Study title

Full edition for scientific use. This data set offers access to research data gathered in a broad-reaching comparative survey of contemporary (art) music audiences carried out between September and November 2014 in the context of the research project, “New Music Festivals as Agorai – Their Formation and Impact on Warsaw Autumn, Festival d´Automne in Paris, and Wien Modern since 1980.” With over 1500 structured questionnaires returned at 14 events across five different genres (corresponding to an overall response rate of 26%), this survey offers a representative, comprehensive and international view of audiences of contemporary music for the first time. Information was gathered in the following areas of interest: the socio-demographic composition of audiences, audience lifestyle, expertise and specific behavior patterns in the context of music and contemporary (art) music, the aesthetics of contemporary (art) music, attitude and motives regarding the festival attendance, and the mediating role of the festivals. In addition, attendees’ assessments of the presented music and their evaluations of individual events were investigated. The research also focused on the examination or accentuation of differences and similarities between the audiences of the three nationalities and of the different genres (large ensemble with conductor, small ensemble/chamber music, music theater, choir/vocal concert, mixed arts/multimedia performance, performance in the context of a music mediation project). The questionnaires were accompanied by participatory observations of rehearsals and their respective performances as well as by individual guideline interviews with attendees following the performances. The study follows the concept of the “culture-oriented creative city” (A. Reckwitz, 2012/2017, Die Erfindung der Kreativität - Zum Prozess gesellschaftlicher Ästhetisierung [The Invention of Creativity - Toward the Process of Social Aestheticization]), and in particular the approach of...