Culture is what we say, the way we act and the attitude we show every hour, every minute, every second. It is already an axiom the fact that in performances and concerts has been shown the reflection of our culture for hundreds of years. But the reverse is also valid, the most often while attending performances and concerts we remember the importance and essence of culture, they wake in us that elegant, intangible part lost in the sleepy lanes of our nature.
Performances and concerts in figures for the last two decades
Magenta inquired how often do Moldovans go to performances and concerts and, this time, did not start a survey, but accessed the data offered by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of the Republic of Moldova. Thus, if we analyze the figures offered by NBS, we notice that from 1995 the number of theater performances but also spectators decreases up to the beginning of the third millennium.
After 2000, the number of spectators at country level increases up to 420 000 people in 2008. Since 2009, again, the number of visitors, but also of performances begins to decrease, and the maximum number of sold tickets in 2008 was no longer reached in the following 7 years, even if the number of performances played per year surpassed the figure of 3 000.
In the case of autonomous collectives such as the dance ensemble JOC and subsidiaries of the public institution “Moldova Concert”, the lowest number of visitors, but also performances was registered in 2001 – only 58 000 sold tickets compared to 231 000 in 2006 – the richest year in spectators. On the other hand, in the year with the most shows organized by autonomous collectives, 250 events in 2012 went only 136 thousand spectators. Thus, the statistics show that the diversity of performances and concert does not guarantee a numerous public.
Number of performances in theaters and number of spectators (thousands) during the years 2000-2015
*Chart designed based on data offered by National Bureau of Statistics
Number of concerts in autonomous collectives and number of spectators (thousands) during the years 2000-2015
*Chart designed based on data offered by National Bureau of Statistics
The number of organized performances and concerts has increased in quantity, and how about quality?
The poorer years in performances for the National Philharmonic “Serghei Lunchevici” were also the years 2000 and 2001 each with 5 thousand sold tickets per year. The most spectators were hosted by the Philharmonic in 2010 – 37 000 visitors for 113 performances. In the last 5 years, it stays on strong positions, even if it is in a slight decrease, if we compare the number of tickets sold to the number of organized performances and concerts.
The number of performances at the National Philharmonic and number of spectators (thousands) during the years 2000-2015
*Chart designed based on data offered by National Bureau of Statistics
On the other hand, operating with such figures must absolutely be taken into account an important factor – the fact that the Republic of Moldova is the country with one of the highest emigration rates. Thus, was calculated the number of sold tickets for performances and concerts per 1 000 inhabitants. The concerts of autonomous collectives were the most popular in 2006 – 65 tickets sold per 1 000 inhabitants. For the theaters in the country, but also for the National Philharmonic, the maximum number of spectators was registered the last time in 1995 – 122 and 18 visitors accordingly per 1 000 Moldovans.
The paradox appears when we analyze the figure of existing theaters in 1995 with that from 2015. In the last 20 years appeared 3 more theatrical institutions. The number of institutions grew, slowly, uncertainly, but it grew. The number of the population decreased fast and certainly. The qualitative and quantitative modifications through which underwent the culture cannot be learned with the help of statistics, although Magenta would have liked to find an answer in figures to this question. The only relevant survey is the private one. Each Moldovan in part could go to several performances and concerts and then summarize.