_Exploring the
relationship between

Authors

Filippo Ascolani*, Claudia Cacovean**, Alessandra Passaretti***, Tommaso Portaluri****, Pier Luigi Sacco*****, Sara Uboldi******, Rarița Zbranca**
*Bocconi University; **Cluj Cultural Centre; ***University of Milan Bicocca; **** ETH Zurich; ***** Bruno Kessler Foundation, IULM University Milan and metaLAB (at) Harvard; ****** University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Acknowledgements

Norbert Petrovici & Cristian Pop, Babes-Bolyai University (RO); Yuste Foundation (ES)

Research objective

The study aimed to assess people’s engagement with arts and creativity during the Covid-19 pandemic and the potential impact of cultural participation on their well-being.

Research methodology

Research type: Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Data collection: May-July 2020 (this being the period we refer to, when using the “during the pandemic” formula throughout the text), through an online survey available in 8 languages.
Sample size: 1559 valid responses.
Respondents profile: individuals aged 14-65+ living primarily in Europe, predominantly young female adults, with higher education, living in the urban area, of which the majority live in Italy, Romania, Spain and Belgium.
Research instruments: I-PANAS to assess Positive Affect and Negative Affect (Thompson, 2007), well-being Measures Toolkit (Thomson & Chatterjee, 2015).

Research limitations

To ensure relevance, the sample was ponderated using as reference the percentage of EU citizens with higher education employed in the cultural sector, in other sectors and currently non-active in the field of work (retired, unemployed or students). The research results thus refer only to subjects with higher education, living in Europe.

About the research

This research was carried out by the Cluj Cultural Centre (RO) and Fondazione Bruno Kessler (IT), in collaboration with the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts (BE) and UGM Maribor Art Gallery (Sl), within the Art&Well-being Project. The project explores the potential of the arts to enhance individual and community well-being and is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Research Team:

Adelina Aniței^b, Diana Buluga^c, Claudia Cacovean^a, Marina Dascăl^b, Emanuel Henteș^b, Patricia Marga^b, Rarița Zbranca^a

Affiliations:

^aCluj Cultural Center, ^bDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, ^cCreate. Act. Enjoy

Research objective

The study aimed to assess the impact and the contribution of arts in overcoming the degree of burnout of participants in a specially designed cultural prescriptions pilot project.

Research methodology

Research type: Quantitative and qualitative data analysis pre and post artistic intervention
Data collection: September-November 2020
Sample size: 11 participants enrolled in the artistic intervention
Research instruments:
The Burnout Syndrome Scale (Maslach & Jackson, 1981)
The Psychological General Well-Being Index (short version) (PGWBI-S) (Grossi et al., 2006)
The Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) (Diener et al., 2010)

Research limitations and future directions:

To use a control group with the same characteristics as people included in this study and to measure the level of burnout for this group of people who are not participating in a similar project.
To use more specific inclusion and exclusion criteria within the programme in order to accurately work with a specific issue, particularly burnout, and not overlap with other issues such as anxiety.

About the research

This research was carried out by the Cluj Cultural Centre (RO) within the Art&Well-being Project. The project explores the potential of the arts to enhance individual and community well-being and is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.