Culture Days 2011
Overview
The following key findings have been sourced from a number of independent, national surveys conducted for Culture Days by The Strategic Counsel in the Fall of 2011 about the second annual Culture Days event weekend, which took place on September 30, October 1 & 2, 2011.
Three key participants surveyed were:
- The Public: those attending and participating in the over 5,500 Culture Days activities;
- Activity Organizers: those who registered and hosted one or more activities during Culture Days 2011 in over 800 Canadian cities and towns;
- Community Organizers: those who helped to rally their communities around Culture Days and took a leadership role in supporting activity organizers present activities in their communities and promoted the event to the public.
More detailed results and findings will be made available in early 2012.
The Public
- The second edition of Culture Days continues to demonstrate that the public has an appreciation for, and values, arts and culture and that Culture Days plays a valuable role in providing a three day window in which arts, culture and heritage activities can be celebrated across the country.
- The response to Culture Days in 2011 was once again enthusiastic, with a third of Canadians reporting that they are aware of Culture Days.
- Engagement in terms of attendance is up with an increase of 20% over 2010 with an estimated 1.2 million Canadians participating in Culture Days activities this year.
- Half of those attending a Culture Days activity reported that they had not been previously exposed to the artist or organization putting on the activity in which they participated. This suggests that one of the valuable contributions Culture Days makes is that it shines a light for the public on activities of which they were previously unaware. It highlights the talent within the community and thereby builds pride in the community.
- Satisfaction with the activities offered this year is high with 98% reporting being satisfied with the activities they attended.
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The impact of Culture Days can also be assessed through responses to a series of agree/disagree statements:
- Two thirds agree that as a result of Culture Days they discovered a local artist or arts organization they were not previously aware of;
- Seven-in ten agree that attending Culture Days has inspired them to attend more locally based arts activities;
- Three quarters agree that Culture Days has increased their understanding of how artists and arts organizations make a positive contribution to their community; and
- Half agree that as a result of Culture Days they want to be more creative in their life.
Activity Organizers
- Overall, the results suggest that most activity organizers are committed to the idea of Culture Days and see it as an important initiative designed to promote the arts in their community. Most participate for reasons related to creating greater exposure for their work or activity as well as being a visible presence in the community.
- The increased number of activity organizers registered this year, and their positive response to Culture Days and their own activity, suggests that they see Culture Days as an important opportunity to further increase audiences for the arts.
- For activity organizers, participating in Culture Days is important for a variety of reasons. The most important reasons focus on making the arts more accessible, and within this broad vision, reaching new audiences and creating stronger bonds with the community. These factors form a trinity that is at heart, about creating greater access to and visibility for the arts through exposure to the community and being seen as part of the community and part of building community.
- Collaboration with other artists/organizations is also important as is being part of something Canada-wide.
- 84% of activity organizers considered their activity to have been successful.
- A variety of factors have contributed to the feeling of success and this included the response of the people attending activities. This was the most highly rated factor tested, with 68% of activity organizers saying they were very satisfied with the public’s response.
- Almost all (87%) activity organizers expressed a likelihood that they would participate in Culture Days next year.
Community Organizers
- Community organizers played a vital role in many of the communities in which they were active in mobilizing support for Culture Days and getting activity organizers engaged and enthusiastic about the weekend.
- For community organizers, the importance of Culture Days and the reason for their enthusiastic support lies in the fact that Culture Days is an opportunity for them to build a presence among artists and arts organizations in the community and provide services of value.
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Community organizers provided an extensive range of services that were widely used by those they helped. Support included:
- Promotion/advertisement of Culture Days;
- Encouragement to participate;
- Facilitation of collaboration between individuals./groups for Culture Days activities;
- Finding/providing venues; and
- Accessing Culture Days tools for activity organizers.
- Most (73%) community organizers reported that their expectations for Culture Days were either exceeded (34%) or met (39%).
- For seven-in-ten community organizers, this was the first year in which they participated in Culture Days. The main reason for involvement this year was that they could better plan for it.
- Among those who participated in 2010, there was a sense among most (67%) that this year was more successful than the first year.. One implication here is that the lessons from last year were applied and made for more successful events.
- Some sense of the commitment of community organizers to Culture Days can be gauged by the fact that 90% say that they are very likely to participate in Culture Days in 2012.