6. Cultural participation and consumption
Slovenia
Last update: December, 2014
There are no specific programmes linking participation in cultural life to the broader issues of civic participation and citizenship. See also chapter 2.7.
Last update: December, 2014
Table 22: Cultural participation trends in figures, Slovenia, 2012
Theatre (drama and puppets) 2006; only in parent theatre | Theatre* (drama and puppets) 2011; only in parent theatre | Theatre* (drama and puppets) 2012; only in parent theatre | Theatre* (drama and puppets) 2013; only in parent theatre | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Number of performances | 1 532 | 2 337 | 3 683 | 2 304 |
Number of visitors | 374 340 | 587 441 | 674 786 | 451 310 |
Number of visitors per 1 000 inhabitants | 186 | 286 | 328 | 219 |
Classical concerts 2006 (only in parent house) | Classical concerts 2011 (only in parent house) | Classical concerts 2012 (only in parent house) | Classical concerts 2013 (only in parent house) | |
Number of performances | 100 | 139 | 124 | 217 |
Number of works performed | 1 787 | 1 657 | 1 626 | 2 534 |
Number of performed works by Slovenian authors | 631 | 634 | 589 | 999 |
Number of visitors | 70 190 | 83 012 | 59 064 | 148 698 |
Number of visitors per 1 000 inhabitants | 35 | 40 | 29 | 72 |
Museums and galleries 2006 | Museums and galleries 2011 | Museums and galleries 2012 | Museums and galleries 2013 | |
Number of exhibitions | 1 882 | 2 381 | 2 503 | 3 028 |
Number of visitors | 2 347 192 | 3 020 194 | 3 548 276 | 3 558 551 |
Number of visitors per 1 000 inhabitants | 1 169 | 1 472 | 1 726 | 1 728 |
Number of children and youth visitors | 642 840 | 631 940 | 646 494 | 638 952 |
Number of paid visits | 766 352 | 1 315 430 | 912 451 | 1 148 534 |
Number of foreign visitors | / | 814 210 | 758 700 | 731 519 |
Cinemas (feature films) 2006 | Cinemas (feature films) 2011 | Cinemas (feature films) 2012 | Cinemas (feature films) 2013 | |
Number of all visitors | 2 685 234 | 2 867 224 | 2 637 830 | 2 277 595 |
Number of all visitors per 1 000 inhabitants | 1 336 | 1 396 | 1 283 | 1 106 |
Number of visitors to home produced feature films | 23 617 | 131 415 | 132 304 | 253 580 |
Number of visitors to foreign produced feature films | 2 661 617 | 2 735 809 | 2 505 526 | 2 024 015 |
Books and brochures published 2007 | Books and brochures published 2008* | |||
Number of books and brochures published | 5 129 | 6 358 | ||
Number of literature books (UDK 8), published | 1 038 | 1 274 | ||
Number of books and brochures published per 1 000 inhabitants | 2.6 | 3.2 | ||
Number of firstly published books and brochures | 4 378 | 5 464 |
Source: Statistical Office of Republic of Slovenia.
* Data for publishing after 2008 are not available at Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
Creating a public demand for culture is a task that producers of culture have long recognised as a condition for their existence and development. In the year 2006 and 2007, in many cultural fields, there was a decrease in attendance. In the theatre field, the number of performances and visitors to Slovene professional theatres increased dramatically in recent years (the data are from public institutions reports – in the above Table we include only the data on performances and visitors to parent institutions): there was an average of 215 visitors to the theatre, annually, per 1 000 inhabitants in the period 1993-1997; theatre visits, in 2001, amounted to 352 visitors per 1 000 inhabitants; and in 2005, this figure increased to 442 visitors per 1 000 inhabitants. But in 2006 and 2007 there was a decrease: professional theatre visits, in 2007 amounted to 432 visitors per 1 000 inhabitants (in 2006 it amounted to 379 visitors per 1 000 inhabitants). Although in 2011 and 2012 there was again a significant rise (in 2012 perhaps to be attributed to the European Capital of Culture Maribor 2012), in 2013 there was again a significant drop to the pre-2011 levels.
The data on classical concerts show a slightly different story. While the number of performances has risen by more than 100% since 2006, the number of visitors does not follow the same pattern (it has even fallen from 2010 to 2011) and the number of performed works has fallen from 2006 (which could be a consequence of better organisational possibilities allowing for more productions of the same work). Obviously, the organisational advance allowing for more performances per work has not been accompanied by an adequate increase in the number of visitors which could provide reasons for worry and possible further organisational changes. On the other hand, in 2012 there was again a significant rise in all performance measures, perhaps to be again attributed to the effect of European Capital of Culture.
