The demand for live performing arts in Italy (original) (raw)
The Demand for Theatre. A Microeconomic Approach to the Italian Case
2011
This paper examines theatre participation in Italy over the period [1995][1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006]. Explanatory variables are determined by identifying their contributions to both the individual's decision to attend, and the frequency of attendance. Socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, cultural capital, participation in other cultural activities, ticket price and theatre supply are taken into account. Three different models are used: the logistic regression model, the ordered logistic regression model and the finite mixture model. In the first two cases the contribution of each variable is not so different, in the case of finite mixture model the significance of the variables is not the same in the two components. For instance, the variable education, a proxy for cultural capital, is always significant in determining participation, but not in frequency of participation. In general, our results show that participation is not specific to a particular theatrical event since people who attend one arts activity are more likely to attend others. Finally, our results show that traditional socio-economic variables such as income and education are highly correlated with participation in the arts.
The evolution of theatre attendance in Italy: patrons and companies
This paper examines the Italian theatre market from both the demand and supply side. The descriptive analysis shows that the Italian theatre market is, mainly, localized in the Northern and Central Italian regions for both patrons and companies, confirming a cultural divide between the Southern and the rest of the Italian regions also in the theatrical sector. Like many other European countries, the performing arts in Italy are subsided by public funds through the so-called Fondo Unico per lo Spettacolo (FUS), thereby influencing theatre performance and attendance. As expected, the distribution of the FUS follows the localization of the theatrical companies. The empirical analysis is conducted using 34-year panel data (1980-2013) for the 20 Italian regions. By applying the seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimation technique, we identify the factors influencing theatre demand and supply. The estimated results confirm as determinants of theatre demand, price and consumer income ...
The Demand and Supply for Popular Culture: Evidence from Italian Circuses
Italian Economic Journal, 2019
Despite an extensive empirical literature on the determinants of cultural consumption, few studies focus on the demand for popular forms of culture (i.e. reality television, popular music, yellow journalism, among the others). The purpose of this paper is to fill this lacuna by analysing the market for circus, a worldwide popular performing art. To this aim, a demand-supply model is investigated using data on 107 Italian provinces over the period 2006-2007, by applying the SUR and the 3SLS methodologies. Findings confirm the economic theory, since price is negatively correlated with the quantity demanded and positively with the quantity supplied. According to our results circus is an inferior good. This result show that high and popular culture are far from competing each other. Cinema, theatre and concerts turn out to be feeble substitute goods for circus. Circuses in the South and Islands of Italy are characterised by longer stays in a single location probably due to higher appreciation for circus performances and favourable climate conditions. Since the determinants of popular culture demand are find to be different from those of high culture, our findings can be useful for policy makers to implement policies finalised to social inclusion and social cohesion.
Determinants of Prices for the Performing Arts
Journal of Promotion Management, 2019
The performing arts constitute a significant share of demand in the public's arts consumption spending. Despite the growing volume of research in the marketing of the arts, research specifically focusing on the promotion and pricing of the performing arts is still in the development phase. In this study, we examine the impact of locational variables related to live music performances on ticket prices. Specifically, this research focuses on the relationships between ticket prices for classical concert seats and locational variables such as the distance of the seat from the front of the stage, its angle with respect to the center-line of the performance hall and the size of the town population where the concert is hosted are examined. Utilizing data from a leading intermediary of performing arts tickets the above relationships are empirically examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of pricing implications for promoters of the performing arts.
Journal of Cultural Economics, 2019
In this paper, the relation between live and online highbrow performing arts consumption is examined. Specifically, we analyse whether restrictions on live cultural participation can be overcome by online consumption and the differences in the profiles of live and online consumers. To this end, using the Survey of Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain 2014-2015, two Bivariate Probit models using information about online and live consumption of highbrow performing arts in Spain are estimated. We separately analyse theatre and musical performing arts (ballet, opera, Spanish operetta and classical music concerts). Our results show that the profiles of live and online cultural consumers differ. However, we also find a complementarity effect between live and online consumption. Therefore, the online channel could be a valuable tool for spreading access to culture that might overcome some restrictions on live cultural participation, such as high prices and time constraints. Alternatively, if this is true only for people already consuming culture but not attracting new consumers, the online channel would help just to reproduce old patrons of inequality in cultural access but not to democratize highbrow culture.
Public Policy and the Performing Arts
Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy, 1976
Is it possible,' said the Professor, 'to serve Mammon and Art at the same time? '"It is,' I said, 'or there wouldn't be any art. Through cash to culture. That's the usual road.' " Gulley Jimson, in Joyce Cary's The Horse's Moufh. * Presidential Address, Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand (N.S.W. Branch), Sydney, 15th May, 1975. 1 1. Sometimes referred to as the "entertainment" sectors of the industry, as if to suggest that subsidised theatre and music cannot or should not be entertaining.
Free open-air performances and attendance's behaviours in France
Women
Most economic studies on the performing arts demand indicate weak price elasticity. However, some results suggest a much greater elasticity for the lower income groups. As their audience is socially stratified to the benefit of executives, highbrow professionals and academic qualified people, performing arts organisations are encouraged to produce or diffuse more free outside performances. Since the nineties, urban festivals and cultural events are a way to diversify attendance. The paper intends to analyse attendants' motivations and attitudes from surveys. The assumption is that the perception of shows remains the deciding factor for free and paying attendants. Fireworks or dance concerts may attract working-class people whereas most open-air performances catch regular audience's attention.
Theatre Provision and Decentralization in a Region of Southern Italy
"New Theatre Quarterly", Volume 29, Issue 01, February 2013, pp 61-75. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0266464X13000067; ISSN: 0266-464X; EISSN: 1474-0613, 2013
Since the mid-twentieth century, urban cultural policies have tended to broaden citizens’ access to cultural and arts facilities in most European cities. Italy saw its theatre infrastructure being enhanced by the teatri stabili which have emerged since the late 1940s, in developed urban contexts, and the decentralization of theatre activities during the 1970s, in the suburbs of cities as well as in small regional towns. This changed the distribution of theatregoing accessibility, but not sufficiently to make opportunities equal across the country's different geographical areas. In the present article Marco Serino discusses the decentralization of theatre in Italy, in particular as it has affected the southern Campania region, basing his argument on his own census of the venues in existence in southern Campania in 2008. Social, economic, and political issues are involved in the discussion since these always influence theatre policy and practice.
Cost structure and product mix of local public theatres
1997
The purpose of this study is to analyse the cost structure of the Italian local public theatres in order to assess economies of scale and scope and the desirability of the reform of the subsidy system. A translog multiproduct cost function was estimated using panel data for a sample of 28 theatres over the period 1991-1993. The results indicate the existence of scale and scope economies for most output levels. In addition, the estimated marginal costs for the two outputs indicate that, ceteris paribus, an additional performance conducted inside or outside the theatre by the resident theatre group is generally more expensive than an additional performance conducted inside the theatre by external theatre groups. These results call for a reform of the public subsidy system which do not promote the proliferation, but the interchange and the diffusion of a limited number of high quality shows.