kept a proportion similar to that of 2009, a significant growth in the income percentage spent on cultural activities was only recorded among those who have a high level of life standards. Having a sufficient income, these respondents are not forced to choose cultural goods over other types of goods.

The dynamics of the income percentage spent for cultural activities shows that, once the respondents consider that they have an income sufficient to live decently, the price of these goods loses its importance.

The number of respondents who allow a percentage of their income for cultural activities – buying books, visiting museums, attending theatre, opera or cinema – is higher than the number of those who purchase home appliances or travel.

Once the economic crisis was triggered, a decline of the consumption was noticed.

Under the decline of consumers’ purchasing power, they were forced to prioritise their expenses.

Graph 10. Distribution of respondents who allocate money for cultural activities, by income assessment

In the structure of respondents’ expenses, cultural activities are on the most important position, coming after food and clothing/footwear expenses. Conforming to Engel1’s law, as the respondents’ incomes rise, they reduce the percentage allowed for food expenses, therefore the percentage allowed to cultural activities may rise: while Generally, people spend a small part of the budget on food when their income rises. Erns Engel, a German statistician, made this observation in 1857. The reason is that food is a necessity that poor people must buy. As they become richer, they can afford better-quality food and, although the food expenses may grow in the same time, they will also be able to afford luxury. Therefore, the food expense percentage diminishes as the income rises.

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Graph 11. Structure of respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expenses

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among respondents with incomes under 700 RON, 42% allow an amount of money for cultural activities, the proportion is 89% among respondents with an income above 1500 RON. After satisfying basic needs, respondents can allow an income percentage for other activities, 46% of them choosing to purchase cultural goods.

We notice a trend of decrement of the crisis effects at the level of all the expenses categories, as there is a balance between the percentage of respondents who spend less and the percentage of respondents who spend the same or more. Out of the respondents who allow a percentage of the household income for cultural activities, 49% have kept the same value, while 44% allowed a lower amount than the previous year, and 7% allowed a higher amount.

Graph 12. Respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; distribution in terms of the dynamics of the percentage allowed for cultural activities Despite the fact that a percentage of the respondents continue to decrease their expenses on cultural activities, we may notice a trend of stabilisation of expenses at the level of the entire sample.

After the significant decrease in the frequency of cultural activities attendance in 2009, it appears to stabilise in 2010. Most of the respondents seem to keep a constant frequency of attendance of this type of activities. In 2009, museum- and memorial houses visiting and theatre attending recorded the most significant decline. This is why we decided to analyse the dynamics

of this consumption in the last two years.

Although in terms of these activities the consumption is very low, a slight growth is recorded compared to the previous year.

Out of the respondents who have visited museums and memorial houses in the last year, 52% maintained a similar frequency compared to the previous year. 40% of those who have attended performances in the last year had the same frequency as they did in the previous year.

Graph 13. Distribution of respondents in the urban environment, by theatre attendance

We notice a declining trend in the high cultural activities, to the favour of mass cultural activities and other ways of leisure.

A study carried out in 2009 by IFACCA mentioned the high-culture consumption decrease to the favour of mass-culture activities or even of non-cultural ways of

leisure as an effect of the economic crisis on culture.

The analysed data seem to confirm this hypothesis: the number of persons who frequently consume cultural goods (once or several times a month) has decreased in the case of museum/memorial houses visiting, but it increased among those who attend cinema shows. At the same time, the number of persons who go to the disco once or several times a month has increased. Although the impact of the economic crisis on the respondents’ consumption habits cannot be denied, the „migration” from a type of culture to another must be considered with care. In the context of the differences between the profiles of the museum visitors and cinemagoers in terms of many specific features, only a part of the dynamics of respondents’ attendance of these activities may be explained through the respondents’ „migration” from elitist cultural activities to mass cultural activities or other leisure activities.

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Graph 14. Dynamics of respondents’ attendance of museums, cinema shows and clubs

In order to highlight the relation between the decline of elitist cultural activities attendance and the growth of mass cultural activities attendance, we analysed the differences between the respondents who participate in elitist cultural activities and those who do not participate in such activities. The possibility that the respondents should choose mass culture activities, to the detriment of elitist ones, seems to be confirmed by the fact that 60% of the respondents who do not attend theatre or museums keep their interest in local festivals constant.

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2. Baudrillard, Jean (2008). Societatea de consum : mituri şi structuri. Ed. a-2-a.- Bucureşti: Comunicare.ro.

3. Bourdieu, Pierre (1984). Distinction. A critique of the judgement of taste, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts.

4. Drazin, Adam (2001) A man will get Furnished: Wood and Domesticity in Urban Romania, in Daniel Miller, Home Possessions, Berg, New York. culturadata notebooks

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5. Gregson, Nicky and Metcalfe, Alan and Crewe, Louise (2009) Practices of Object Maintenance and Repair : How consumers attend to consumer objects within the home, în Journal of Consumer Culture: 248.

6. Hills Strategies (2008). Factors in Canadians’ Cultural Activities. Demographics and cultural crossovers involved in book reading, performing arts attendance, art gallery attendance and movie-going.

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Products: An Analysis of the Spanish Social Space”, în Journal of Cultural Economics 26: 115–138.Klippel, Heike, ed. (2008). “The Art of Programming”: Film, Programm und Kontext.

Münster: LIT. 8. Madden Christopher (2009) Global financial crisis and recession: Impact on the arts.

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10. Peterson, R. A. and Roger M. Kern (1996) Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore. American Sociological Review 61(5):900-907.

11. Pine, J. and Gilmore, J. (1999) The Experience Economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

12. Sintas, López Jordi and Álvarez, García Ercilia (2002) The Consumption of Cultural Products: An Analysis of the Spanish Social Space in Journal of Cultural Economics 26, pp. 115– 138, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

13. Valck, Marijke (2007). Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam.

14. Warde, A. Lydia and Martens, Wendy Olsed (1999) Consumption and the Problem of Variety: Cultural Omnivorousness. Social Distinction and Dining Out. Sociology 33(1):105-127.

15. http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/product/lifecycle/ accesat în data de 23.03.2011.

16. http://www.ifacca.org/announcements/2009/06/04/report-global-financial-crisis/ 17. http://www.hillstrategies.com/docs/Factors_in_Cultural_Activities.pdf

18. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb72/eb72_vol1_en.pdf

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