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1. Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation

2. Main concepts

Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation

Infrastructural background

There are no specific statistics on youth cultural institutions. The public cultural participation of children and youth is often realised through the spaces of community culture. 

When looking at figures regarding the number of cultural institutions we see an important change in tendencies: between 2013-2019 the number of institutions related to community culture significantly increased (since then the number stagnates around 5900, that is around 60 institutions per 100 000 inhabitants). The number of cultural events per 100 000 inhabitants also increased in the mid 2010's, peaking in 2016 with 2 853 events. The pandemic has led to a seatback, and after 1 240 events per 100 000 inhabitants in 2020, the number has risen again to 1 959 by 2022.

The pre-Covid increase in the number of institutions was partly due to the extension of a previously existing network of local community cultural institutions. The Integrated Community Service Spaces [Integrált Közösségi Szolgáltató Tér (IKSZT), hereinafter referred to as ICSS] had been created to serve the needs of the population of settlements with less than 5 000 inhabitants. As of 2016, 465 ICSS-s existed. The decree that created ICSSs (112/2009 Decree of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) has become ineffective in 2018, but many of such institutions are still operating.

Another important reason behind the increase was the role of the EU structural funds available for socio-cultural activities. These objectives 'found their way both into the 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 National Strategic Reference Frameworks for the EU Structural Funds'.

Participation of young people in creative and cultural experiences

The most important data sources for understanding the cultural activities of young people are the consecutive waves of large sample youth surveys. From 2008 on, there has been a steady decline in participation in every 'traditional' cultural activity listed in the questionnaire. According to the results of the 2020 survey, more than 80% of young people never visit spaces of 'elite' culture (opera, classical concerts), 76% of them never visit art movies and around 40% of them never visited multiplex cinemas either. The data for 2020 also reflects the pandemic situation. For instance, only 13% of 15-29 year olds attended popular music concerts at least every 2-3 months, while 9% of them regularly attended theatres.

Based on the 2022 data of the Cultural Statistical Data Collection System (Kulturális Statisztikai Adatgyűjtő Rendszer) that provides information from the National Statistical Data Collection Programme,

• the number of youth groups, clubs and study groups, run by all institutions that have a role in community culture, was 1 187 (it was 1 160 in 2021), (that is higher than the number of the institutions, as one institution might have more groups);
• the average yearly number of members was 21 052 (in 2021 it was 21 194), and the number of activities was 18 602 (it was 17 426 in 2021), out of which 539 was online (in 2021 there was 1 357 activities online). 

The number of members and activities was significantly lower than in the pre-Covid years.

Data on participation in creative cultural communities and art groups is also available in the same source. According to this, in 2022, 22 651 15-29 year-olds participated in these type of groups (this number is around the half of the 2018 numbers and is lower than the 2021 data which was 24 528).

Differences based on location

A major difference emerges in terms of place of residence: young people living in Budapest are generally highly overrepresented in 'elite' cultural activities and consumption, while youth in the villages are tend to attend community centres and discos. The pandemic has meant that the gap has narrowed with the decline in cultural consumption in the capital. Youth researchers plan to include detailed data on post-Covid cultural consumption of youth in the 2024 large sample youth survey.

Leisure time activities

Young people's offline leisure activities are much more dominated by visits to cafés and pubs (in 2020, around a quarter of 15-29 year olds visited a café or pub at least once a month), but it is important to note that festivals are key events for popular cultural activities for a large proportion of young people. Before the pandemic, in 2016, 25% of 15-29 year olds attended festivals – most of them (13% of the total population) local ones, but major music festivals also attracted a wide audience.

Regarding leisure time activities, the results of the 2020 youth research show that cultural activities are part of the everyday life of young people. Around 30% of respondents cited consuming audiovisual content (including watching TV and listening to music) as one of their most common leisure activities, while 16% (on weekends) and 12% (on weekdays) cited reading (the data shows a sharp decrease compared to 2016, but this is mainly due to the methodological change in the wording of the question). Creative activities were not common: 1% responded that they make decorative and everyday items, and around 5% mentioned online/digital content creation as a common leisure activity.

Separation of cultural and social spaces

The data also shows how social and cultural spaces are becoming increasingly separated, meaning that the social nature of cultural activities is decreasing, while – as a general trend – social activities are increasingly moving to online spaces. In 2016, 88% of young people had daily access to the internet and 85% of them owned a smartphone. By 2020, Hungarian young people aged 15-29 can be considered daily internet users, with four tenths of them being online virtually all the time.

Main concepts

Definitions of culture

In Hungary there is no coherent formal legal definition of culture.

'For Hungarians, the word ''culture'' naturally involves the arts: thus the compound of ''arts and culture'' is not used. Although terms like ''cultural industries'', ''creative sector'' and similar expressions have made their way into the general public discourse, they have not been enacted in any high-level document.' (Compendium, 2016)

There is a lack of official definition of culture, a general understanding could be outlined based on the legal background and public appearances of decision-makers.

According to the 2022 Compendium report:

'Apart from a strong emphasis on national values and heritage, none of the themes that globally prevail can be identified in the public discourse on culture. This can be explained by the lack of strategic or conceptual declarations and strategies, and by the absence of important open debates on cultural issues.'

'Cultural law' - Act CXL of 1997

The preamble of Act CXL of 1997 on the protection of Museum Institutions, Public Library Services and Community Culture (1997. évi CXL. törvény) emphasises that the

'preservation and practice of national cultural traditions and those of nationalities, the improvement of the personal, intellectual and economic basis for individual and community cultural activities, and activities which improve the quality of life of citizens and transmit values, as well as the operation of the institutions and organisations created to achieve these goals through the system of basic cultural care is in the common interest of society.' (Act CXL of 1997)

The preamble's cited part shows two central focuses of legislation on culture:

• cultural heritage and
• cultural basic care as a central form of community culture.

Cultural heritage management appears in many other recent government decrees and strategic documents. The other is a reconceptualization of community culture. The goal of providing basic cultural services was added to the law in 2017. The concept is

'a form of care in the field of culture that provides the minimum of cultural services used by a vast majority of the public. […] It is a conditionality of organisation, activity and financing that enables citizens and communities exercise their right to culture directly. […] The care can be used by local people directly, preferably in their residence or close to it, based on equal opportunities, as a civil right. […] Most or the entire part of the population enters the system of basic cultural care. Its operation is maintained by the Fundamental Law and cardinal laws. It is basically financed through public funds and the dominant engagement of the state characterises it.'

Special target groups

Although the programmes are aimed at the entire population, school-age children are often highlighted as one of the special target groups. An example of this is the Lázár Ervin Programme (Lázár Ervin Program) is aimed at primary school children (For more information, see sub-chapter 8.4 Promoting culture and cultural participation).

Concept of creativity

The concept of creativity appears mainly in the context of innovation and research (sometimes, but not exclusively, in the context of start-ups). The Ministry of Culture and Innovation does not mention creativity in its founding regulation, but terms such as informatics, science policy coordination and audiovisual policy as elements of the ministry's competencies indicate an understanding of creativity.

Objectives related to creative and cultural industries appear only once in the cultural law: the chapter on regional and metropolitan public cultural services contains the objective to contribute to

• culture-based economic development and to
• the development of services of creative and cultural industries.

Creativity also appears in the National Core Curriculum (Nemzeti Alaptanterv) accepted in 2020. The concept of creativity mostly relates to artistic expressions as well as critical thinking and innovative problem-solving.