Determinants of non-participation in local public culture: evidence from Croatia

This study examines factors influencing non-participation in local public culture, defined more broadly than in national policy frameworks to include diverse locally organized practices beyond the institutionalized arts and heritage sectors. Data were collected during the monitoring and evaluation of the Rijeka 2020 European Capital of Culture project (N = 835; 47.7% men; Mage = 47.5). Using multiple logistic regression, predictors of non-participation across seven cultural fields were analyzed. The results indicated that non-participation in all observed fields of local public culture was associated with factors commonly linked to national highbrow culture. Although certain differences among fields were identified, education, age, and gender emerged as nearly universal predictors of non-participation, pointing to broader patterns of social inequality. Our findings lend support to recent critical analyses of the exclusionary effects of national cultural policy discourses but also suggest that broadening the analytical scope of culture does not automatically dissolve traditional participation gaps.