XX Commonwealth Games Visitor Study: Visitor Survey Results Report

6. Cultural Engagement

6.1 The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme was a nationwide celebration central to how Scotland hosted and welcomed the Games. There were two strands:

• Culture 2014: the Scotland-wide cultural countdown to the Games which ran from July 2013 including events around Scotland as the Queen’s Baton Relay passed through the country.
• Festival 2014: a mix of entertainment, culture and enjoyment in public places in Glasgow during the Games period from 19 July to 3 August. This included the Opening and Closing Celebration events, other activities taking place at Live Zones across Glasgow (including Glasgow Green and Kelvingrove Bandstand) and numerous other organised cultural events across the city including the Merchant City Festival.

6.2 This section details the key results relating to how Games visitors engaged with Festival 2014 and the wider Culture 2014 programme. Key findings include:

• 75% of all visitors (an estimated 520,000 unique visitors) attended one or more of the cultural events and activities taking place in Glasgow as part of Festival 2014.
• The most visited Festival 2014 venues were the Merchant City (visited by 69% of the Festival 2014 audience), Glasgow Green (63%) and George Square (53%). Over two-thirds (68%) of the Festival 2014 audience went to more than one venue.
• The most seen and heard art forms during the Games were music (experienced by 35% of all Games visitors) and dance/ physical theatre (17%).
• 14% of visitors experienced styles of arts or culture which they were previously unfamiliar with. This proportion increased to 23% amongst residents of Glasgow.

Cultural locations included in visit

6.3 As mentioned in Section 2, of the estimated 690,000 unique visitors who attended the Games between 23 July and 3 August, 75% went to one or more of the cultural events and activities taking place as part of Festival 2014. This equates to around 520,000 unique visitors.

6.4 Figure 6.1 illustrates the venues visited. The largest proportions of visitors attended or, at the point of being interviewed, planned to attend cultural activities taking place in the Merchant City (69%), at Glasgow Green (63%) or in George Square (53%).

6.5 Over two-thirds (68%) of the Festival 2014 audience went to more than one venue.

Figure 6.1. Cultural events and activities attended – locations

Base: All respondents attending Festival 2014 (1,470)

6.6 Further details on the cultural venues visited are provided in Table A.5 in Annex A, highlighting the large degree of overlap between those attending sporting events and those attending cultural events and activities.

Art forms experienced

6.7 Overall, around half (48%) of all Games visitors stated that they had experienced one or more of the art forms shown in Figure 6.2 (around 330,000 unique visitors). The largest proportions experienced music (35%) or dance/physical theatre (17%).

Figure 6.2. Cultural events and activities experienced during Games period

Base: All respondents (2,214)

Note: Respondents could select more than cultural event/activity (e.g. if they experienced both music and visual arts). Therefore percentages sum to over 100%

6.8 As might be expected, those visitors who had attended any Festival 2014 events were more likely to have experienced one or more of the art forms asked about (60%). However, it is notable that more than two-fifths of those attending Glasgow 2014 experienced art forms in Glasgow during the Games (see Table A.6 in Annex A for more details).

6.9 Those who had experienced each of the art forms were asked whether this had allowed them to experience styles of art or culture which they were unfamiliar with.

6.10 Overall, as shown in Table 6.1, 28% of those who had experienced any cultural events and activities during the Games had seen a style of art or culture that they were previously unfamiliar with – this equates to 14% of all visitors (c. 100,000 unique visitors).

6.11 Residents of Glasgow were the most likely to have experienced any cultural events and activities (68%) and almost a quarter (23%) had experienced an art form that they were previously unfamiliar with.

Table 6.1. Cultural events and activities seen by place of residence

	All visitors	Glasgow	Other Scotland	Other UK	Other Europe	International
Any experienced	48%	69%	47%	33%	38%	45%
Of this total proportion previously unfamiliar with	28%	34%	27%	23%	37%	29%
Total experiencing cultural events and activities previously unfamiliar with	14%	23%	13%	8%	14%	13%

Base: All respondents (2,214)

6.12 In terms of the types of events attended, visitors who attended non-ticketed sporting events and Festival 2014 events were slightly more likely to experience cultural events and activities they were previously unfamiliar with (see Table A.7 in Annex A for more details).

Culture 2014

6.13 Culture 2014 was a Scotland-wide, year-long programme of cultural events which ran from July 2013, including events around Scotland as the Queen’s Baton Relay passed through the country.

6.14 Just over half (54%) of all Glasgow 2014 and Festival 2014 visitors stated that they had heard of Culture 2014 and almost a quarter (22%) had attended a Culture 2014 event that took place outside of Glasgow.

6.15 Awareness and attendance of Culture 2014 was highest amongst residents of Scotland but lower amongst overseas visitors (Figure 6.3).

Figure 6.3. Culture 2014 – awareness and attendance by residence

Base: All respondents (2,214)

6.16 Levels of awareness and attendance were fairly consistent across those who attended the different types of events taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland (see Figure A.10 in Annex A for more details).