2012 – 2016
About the project
As a key member of the policy research center ‘Culture, Youth and Sports’, TOR is responsible for analyzing the social dynamics of local socio-cultural work with a particular focus on the role of public libraries and cultural centers. The objective of this research is not only to chart the factors that shape the demand for locally offered cultural goods and activities, but also to provide an analysis of the global structure of the offer of these goods in Flanders. In doing so, TOR aims to contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms that increase or obstruct the individual degree of local cultural participation and to identify the factors that can aid local cultural actors in widening the potential audience for the activities and cultural goods they put on offer. Our research in this field is informed by a strong tradition of user-surveys in both public libraries and cultural centers, the available time-use-data on cultural and media consumption, as well as by our own involvement in the cultural participation-surveys organized by the policy research center.
