Malta/ 8.2 Cultural consumption and participation  

8.2.1 Trends and figures

Trends from the Cultural Participation Survey 2011 (see also   http://nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=3159&backUrl=publication_catalogue.aspx).

Table 13:  Attendance at cultural events, 2011

*              figures in [ ] are under-represented.

Table 14:  Attendance and active participation at local events, 2011

*              figures in [ ] are under-represented

Trends from other Surveys:

The following data is extracted from various reports published by the National Statistics office:

Cinema attendance

• 58.8% never attended a cinema screening in 2007 (2007 Lifestyle survey);
• 26.5% attended 1 – 3 times; and
  • 67% of 16 – 29 year-olds attended once. EU average 77% (Eurostat 2006).

Live performance / Theatre

• 66.7% of the Maltese population never attended a live performance in 2007 (2007 Lifestyle survey);
• 22.7% attended 1-3 times. Audiences from the Western Region composed the largest group; and
  • 29% of 16-29 year olds attended at least once. EU average 54%. (Eurostat 2006)

Theatres 2008

In 2008, 11 theatres surveyed staged 314 productions, an increase of more than 70 productions over the previous year. The average number of productions per theatre was 29. The majority of these productions were concerts, comprising 58% of the total. Concerts were more frequent despite having the lowest number of repeat performances per production, on average.

Theatre audiences in 2008 totaled 209 003, an increase of 22% when compared to 2007. The biggest audiences were those attending concerts (24%), followed by musicals (17%) and comedy (13%). It emerges that theatre audiences prefer musicals, with an average of 822 per performance; dance and opera followed, with average audiences of 645 and 600 per performance respectively.

Theatre bookings in 2008 stood at 59%, an increase of 8% over the preceding year. Unlike previous years, average theatre bookings were highest for musicals, and stood at 78%. Significant averages were also registered for opera (76%) and comedy (64%) during the previous two years. These theatres earned a total of EUR 1.4 million and spent EUR 1.2 million in 2008

Theatres 2009

In 2009 the Theatres survey was extended to cover 71 theatres in Malta and Gozo, which staged 554 productions for a total a total audience of 345 479 persons. Ownership of the theatres was almost equally shared between the Church, public and private organisations. An increase of 17% was recorded in the number of productions when compared to the previous year. 52% of the total productions were organised by the theatres themselves, while the remaining were organised by external organisations.

The 554 works staged during 2009 were performed 1 026 times, leading to an increase of 22% in the number of performances over the previous year. Concerts accounted for a quarter of total performances during 2009, followed by dramas (18%) and comedies other than the Maltese comedy (11%).

Operas turned out to have the highest attendance rates, with an average of 630 persons per performance. Other high values were recorded for Maltese comedies, dance performances and other comedies. The average theatre bookings for all types of productions stood at 50%.

Cultural sites

• 67.6% never visited a cultural site in 2007 (2007 Lifestyle survey);
• 22.4% visited 1-3 times. Attendances were mainly from the Western region; and
• 14% of 16 – 29 year olds attended once. EU average 49% (Eurostat 2006).

Museums and Historical sites 2007

Museums and historical sites received more than two million visitors in 2007, a rise of 6% from the previous year. The number of museums and historical sites in Malta and Gozo increased to 70 in 2007. Nearly half of these museums were state-owned. "Archaeology and history" museums and "monuments and sites" were the most common categories of museums during 2007. There were a total of 2 055 357 admissions to museums in Malta and Gozo in 2007.

Museums and Historical sites 2007

In 2009, 66 active museums and historical sites received just under 2 million visitors, marking a drop of 12% from the preceding year (2.2 million admissions in 2008). The highest share of admissions was registered in Art Museums during these two years, while Monuments and Sites, and Archaeology and History museums were also very popular. 47% of sites were owned by the state and the rest by the Church or a private organisation. 35% of the museums and historical sites were managed by the state, while more than half were either managed by the Church or another voluntary or non-profit organisation.

Band clubs activity

The town or village annual festa, staged in honour of a patron Saint, remains a very prominent feature in the cultural calendar of the Maltese people. In 2008, Band club members stood at 6.4% of the total population aged 5-84 years. 2 543 were resident band members, 1 380 were trainee band players, 1 409 acted as committee members and 24 855 were registered members.

