2023-06-19 18:36:00
The vast majority of Germans find it important to preserve the cultural offerings in theaters for future generations. More than a third, on the other hand, has never been to a classical piece.
culture acceptance study.
This should give theater makers food for thought: there is a wide gap among Germans between the almost unanimous desire to preserve the cultural offerings for future generations and the actual interest in using them. This was the result of a nationwide representative survey of the population on the importance of cultural offerings in Germany, in which the Forsa Society for Social Research and Statistical Analysis, commissioned by the Liz Mohn Center of the Bertelsmann Foundation, questioned a total of 2505 German citizens aged 18 and over, using a systematic random process were selected. The study shows the clear differences: 91 percent of Germans find theater and orchestras important in some way, and at 82 percent the majority of them think that they are part of the country’s cultural identity. 76 percent were in favor of theaters continuing to be financed with taxpayers’ money.
In contrast, two-thirds of the population as a whole, and especially in the generation of young adults, are not interested at all or are less interested in theatrical performances, classical music concerts, opera, ballet or dance performances. Accordingly, four out of five respondents have not taken advantage of any such offers in the last twelve months. 37 percent even stated that they had never been to an opera or ballet in their lives. Many young people in the 18-29 age group (43 percent) also said they felt the offering was not directed at them and felt out of place when attending a classical music concert, opera, ballet or dance performance .
What needs to change
Among the wishes for the theaters, social pricing (89 percent), special plays for children and young people (85 percent) and humorous plays (83 percent) were mentioned particularly frequently as “very important” or “important”. “Measured by the ascribed relevance, the audience should actually flock to the cultural institutions,” said Dorothea Gregor, cultural expert at the Liz Mohn Center. In many places the opposite is currently the case. At this point it is important that the decision-makers of the houses use the support of the population with a clear awareness of the cultural relevance in order to better reach and inspire their audience.
The Liz Mohn Center has derived concrete recommendations for action for cultural policy and theaters from the survey results. Theaters should therefore know and address their target groups better, open up more and see them as a meeting point where amateurs and amateur orchestras can also perform, for example. “They have to make it into everyday life and their social media timelines with their offerings,” Gregor said. Marketing must be social and modern, and prices should also be adjusted. 28 percent of those surveyed stated that they would visit theaters more often if the tickets were cheaper. “Politicians have a clear social mandate to maintain and finance the existing structures and to support them in their urgently needed transformation in order to preserve this cultural landscape, which is unique in the world, for future generations,” says Gregor.
The survey entitled “Relevance Monitor Culture” was conducted for the first time in 2023. It is to be repeated in 2025 and 2027.
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