A different and more positive picture is shown by visits to museums and galleries. The visits have significantly increased since 2006, being accompanied by a rise in the number of exhibitions, foreign visitors and paid visits. Especially, the rise in paid visits leads to consideration that marketing of museums and galleries is improving despite considerations about insufficient attractiveness of Slovenian museums being present in media and press.
The number of cinemas in Slovenia fell drastically in the 1990s (between 1986 and 2000, their number almost halved). Audience numbers fell accordingly (showing a fall of 59% during this time). The number of cinemagoers began to increase again with the founding of cinema complexes (the first opened in Ljubljana in 2001). From 1995 to 2000, the number of showings in Slovene cinemas increased four-fold, and the audience numbers increased six-fold. From 2001, there was a growth in attendance at Slovene cinemas (2001 - 1 791 000 visitors; 2002 – 2 689 000 visitors; 2003 – 2 884 000 visitors; and in 2004 -3 003 000 visitors). During the years 2005-2007, audience numbers started to slowly decrease again (in 2005 – 2 443 776 visitors; in 2006 – 2 675 938 visitors; and in 2007 – 2 396 649 visitors). The number of visitors to Slovenian cinemas has been stagnating since, yet there is significant improvement in the number of visitors to home-produced films. In the past years, there has been propaganda in favour of Slovenian produced films being accompanied by great success in several films by Slovenian directors: "Petelinji zajtrk" and "Gremo mi po svoje" being the best known examples, each one of those films breaking the records on visits to Slovenian films. On the other hand, the number of visitors to foreign films has been stagnating, probably a consequence of the Slovenian cinema market being already rather mature and saturated with foreign (Hollywood as well as European and artistic) production.
Slovene publishing activity is rich, both in terms of diversity and in terms of quality and complexity. Unfortunately, there was a decrease in the publishing of books in 2007 compared to 2006: in 2007 5 129 books and brochures were published while in 2006 this number amounted to 5 740. Fortunately the condition improved again in 2008 as shown in the figures and has been rising since.
Last update: December, 2014
Table 23: Data on radio and television, in Slovenia, 2006-2013
Radio, 2006 | Radio, 2011 | Radio, 2012 | Radio, 2013 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total number of radio programmes | 63 | 86 | 88 | 92 |
Number of public radio programmes | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
Number of private profit radio programmes | 22 | 54 | 52 | 65 |
Television, 2006 | Television, 2011 | Television, 2012 | Television, 2013 | |
Total number of TV programmes | 51 | 61 | 59 | 61 |
Number of public TV programmes | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Number of private profit TV programmes | 27 | 38 | 41 | 38 |
Source: Statistical Office RS.
Audio-visual media is an important factor in strengthening the Slovene national identity and in preserving the Slovene language. In 2008 99% of households had televisions, 64.7% received cable programmes and 9.9% satellite programmes (Source: http://www.cek.ef.uni-lj.si/u_diplome/polensek4206.pdf). The number of printed dailies is also increasing. The largest share of audiences – more than 90% - is attracted by audio-visual media (radio and television), newspapers 6% and journals 2%. Research shows that reading habits among those younger than 18 years are falling sharply and, at the same time, they are above average users of television.
Last update: December, 2014
Amateur arts and folk culture
Amateur arts have a specific tradition in Slovenia, especially as an important source of national cultural identity with a special role in social processes, because of its specific social function.
In the last 10 years, the position of amateur arts in Slovenia has not changed much. They are still defined as organised forms of free-time mass cultural activities, which contain cultural and social dimensions.
In the domain of culture, amateur arts are extremely diverse in essence: they are close to traditional folk culture in some milieus, aspiring to top forms of professional culture, or remaining as an expressive part of contemporary subculture.
Amateur arts also provide access to culture which is not determined by the social status of an individual or by the specific circumstances of an individual, such as disability, or by regional factors.
An important function of amateur arts is promotion of cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, creative pluralism and cultural goods. A large number of creative works, regardless of their genre, audience, aesthetic taste, ideology or ethnic content is characteristic of such activities and are also aimed at involving vulnerable people in social life.
The presence, activities, knowledge and experience of amateur / voluntary arts organisations are important factors in the complex provision of cultural goods and public awareness of the importance of top quality artistic events and quality of cultural life in general.
Amateur arts as social activities therefore contribute to social cohesion in the sense of:
- a possibility for social involvement of marginalised social groups;
- a way of improving relationships inside specific social groups;
- a psychotherapeutic category as an instrument for psychogenic effects, psychophysical prevention and maintenance of psychological stability;
- discovering new personal potentials and ways of acting; and
- entrance into new social relationships and improvement of the existing ones.
