Respondents identified some untapped potential in the field of music, as well as museums and galleries. Photo credit: Brno City Municipality.
Brno, Mar 10 (BD) – A new survey commissioned by the City of Brno has found that four out of five Brno residents are satisfied with the cultural scene in the city, and think that Brno stands out from other cities in at least one area. The vast majority do not even go anywhere else for their cultural life.
On the other hand, respondents identified some untapped potential in the field of music as well as museums and galleries, and many said they were looking forward to the new philharmonic hall finally being completed.
The survey was conducted since the beginning of this year, with 1,111 survey participants chosen to provide a representative sample of Brno residents by age, education, socio-economic status and district of residence. They were asked questions about the city’s culture, focusing on range and availability, as well as their personal preferences.
“The survey revealed a range of interesting data, not only about what people like and what they miss, but also where they get information about cultural events, whether these sources are sufficient, and what obstacles they encounter when visiting cultural events,” said the Mayor of Brno, Markéta Vaňková. “We will continue to work with the data at the city level, but we have also made it available to our contributory organisations, and we are also publishing it on the kultura.brno.cz website so that anyone who has anything to do with the cultural sector in Brno can draw on it, and better adapt their planning to the needs of their visitors.”
In general, residents rate cultural life as important; approximately two-thirds of respondents answered as such, rising further among young people, students, and those with a university or high school diploma. The survey found that the city’s theatres, cinemas and libraries were considered to be of highest quality, while the lowest rated were galleries, exhibitions and museums.
When asked what cultural events or infrastructure they lack in Brno, respondents most often mentioned the field of music, including concerts, music events, festivals, and clubs, but also a new concert hall for Filharmonie Brno.
The most-visited cultural institutions were libraries, which around a fifth of people visit once a month or more, while the least were galleries or museums; two-thirds of people do not visit such institutions even once a year. As far as specific events are concerned, the most popular are Brno Christmas and the summer program at Špilberk Castle.
Respondents were also asked about how well information about cultural events reaches them. People over 66 were the least satisfied with the availability of information; more than 60% said it was quite or very difficult to get this information. The situation is also more complicated for foreign residents who do not speak Czech; roughly half said it was complicated to obtain information.
Better promotion was mentioned as one factor that could motivate people to visit cultural events more often. More than half of respondents were entirely unaware of the Serial Killer festival and the International Biennale of Graphic Design. The most influential external factor in this regard was reported to be the lower price of the entrance fees and various discounts.
Under 10% of the respondents were foreigners, though their number in Brno is continuously growing. Those who do not yet have a good knowledge of Czech most often visit cinemas (78%), concerts (72%), theatres (66%), and least often galleries, exhibitions and openings (55%), museums (45%) and libraries (39%).
According to Vaňková, the results will serve as a basis for the action plan for the years 2023-25. The City has approved a cultural strategy for 2050, which describes Brno as “an internationally recognized cultural metropolis that is open to experiments and alternatives and where culture actively penetrates the public space and the everyday life of the inhabitants.”
A part of this strategy will involve individual action plans with specific steps gradually leading to the fulfilment of this goal. “It is from this point of view that it is very important to draw on the real needs of the city’s inhabitants,” said Vaňková. “Thanks to research, we now know, for example, that it is necessary at the city level to focus on clarifying and informing the public about cultural events and institutions, and pay attention to greater accessibility of culture in general.”
The full report is available here. This survey was the first independent survey of its size focused exclusively on culture. Two years ago, a similar study was conducted in the form of group discussions, and thus included a much smaller group of residents.
For those who are personally unsatisfied with the current range of cultural events on offer in the city, Brno Expat Centre is running a workshop at 5.30pm on 23 March to provide information on how to organise events themselves. More information is available here.
