Plovdiv – European Capital of Culture 2019

PLOVDIV – EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2019 SECOND BASELINE MONITORING REPORT 2015-2017 April 2018 Table of Contents SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Cultural Sector Transformation ................................................................................................... 2 2. Identity and Image Impacts ......................................................................................................... 8 3. Social Impacts ............................................................................................................................ 10 4. Economic Impacts ...................................................................................................................... 17 I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 21 II. Current situation – baseline data by indicators ................................................................................ 22 1. Cultural Sector Transformation ..................................................................................................... 22 1.1. Cultural Access and Participation ........................................................................................... 22 1.2. Cultural Vibrancy .................................................................................................................... 35 2. Identity and Image Impacts ........................................................................................................... 38 2.1. Recognition of Plovdiv as a significant European cultural center .......................................... 38 2.2. Sense of identity ..................................................................................................................... 43 Specific events – subject of interest (already existing events and ideas for new events), base: 4,6% of all respondents in the nationally survey. ...................................................................................... 50 3. Social Impacts ................................................................................................................................ 52 3.1. Social and cultural integration of marginalized groups .......................................................... 52 3.3. Quality of living ....................................................................................................................... 59 4. Economic Impacts .......................................................................................................................... 75 4.1. Growth in tourism .................................................................................................................. 75 4.2. New business and employment opportunities ...................................................................... 78 4.3. Economic vibrancy of the cultural sector ............................................................................... 80 III. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 82 SUMMARY The framework for evaluation and monitoring set in Plovdiv – ECoC 2019 Bid Book has formulated four “Assessment Areas”, which cover the four key areas of ECoC’s impact: 1) Cultural Sector Transformation 2) Identity and Image Impacts 3) Social Impacts 4) Economic Impacts This report presents the results of surveys and research carried out in the period 2015-2017 on the above mentioned areas, including baseline situation and value dynamics for those indicators that are subject of monitoring in the period 2015-2017. A review and calibration of indicators and target values has been performed as well. The following methodology and sources of information have been used: - a national representative survey among the adult population of the country (sample size 800, face-to-face interviews); - a representative survey among the adult population of Plovdiv (sample size 450, face-to-face interviews); - a poll among cultural events audience (456 respondents – visitors to 5 events of various type); - a quantitative survey among Roma households in “Stolipinovo” neighborhood (300 households, heads of households interviewed face-to-face). Household based interviews allow for indirectly acquiring information on all household members – a total of 1454 individuals; - a representative survey among the adult population of Plovdiv – quality of life and happiness index (sample size 450, face-to-face interviews). The survey provides quantitative information on ECoC impact on quality of life in the city as well as the broadest social impacts of ECoC initiative; - a desk research and summary of information from the reports of Municipal Foundation Plovdiv 2019 on the held events from the ECoC Programme and the international activities during the period; - A desk research on the visitor flows in Plovdiv - data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) about the number of visitors in the city and in the region, development of the economy sectors in the city and number of employed in the relevant sectors, etc. - Interviews with representatives of cultural institutions in Plovdiv (50 interviews). 1 1. Cultural Sector Transformation Cultural access and participation Increase in cultural participation Cultural participation is regarded on two levels: 1) general interest in any area related to culture and art (areas of interest have been formulated by the respondents as non-prompted answers to an open-ended question) and deliberate commitment to culture and art (self-assessment of the level of commitment and budget spent on culture activities and products) 2) specific actions/behavior – attendance of cultural events in Plovdiv by year. People with general interest in any area related to culture and art form the broadest group in terms of participation: 80% of the adult population of the country and the city, when answering to an open ended question (without a list of predefined answers), have named at least one area of culture or art they are generally interested in. The group of people, who are deliberately committed to culture and art, however, amounts to 49% of the adult population of Plovdiv and shrinks down to 14% for the most active form of commitment – attending a cultural event in another settlement. Logically, a similar share of Plovdiv residents (a little more than 50%) are allocating budget for attending at cultural events and/or purchasing creative products (an average of 24 BGN per month), while the remaining 48% state that they could not afford to allocate funds to such activities/purchases at the moment. The margin between general interest and deliberate commitment to culture and art sets the conditional limit of possible impact for mobilization and increase in cultural participation during the preparation and implementation of the initiative in 2019. The data on attendance of cultural events logically fits in the above context – the share of Plovdiv residents, who have attended at least one cultural event in the city, has increased from 43% in 2015 (baseline value) to 54,4% in 2017. Thus the set target for a 20% increase in cultural participation has been achieved so far (the target value being 51,6%). It is realistic to expect that this trend will persist and another of the set targets will be achieved – 50% of Plovdiv population (or 142 000 people) to attend Plovdiv ECoC 2019 events. The gradual increase in the attendance of sports and information/educational events as well is also indirectly supporting this expectation. 2 Percentage of Plovdiv population having attended at least one cultural, information/educational or sports event in the city in the respective year 80 70 60 54,4 52,7 51,6 51,6 51,6 50 43,1 40 30 22,8 19,9 20 16,4 10 2,8 0,4 1,4 0 2015 2016 2017* 2018 2019 2020 Cultural event Information/educational event Sports event Target value for cultural participation Source: Plovdiv population representative survey While, as illustrated above, there is a steady growth in the city residents’ attendance of cultural events, the situation differs in the case of the Plovdiv’s visitors from other locations in the country. The 2015 baseline value is very similar – 43% of Plovdiv visitors from the rest of the country have attended at least one cultural event, yet no growth has been registered in the next two years. Thus, reaching the target value of 51,6% to 2021 is a task yet to be accomplished. Percentage of Plovdiv visitors – country residents, having attended at least one cultural, information/educational or sports event in the city in the respective year 70 60 51,6 51,6 51,6 50 40 43,2 42,4 42,8 30 20 10,5 8,0 9,5 10 5,5 3,0 7,0 0 2015 2016 2017* 2018 2019 2020 Cultural event Information/educational event Sports event Target value for cultural participation Source: National representative survey 3 The trend for region residents‘ cultural participation shows that 31,8% on annual average for 2015- 2017 have attended at least one cultural event in Plovdiv. It can be therefore expected that the target value – 30% of the region population (or around 342 000 people) to visit ECoC events in 2019 is realistic and even higher levels of attendance and participation in the initiative are achievable. Percentage of Plovdiv visitors – region residents having attended at least one cultural event in the city

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