Statistics on culture
in the EU
Short history:
• LEG - European Leadership Group on
Cultural Statistics (1997-2000)
• Working Group on Culture Statistics
and TFs on specific domains (until 2004)
-------------------• Future ?
Treaty establishing the European Community (Article 151)
•
Overall objective of Community action:
• to respect national and regional diversity
- to bring the common cultural heritage to the fore
- to encourage co-operation between MS in specific fields
•
EU + MS: cooperation with third countries and competent
international organisations
Policy needs –
European Union legislation relevant for culture:

1995 - Council Resolution on the promotion of statistics on culture and
economic growth
Culture is not only economic value but also

information society and spin-offs to other sectors (education, employment, infrastructures, communications,
tourism)

social cohesion and cooperation with 3rd countries.
Countries agreed to continue work on establishing comparable statistical indicators,
through voluntary exchange of information and statistics between Member States on
the basis of the existing statistical data.

1996 - Council Resolution on the access for all to culture

1997 - Council Resolution on the integration of cultural aspects into Community
actions

Culture 2000 action programme
promoting and arranging for collaboration between sectors with common and converging interests, such as
cultural statistics resulting from an exchange of comparative statistical information at Community level.
Other Council resolutions
•
on culture and the knowledge society (mainly meant: information society)
•
on the role of culture in the development of the EU
•
on a new work plan on European cooperation in the field of culture
•
on implementing the work plan on European cooperation in the field of culture:
mobility of persons in the cultural sector
•
on horizontal aspects of culture: increasing synergies with other sectors and Community
actions and exchanging good practices in relation to the social and economic
dimensions of culture
European Parliament resolutions and reports

on cultural cooperation (Ruffolo)

on the importance and dynamics of the theatre and the performing arts in an
enlarged Europe (Fraisse)

on cultural industries (Zorba)

reports of the European Parliament Committee on Culture, Youth, Education,
Media, Sport
Steps already taken
LEG – 1997- 2000 (report final)
General aim: “…building-up, at the EU-level, of a system of coherent and
comparable information that could contribute to a better understanding of the
links between culture and socio-economic development.”
 Work in the TFs on:
• methodology: delineation of the culture field - classification of cultural
activities, proposals of indicators
• cultural employment
• cultural expenditure and financing
• participation in cultural activities
List of cultural activities
Drawing on the UNESCO framework for cultural statistics,
established by crossing:


8 domains:

artistic and monumental heritage

archives

librairies

book and press

visual arts

architecture

performing arts

audiovisual media
with 6 functions: preservation, creation, production, dissemination, trades/sales, education
2004 - Completion of the work of the
3 Task Forces of the WG “Statistics on culture”

TF – Cultural participation
• Methodology for Eurobarometer surveys conducted in 2001 and 2003 +
compilation of data from national surveys
Proposals for future:
•
•
•
evaluation of the implementation of questionnaire/module in
Eurobarometer (done)
present Eurobarometer results for EU and candidate countries in one
publication (soon, in 2007)
prepare a handbook for a culture module to include in national
surveys (AES, SILC module,TUS..)
•
TF - Cultural employment

Estimation methods for cultural employment crossing occupations (ISCO)
and economic activities (NACE) refined, implementation of the developed
methodology in the EU-LFS.

Publishing (as a Press release) of the aggregated 2002 results for European
countries
Proposals:

to publish annually results, since 2002 (soon, in 2007)

to analyse the quality of this method
• TF - Expenditure on culture/public financing

Survey on public expenditure on culture conducted (2003)

main difficulties identified: statistics for all levels of government, data on
receipts and transfers, breakdown by cultural domains
To do:

continue to analyse other data sources for public financing (other ministries,
local governments)

continue work on private expenditure (e.g. develop classification/module for
household budget surveys)
Other areas of interest:

Enterprise statistics – cultural industries
“Cultural industries” include profit making branches/activities that include:
•
•
•
only the “creative” element (e.g. design, live performance arts, film production, software production)
only the “industry” element of dissemination of cultural products (e.g. audiovisual material distribution
companies, publishers)
both the “creative” and “industry” element (e.g. music industry)
An enterprise policy is needed for cultural industries (including the improvement of the import/export balance)
Cultural policy measures may be needed to support this enterprise policy by supporting local and the non-profit making
activities as a means to:
•
improve the creative environment
•
increase the internal public for cultural goods and services

Socio-economic impact of culture

Mobility in the cultural sector
Relevant questions for the future of the
culture statistics
Analysis of:

what are the current and future needs

where ESS culture statistics stand

where international culture statistics stand
Decide:

what are the future tasks for ESS culture statistics

how the work should be organised in the future (incl. legal basis)

at what cost (human and financial resources needed at EU and national level)?
(The Cultural Statistics WG was invited to communicate discussions to the appropriate national
actors so that a broader debate can be launched …. )

2007 – year to re-launch international cooperation?