The survey was carried out again in 2010 among 90 active band clubs in Malta and Gozo. Total band club participation amounted to 30 134, a rise of 1.6% compared to the previous year. Male affiliates amounted to 78% of the total, despite a rise of 4% in female participation when compared to the previous year. Resident and trainee band players in 2010 amounted to 4 123 - an increase of 3% when compared to 2009. Of these, 1 546 were trainee band players - 287 paying and 1 259 non-paying trainees. The share of total band club participation of the total population aged 5-84 was estimated at nearly 8%.

A total of 1 257 performances were recorded in 2010, of which 62% were carried out in the band clubs' own locality. There was an increase of 49 performances when compared to 2009 levels.

Musical preference

The lifestyle survey (2007) shows that the majority of Maltese residents listen to more than one type of music. However, among those who listen to just one type, country music is the genre mostly listened to, followed by classical and pop music. In fact, while 38.9% stated that they listen to more than one type of music, 19.2% prefer country music, 10.9% prefer classical music and 10.8% listen to pop music. On the other hand, 7.1% do not like listening to music. 

There is a major difference between age groups as to what genre of music they listen to mostly. For example, techno, trance and house music are the most popular types of music among those aged 18 to 24, while rock music is most popular among persons aged between 25 and 34 and between 55 and 64.

Hobbies (2007 lifestyle survey)

In the lifestyle survey (2007) it was found that reading is the most popular hobby among the adult population, with 48.1% of females and 27.3% of males participating. Total book loans by public libraries in Malta and Gozo (2008) stood at 758 779 (-6.7% from 2007). Illiteracy in 2005 stood at 7.20% of the population.

Singing, dancing and acting is a hobby of 7.8% of the population and 5.4% of the population plays a musical instrument as a hobby.

Radio listenership and TV viewership (2009)

Radio listenership is at 54.2% of the population whereas television is viewed by 75.1% of the population.

Creative content participation online

Figures from a survey carried out in 2009 among a representative sample of persons aged 16-74 revealed that 67% and 64% of households had access to a computer and internet respectively. More than half of the individuals aged 16-74 in Malta and Gozo computers and the internet.

Table 15:  Individuals using the internet who selected the following as their online activity, in %, 2009

Table 16:  Individuals using the internet who purchased creative content from the internet, in %, 2009

Dance Schools

41 dance schools registered 4 305 students attending dance lessons during academic year 2009-2010, keeping the same levels of the previous year. 1 836 of these sat for examinations, which was an increase of 19% over the previous academic year. The most popular types of dance taught were classical ballet (23 schools), jazz (13 schools) and modern dance (13 schools). 86% of students attending dance classes were females, of whom 69% were under 18 years of age, whilst 85% of males were in the 18 to 64 age bracket.

Culture related Consumption

Specific surveys regarding private culture expenditure do not exist. However, data drawn from the 2008 Household Budgetary survey suggests that Maltese household expenditure on goods and services produced by the Culture and Creative Industries in Malta represents on average around 3.4% of total expenditure. The table below gives an indication of the average distribution of such expenditure amongst the different cultural and creative sectors. However this is only an average percentage indication, as information on the distribution of expenditure by household consumption is not available. Median expenditure would be higher or lower than this figure, particularly for the individual expenditure components making up these goods and services. For instance, though based on the given percentages, a household spending EUR 20 000 yearly would roughly be spending EUR 40 yearly on music related goods and services, many such households may not really be spending anything related to Music. Therefore it is likely that those households who do spend on goods and services in this category actually spend much more than EUR 40 per annum. Therefore, the information below should be considered carefully and in aggregate terms.

Table 17:  Household expenditure, 2008

 Table 18:  Household expenditure by cultural domains, 2008

Source: 2008 Household Budgetary, National Statistics Office.

The above figures indicate that the most popular component of Maltese household expenditure on the goods and services produced by the CCIs are books, newspapers and magazines, accounting for more than 28%. Adding to this the share spent on audiovisual services, the share of expenditure on media services amounts to around 33%. This does not include expenditure on goods such as TV sets, Hi-Fi equipment and similar equipment. On the other hand, there is a low average expenditure share on museums and galleries, at 0.3%. More than 21% is spent on the arts, namely 10% on visual arts, 6% on music and 5% on performing arts. Around 6% is spent on creative business services, including expenditure on software services, interior design and creative services.

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