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| All photos taken from the Facebook page of Accion Poetica. |
The Eurobarometer carried
out a new survey on Cultural Access and Participation (full study and executive summary). The previous one had been in 2007, before the
crisis hit Europe, so this recent study may give us an insight into the
possible effects of the crisis on peoples habits and practices.
Speaking in very-very
general terms, and in what concerns Portugal, the study shows that Portuguese
participation is under the European average in all activities considered in the
survey, both in terms of attendance and in terms of involvement in artistic
activities. The biggest differences refer to reading a book (EU: 68%; PT: 40%),
visiting a historical monument or site (EU: 52%; PT: 27%) and going to the cinema
(EU: 52%; PT: 29%).
The main barrier to access
referred by Europeans is lack of interest or lack of time. For the Portuguese,
lack of interest was the main reason for not participating, marking a higher
percentage than the european average in all activities considered in the
survey. The activities that least interest the Portuguese in comparison to the
rest of the Europeans are reading a book (PT: 49%; EU: 25%), visiting a museum
or gallery (PT: 51%; EU: 35%) and visiting a historical monument or site (PT:
44%; EU: 28%).
The reason I want to write
today about the study of the eurobarometer is not to analyze graphics and
results. It is to question how we are going to interpret them and what we are
going to do about them, being professionals in the cultural sector.
The results were primarily
met on Facebook and the blogosphere with pessimism or a certain fatalism; with
statements such as “We are a country of uncultured” or “The Portuguese don’t
want to know about it, they are not interested, they think it´s not worth it” -
with some kind of implicit accusation, I thought, of the kind “Is it worth
doing anything for those ignorant and ungrateful people?”.
I confess that I was full
of questions, some of them permanent ones, frequently discussed in this blog,
regardless of the existence of formal studies. Trying to summarize them here, I
would like to consider two main issues:
Question 1: How large was the definition of “cultural
participation” in the study? Did it only consider attendance and involvement in
what we may call “formal cultural institutions”?
Having access to the full
report and questionnaire, I was happy to see that the definition was not a
narrow one (it did consider participation through the internet, activities like
dancing or doing photography or handicrafts), I am just not sure if, the way
the question was asked, it also helped those surveyed consider their activities
in such a broad sense (how many people, for instance, would have thought that
dancing at a wedding or club is a form of cultural participation?). The “Public
Participation in the Arts” surveys of the American National Endowement for the
Arts, carried out every four years, do give is this kind of details regarding
the “what exactly; where exactly; how exactly” – all reports are available online, but check, for instance, the last full report, referring
to 2008 (some highlights here), or the highlights of the 2012 survey, the full report expected to become available 2014.
Regarding especifically participation on
the internet, one should highlight that the Portuguese mark above the European
average in what concerns playing computer games (+11%), putting their own
cultural content online (+3%), listening to radio or music / dowloading music /
reading or looking at cultural blogs (all +1%).
Question 2: Are people little interested in culture in general or
in the kind of culture “formal cultural institutions” offer them? Do we
programme bearing in mind people’s interests, concerns, existing knowledge,
questions, needs, practical and psychological barriers that might be keeping
them away? Are we ever going to question the way we are doing things and the
sincerity of our statement “We are here for the people”?
Some personal facts: some times I look
at the agenda of exhibitions in museums and, judging from the titles, nothing
sounds exciting or interesting enough for me to go all the way and visit them;
a number of concerts and interpreters, of all musical genres, are promoted as
“the best in the world”, but this is simply not enough for me to make the
decision to buy the ticket, as the world is so full of “best” artists; in what
concerns lesser known artists, the big majority of the institutions presenting
them behave as if we should already know about them, adding absolutely nothing
to the title and/or name.
So this may be my problem as culture
consumer. But it might also be a problem for cultural institutions that wish to
communicate with me (at least, they say they do): a problem of choosing interesting and inspiring titles; a problem
of choosing subjects (meaning stories) that might appeal to a more diverse,
less specialized, audience; a problem in trying to attract more using basic
information that is only understood by few; and also a need (I would even say
obligation) to understand what people choose to do in their free time and why.
Because, when I, as a person /consumer, don´t go to your exhibition / concert /
theatre play / festival, it’s not “simply” because I am uncultured,
uninterested, ignorant or ungrateful (and frankly, I don’t appreciate hearing
you say this about me...). It might be because someone else was more sincere in
wishing to communicate with me and engage me and did a better job in getting my
attention, interest and precious time.
-------------------------------
In 1996 Mexicans would, in average, read
one book a year. Writer Armando Alanis Pulido, concerned with the decline of
literature and poetry and with the widely held idea that poetry is opaque,
difficult to read and understand, turned to city walls in an effort to make it
part of people´s everyday life. He initiated a movement called Accion
Poetica (Poetic Action). Since then, it has spread in about 20 Latin
American countries and even crossed the Atlantic. The other day the newspaper
Le Monde had this title: The walls in Latin America speak of love. Only one,
unique, signature: Accion Poetica.
Still on this blog
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