The Making of Cultural Policy: A European Perspective

12

average. A similar picture emerges for visits to cultural institutions and artistic activities. It will be
interesting to study the influence of variables such as education level, age and gender on participation
once Eurostat makes these data available. In the mean time SCP (2001) offers a partial comparison of
participation in various cultural activities based on national surveys in nine European countries - see
Table 6 and Bfna (2003). In all countries the less educated show less interest in traditional forms of
culture and popular culture (e.g., pop concerts). Culture interest does not depend so much on whether it is
high or low culture, but on whether the participant is better educated or not. This suggests that cultural
education at young ages may overcome some of the inequality gap in cultural interest and cultural
participation. The decline of interest for traditional culture particularly affects young people in the
Netherlands, even though the rise in educational levels is similar to elsewhere in Europe. We need
Eurostat comparative data on cultural participation before such judgements can be made more firmly.

Table 6: Cultural participation in eight European countries

Classical concert Pop concert            Museum         Theatre

Key: Percentages of those 15-75 years of age that visited a classical concert, pop concert, museum or
theatre during the past twelve months with differentiation for young people in the age group 15-24 and
the less educated in the bottom tertile (LE) in the 1990’s.

Source: Bina (2003).

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