The public opinion research agency DeFacto Consultancy, on behalf of the Secretariat for Culture and Education of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, conducted a quantitative research on the cultural needs and practices of residents, with a sample of 809 respondents residing in the city.
The Executive Director of DeFacto Consultancy, Stevan Kandić, presented the main findings of the research conducted during September and October of this year, using the Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique.
The research results showed that nearly two-thirds, or 59.1% of the citizens of Herceg Novi, are either completely or somewhat satisfied with the city’s cultural offerings. These findings will serve as the basis for the development of the city’s culture development strategy.
The Secretary for Culture and Education, Ana Zambelić Pištalo, stated during the public presentation of the results that this research marked the first time data of interest for cultural management were gathered through a survey.
Stevan Kandić, the Executive Director of the public opinion research agency DeFacto Consultancy, announced that, in principle, citizens of Herceg Novi are satisfied with the cultural offerings.
“Of course, they do see certain shortcomings, both financial and those caused by the pandemic, but overall, their perception is favorable,” Kandić said.
He explained that the questionnaire covered three sections: cultural practices and perceptions before the pandemic, during the past year, and this year, as well as general data on leisure habits and activities.
When asked whether the cultural offering in Herceg Novi had improved, worsened, or remained the same over the past four years, a little more than two-fifths of respondents believed that the cultural offering had remained at the same level, while 36.2% believed it had improved or greatly improved.
The most visited event was the Mimosa Festival, which nearly half of the respondents attended several times every year before the pandemic, and over 75% attended at least once a year. The Herceg Novi Film Festival ranked second in terms of attendance, followed by the Book Square (Trg od knjige).
Respondents recognized that the Ivo Andrić House, the Nobel laureate’s house, had positively contributed to the city’s cultural offering, and it received higher marks for its work compared to other cultural institutions.
As the biggest challenges and problems for culture in Herceg Novi at the moment, respondents identified the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of content, funding, and insufficient awareness among people about cultural events.
Respondents identified the following as the most lacking elements in Herceg Novi’s cultural offering: concerts of higher-quality music (26.6%), theater performances (9.1%), cinema and movie premieres (5.1%).
Regarding music preferences, the largest number of respondents, 28.6%, listened to domestic pop music, 20.6% listened to folk/national music, and 13% stated that they listened to all genres, while 10.2% listened to domestic rock music.
Approximately 46% of respondents had a home library with up to 100 books, and 26.1% had between 100 and 400 books. The data showed that the higher the educational level of the respondents and the higher the household income, the more extensive their home libraries were.
In response to an open question about what they would recommend to visitors to Herceg Novi to visit, the largest number of respondents mentioned the Old Town (20.1%) and the fortresses (17.2%).
The survey also presented a new proposal in the city’s offering, which included free guided tours conducted by student volunteers or with the financial support of the Municipality, where the main part of their ‘earnings’ would come from tips. This practice already exists in many European cities, and the data showed that it would be welcomed in Herceg Novi, with 90.8% of respondents considering it a valuable addition to the cultural offering.
In the section on information about cultural offerings, 62% of respondents were somewhat or fully informed. The most common sources of information were online portals, personal acquaintances, TV and radio stations, as well as the official Facebook page and portal of the Municipality of Herceg Novi.
A portion of the questionnaire also addressed how citizens of Herceg Novi spend their leisure time, considering that this aspect is of paramount importance for creating programs to complement the cultural offering.
