It takes more to get Norwegians out of the house than before. This week, a survey carried out by Norstat for news revealed that four out of ten Norwegians now use cultural services less often. It’s not about the book on the bedside table or the series on Netflix, but about the kind of art you have to wear a jacket to take in: Theatre, cinema, concerts, art exhibitions. And for the most part, it is not the will that matters. SOCIALIZATION: Theater and opera are institutions that are easier to enter if you know them before. Here from the rehearsals for “The Nutcracker” at the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB Economy is the most important reason for 44 percent of those questioned. A single mother news spoke to had set up a home cinema for the children, after realizing that most cultural offerings were out of reach. For cinemas, theaters and galleries, the economy creates a double problem. They struggle like everyone else with higher expenses and increased electricity prices, which is reflected in the startling price increase of twelve percent for cultural services. At the same time, they have to address an audience with less money in their hands than before. This development is worrying for the cultural industry for several reasons. Because it’s not just about the here and now. Theatre, dance, visual arts and live music are not just art forms. They take place in specific houses, which in turn are places with their own norms and rituals. For children who are involved in the theater a lot, these norms are well known. They look for the place to hang their outerwear, know when to be quiet and when to clap. For those who do not have this experience with them, the threshold to get there can be high. These places can remain strangers. And the cultural institutions are not only missing out on the audience of today, but also of the future, those who would perhaps fall in love with what is created on a stage, but are prevented by the economy. AFFECTED BY THE PANDEMIC: The Colosseum cinema in Oslo sent a greeting to the audience during the corona pandemic. But it cost cinemas and theaters dearly that the audience got used to sitting at home. Photo: Gitte Johannessen / NTB In troubled times, these concerns can seem extravagant. Isn’t it worse that people can’t afford food and electricity than that they can’t make it to a concert? Of course it is. And when cultural experiences are pitted against what is necessary for survival, it’s a rough match. Then the theater trip and the cinema ticket expire. But it is also an artificial juxtaposition. Cultural experiences help put life in perspective, stimulate the imagination and make you see the world you live in in a new way. The strongest, most basic needs are for food, clothing and care, but that does not mean that the need for stimulation, for identification and for expansion, is not also important. Then again, it can be objected that a life without theater and art exhibitions is not a life without cultural offerings. Stories adapted to your or your children’s taste and age have never been more readily available. The TV series and the audiobook are just a click away. SCREEN-FREE: Cultural experiences that are alive, such as a concert with the Oslo Philharmonic, draw you away from life with multitasking and many screens. Photo: Ørn E. Borgen / NTB It is absolutely true. But in the same way that there is something special about a reading experience or a listening experience at home, there is something special about the culture you have to seek out. It provides an opportunity for concentration over time, on something that is happening here and now, in a way that is beginning to be in short supply for those who multitask their way through a screen-filled everyday life. From before, there is a distinction between those who live urban enough and are wealthy enough to seek out this part of cultural life regularly. But it is not lucky if this class divide increases. Because the theatres, cinemas and concert venues are also fighting on a third front, precisely against the screens. Even without the price increase, they would have had tougher competition from the sofa than ever before. For every cultural experience that requires you to set aside time, buy expensive tickets, indulge yourself in the experience, there would be an alternative to stay at home and be entertained there. For any cultural experience that does not quite live up to expectations, the angry spectator can ask himself: Was it really worth it, the high price, the extra effort? The answer may increasingly turn out to be no. In any case, if Norstat’s survey is to be believed, where there is also a significant proportion of the respondents who say that they are simply less interested in the cultural offer than before, or feel that it has become worse. The galleries, theaters and cinemas can still offer something unique: a collective cultural experience, in a space dedicated to this and nothing else. Those qualities will naturally persist, and those who are captivated by the art forms for this very reason will hold on to them. Then it is worth making the necessary efforts to make the art forms available to more than the innermost circle of enchanted people.
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For many, the theater can become a strange place – Expression
