8.1 General context
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Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation
Research on cultural habits of young people
Culture in youth-related research is largely analysed in the context of leisure time rather than as a separate creative and cultural experience. Research on leisure time includes participation in different types of activities, including cultural and artistic ones.
According to the research report Generation of Disillusioned Youth in Croatia at the Beginning of the 21st Century (Ilišin and Spajić-Vrkaš, 2017), young people who spend their leisure time in cultural and artistic activities, such as going to theatre, artistic exhibitions, concerts, cinema, listening to classical music, and reading books, form so-called ‘elite pattern’” ‘Elite’ refers to the type of activities but also to the young people’s social background. Statistical analysis indicates that socialisation in families with higher social status, urban environments, and a higher level of academic achievement impacts strongly students’ participation in cultural activities.
A survey on cultural needs and cultural capital of young people provided more specific results on the interest in culture and habits of young people (Krolo, Tonković, and Marcelić, 2020). The survey from 2016 encompassed high school students from the cities on Croatia’s Adriatic coast. The research revealed that young people in Dalmatian towns are extremely disinterested in cultural content. According to the survey, 46% of high school students from Split did not visit the library in the year preceding the survey. In Zadar, 63% of high school students did not attend the theatre in the past year, and 43% of them did not visit museums or galleries.
Challenges to young people's participation in cultural experiences
The new National Youth Programme 2023-2025 does not address culture and youth within any of its priority areas.
Main concepts
The Strategy for Protection, Conservation and Sustainable Economic Utilisation of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Croatia 2011-2015 defines cultural heritage as ‘all material and non-material traces, remains, and products resulting from human agency through the evolution, or that will become such at a certain point’.
In the Croatian context, culture is permanently placed in a marginalised position. The status of culture in Croatia is best illustrated by the fact that its current share of funding stands at 0.5% of the total state budget. Furthermore, in the allocation of resources for the Ministry of Culture and Media, about 20% of funds are spent for programme needs, while the remaining 80% are allocated for covering expenses in culture, such as staff salaries, premises maintenance, overheads, etc.).
The majority of cultural institutions and participants are concentrated in the City of Zagreb. This is why residents, including young people, outside Zagreb are at a disadvantage regarding opportunities to participate in creative and cultural experiences.