Brussels, 04/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - According to a Eurobarometer survey on cultural access and participation - the first on the topic since 2007 - there has been a fall in cultural participation in Europe. Although there are significant disparities between member states and the socio-economic level of respondents, people with a high level of education and wealth being those most likely to participate in cultural activities. The highest rates of active participation were found in Denmark (74%), Sweden (68%), Finland (63%) and the Netherlands (58%). The lowest rates were in Bulgaria (14%), Malta (18%), Italy (20%) and Hungary (21%). Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, responsible for cultural matters, expressed concern at these results and called on governments to rethink their support and for the cultural sectors to adapt by using new funding models.
The survey illustrates that: 1) In terms of “passive” participation, the number describing their cultural engagement as high or very high is down to 18%, compared with 21% in 2007; 2) the reasons given for this lack of participation are the lack of time (44%), interest (50%) money (25%) and choice (10%); 3) the most common form of cultural participation is watching or listening to a cultural programme on television or radio (72%, a 6% decrease since 2007) and reading a book (68%, down 3%); 4) participation in all kinds of cultural activities is more frequent in northern countries, with Sweden in first place (43%), than in southern countries, with Greece having appeared to have closed its cultural market down (5%); 5) the percentage of people saying that they never or almost never participated in an activity increased by 4%. This rate increase significantly in Hungary (54%; +26%), Romania (55%; +14%) and Greece (63%, +8%). (IL/transl.fl)