Cultural engagement in Het Hogeland

Roos Gielen, Joren Arkes, Stefan Ivanov and Ydwer Hoekstra, four students within the career minor of the Faculty of Arts, participated in a project sith the Municipality of Het Hogeland, Groningen. The aim of this project was to tackle barriers to cultural engagement and provide a better understanding of what young adults (specifically those aged 18-22 years old) need in order for them to feel comfortable when engaging in culture.

The starting point of the team was to combine the traditional strategy of democratization of culture with the innovative concept of a cultural democracy to create a so-called cultural ecology. Their research pointed out that this approach is possible within the cultural sector of the municipality of Het Hogeland. Moreover, the research showed that a lot of young people do not attend cultural activities because they do not feel at home there. The team designed an advise for the municipality to tackle this barrier to create a flourishing cultural ecology in Het Hogeland.

They group conducted research through a literature study, a survey amongst young inhabitants of Het Hogeland, a content analysis of the policy documents of cultural organisations and a focus group meeting. The results of this research can be found via a Dutch version and an English analysis.