Romanians’ Cultural Preferences

2016 Cultural Consumption Barometer

Corina Sabău, 21.06.2017, 12:53

According to popular perception, the most widespread cultural infrastructure elements in Romania are churches (99%), cultural centers (76%), local festivals (76%), parks (75%), culture houses (72%), and libraries (71%). This is the conclusion of the 2016 Cultural Consumption Barometer, a sociology study that gauges Romanian cultural preferences, a study run by the National Cultural Research and Training Institute. According to the same study, 60% of respondents believe there should be more press distribution kiosks, 68% want more libraries, 62% more bookstores, and 59% more parks.

Anda Becuţ talked to us on behalf of the research department of the National Cultural Research and Training Institute: “Nationally, as you can see, the top places are held by cultural centers, festivals, holidays and parks, but with regional differences. The highest percentage of culture consumers are in Bucharest and Ilfov County, because the capital has a clearly richer culture infrastructure. There are differences between the rural and the urban areas. In the rural space, people are not used to a certain type of cultural offer, and in this case the degree of awareness is lower. I would like to mention that it is for the first time that we run this poll of cultural participation, we have used the Eurostat method, and we have brought together all activities and the degree of participation in the public sphere. I would also like to point out the very high percentages of awareness of the impact of culture on social cohesion, but also on the economic development of a community.”

The study indicates that 32% of Romanians have not purchased a book in the last 12 months, and that 29% have not read a book during this period. In terms of music, traditional and ethno music are first on the list of preferences, with 53%, followed by domestic pop music with 30%, foreign pop music with 20%, manele 15%, blues 11%, hip-hop and symphonic 9%, rock 7%, opera, jazz and electronic music with 6%, and experimental 3%.

Here is Dan Jurcan, a sociologist: “70% of Romanians dont go to the theater, or even to the movies. The difference with Europe may be explained by piracy, as indicated by data in previous years. A huge difference persists between the urban and the rural environments. Generally, the consumer of culture has a certain profile: higher education urban dweller. In 70% of rural localities we have houses of culture, but it is questionable what role they play. Most of the activities there consist of rituals, weddings, funerals, or election activities. Another figure that drew our attention was that on the relationship between social success and reading. 77% of the respondents said that they prefer work to reading, while 55% believe that you dont need reading to succeed in life. This proves that promotion, especially through the media, of models of easy success, football team owners or business people, is detrimental, and people like them have become role models for many young people. Another figure that drew my attention: over 78% of households have cable access, which means that they have Internet access. And only 12% of respondents told us that they have never used Facebook. This proves that social networks have deep penetration among seniors, if we were to look at age groups. Obviously, access to information has been on the rise, but the question that begs asking is related to how much cultural content we consume when we use the Internet.”

This sociology study reveals that 77% of respondents have a low level of cultural involvement, 19% have an average level, 3% have a high level, and 1% are very involved culturally. Here is Carmen Croitoru, general manager of the National Cultural Research and Training Institute: “Another very important analysis is the one on the general distribution regarding the opinion of respondents on the social impact that culture has. This is the first time we apply this measurement, and it was a pleasant surprise, we reached the conclusion that people find culture important. Based on our observations, much of what we can call cultural consumption takes place on the Internet, people access cultural content as well, if they go on the Internet. In Romania, as opposed to the other European states, more people go on-line.”

The most popular forms of cultural consumption in the public sphere (at least once a year) were: going to museums and exhibitions (20%), participating in theater shows (13%), cinema (9%), opera and operetta shows (7%), philharmonic (6%), entertainment and music (17%), and reading in public libraries (6%). According to the barometer, the main impediment that older people invoke for not taking part in cultural events is the lack of money (42%), state of health/ illness (21%), age (12%), or not enough time (7%).