Because of both qualities, cultural and social, amateur arts in Slovenia were always strongly, directly or indirectly supported by the government on the state or local level. Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 brought about a new system of local government that rocked the foundations of the funding for amateur culture which was tied to the network of 68 local communities (now 210 local communities). A lack of consensus among them endangered the organisational and financial structure of amateur culture.
In 1996, the government established the Fund for Amateur Cultural Activities (since 2000, the Public Fund for Cultural Activities – JSKD) to prevent the collapse of an expert and financial framework supporting the work of cultural societies. With this fund, the government started to take direct responsibility for civil society institutions. The JSKD is obliged to support amateur cultural societies and their unions. It also acts as a cultural intermediary, performs organisational and administrative services in the field of culture for local communities and is a vehicle of cultural policy in many places. The JSKD has expert and administrative personnel at its headquarters in Ljubljana and 59 local offices in all major urban centres in Slovenia. The Fund also organises reviews and promotional events on the local, regional, and national level for all arts fields (music, theatre and puppet theatre, folklore, film, dance, fine arts, literature, and intermedia projects), thus allowing interactive comparison and evaluation of achievements and can be said to stimulate innovation and creativity.
The JSKD makes annual calls for financing of projects and programmes and provides small investments and equipment for cultural groups and youth culture centres and societies. In addition, almost every local community is supporting the "everyday life" of cultural groups and societies on their territory with rooms and financing.
Data from 2013 shows that there are approximately 4 900 groups of amateur arts; most of them are choirs (about 1 900), theatre and puppet groups (630), folklore dance groups (715), contemporary dance groups (229), fine arts groups (338), literature groups (184), and film related groups (71) etc. There are about 100 000 individuals involved in amateur arts activities. They organised 16 000 cultural events for almost 2 million spectators in 2013. The importance of amateur culture in the Slovenian cultural landscape is reflected in the fact that this is one of those fields that has been included since 1998 in the Provision of Funds for Certain Vital Cultural Programmes of the Republic of Slovenia Act (see also chapter 4.2.1). In the period from 2004 to 2007, around 5% of these funds per year went to amateur culture.
The most prominent activities are choral singing (http://www.rapportbalalandras.free.fr), folklore dancing and wind orchestras, but also all other activities are of high quality.
In the last few years, intercultural dialogue was one of the main topics of the JSKD programmes, especially providing financial and organisational help to ethnic minorities, their cultural groups and associations.
On the international level, JSKD is a member of the AMATEO - the European Network for Active Participation in Cultural Activities (http://www.amateo.info). The Network, with the goal of connecting socio cultural or amateur art organisations working on the national level in all European countries (47), was launched at a conference in Ljubljana (26 organisations from 12 countries were represented), in June 2008. The Network is registered in Ghent, Belgium, with the secretariat in Ljubljana.
In 2013 and 2014, the JSKD expanded its activity with two larger scale projects: the cultural centre Kult 3 000 (in Ljubljana)intended as an information and cultural gathering centre and the Week of Amateur Arts, intended as a short festival of Slovenian amateur arts, firstly organised in 2014. Apart from these activities, JSKD is very active in the organisation of events and festivals (it organises over 2 400 events yearly); education; publishing; and cofinancing of the activities of Slovenian arts societies.
Apart from JSKD, another representative organisation of amateur arts in Slovenia is ZKDS – the Association of Cultural Societies of Slovenia which closely participates with JSKD.
Cultural houses and community cultural clubs
There are approximately 980 cultural centres in Slovenia located in smaller towns. They provide the main space for creation, socialising and concerts. They also provide shelter to amateur cultural associations especially in the fields of music and theatre. There are new cultural centres emerging which focus on contemporary creative forms and are particularly attractive for young people. These "youth cultural centres" encourage new innovative cultural practices and give young people access to modern technology. There are about 60 youth cultural centres in Slovenia which are located in bigger urban areas. Both the cultural centres and youth cultural centres are mainly owned by local communities, which finance their operations and maintenance.
The youth centres of Slovenia are organised in a Youth Network MaMa, an organisation of 43 members, being active particularly in the youth sphere and related sectors: culture, sports, social activities, environment, education etc.
The M3C Multimedia Centres Network of Slovenia gathers existing and emerging multimedia initiatives in all Slovene regions and encourages international cooperation. Its members enable free access to and encourage creative use of new technologies. They function as venues, events, and workshop (co)producers, and information points. In the year of 2010, the Ministry of Culture distributed 190 000 EUR among 17 Centres. However, the majority of funding during the previous financial perspective came from European funds.