This section looks at how people engaging in arts and culture tend to behave as consumers: how they make decisions about ticket purchases, how they may be encouraged to spend more, how they interact with one another, and how they use cultural spaces.

The summaries in this category are:

How household bargaining between men and women affects arts attendance

This research was conducted by Caterina Adelaide Mauri and Alexander Friedrich Wolf at University of Southern Denmark and Compass Lexecon, Belgium

Summary

This paper attempts to understand the dynamics of household decision-making as it pertains to arts attendance. It is especially interested in what happens when there is a disparity between …

Use a Centralised Exchange to beat the ticket scalpers

This research was conducted by Pascal Courty at the University of Victoria, Canada

Summary

This paper explores possible solutions to the 'fair price ticketing curse' which 'occurs when an event organiser sells tickets at prices that do not correspond to underlying demand conditions and does not want resellers to profit from …

The social and political profile of ‘cultural omnivores’

This research was conducted by Tak Wing Chan at University College London

Summary

This research found that British people were either univores (who tend to only engage with apparently ‘lowbrow’ genres in music and visual arts), paucivores (who engage very little with music and visual arts) or omnivores (who are more …

Reading for work or study increases the likelihood of reading for pleasure but reduces the time allocated to it

This research was conducted by Sara Suarez‐Fernandez and David Boto‐García at the University of Oviedo, Spain

Summary

This paper describes the reading habits of adults in Spain, with a focus on the way in which reading for work or study affects how people read for pleasure. The results suggested that …

What happens to cultural engagement during times of profound social change?

This research was conducted by Mikhail Sokolov at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Summary

One of the aims of Soviet public policy was to reduce (even eliminate) the cultural distinctions between classes and professional groups by making the population more professionalised. This did not occur. During Perestrioka, when …

Differences in the highbrow and lowbrow tastes of library users

This research was conducted by Mikhail Sokolov and Nadezhda Sokolova at European University at Saint Petersburg, Russia

Summary

This paper examined data from public libraries in St Petersburg, Russia, to identify whether or not an ‘omnivorous’ reading habit is only associated with people in elite or privileged status groups. The researchers …

Reduce piracy through fairer pricing

This research was conducted by Anna Kukla‐Gryz, Joanna Tyrowicz and Michał Krawczyk at the University of Warsaw, Poland

Summary

This paper is based on an experiment inside a large Polish e-book store. It tested the hypothesis that people are more willing to illegally download cultural content when they perceive that it …

How theatres try to maximise attendance and revenue

This research was conducted by Andrea Baldin and three others at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy

Summary

This paper looked at five years of box office data from Denmark to suggest a set of strategies for theatre managers to maximise attendance and revenue. These twin …

The reasons musicians favour free streaming services

This research was conducted by Ramadan Aly‐Tovar, Maya Bacache‐Beauvallet, Marc Bourreau, and Francois Moreau at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord and Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France

Summary

This paper uses survey data from 1100 French professional musicians to draw out four main reasons why they favour free streaming. Firstly, it is a …

How unemployment affects cultural spending

This research was conducted by Javier Gardeazabal and Eduardo Polo‐Muro at University of the Basque Country, Spain

Summary

This paper explores the impact of unemployment on household spending on culture (specifically cinema and performing arts, museums and other exhibits, and books). The research found that when someone became unemployed their household …