Tekijät

• Kotilainen, Sirkku (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)
• Suoninen, Annikka (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)
• Siivonen, Katriina (Finnish Youth Research Society. Finnish Youth Research Network)

Asiasanat

arts education, cultural activities, cultural participation, leisure time activities, social interaction, youth

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey collected information from young people attending art-related projects organised all over Finland during 2008-2010. The projects were part of the nationwide youth arts programme "Myrsky" (Storm) financed by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, targeted at young people aged 13-17. The aim was to spread and establish new types of arts activities for youngsters.

Questions charted the respondents' spare time activities, cultural hobbies, interest in and attendance at cultural events, and perceptions on the general impact of culture. A number of questions focused on the experiences of and views on the Myrsky project the respondent was participating in, reasons for participating, own role and activity in the project, role of youngsters in general in the project, what activities had liked best, what activities would have liked to do more, and feedback received etc. Views were probed on the impact of the project on the neighbourhood and on the respondent him/herself. Satisfaction with life, self-confidence, and social interaction with others were surveyed. The respondents also evaluated how important they considered certain things to be in their future life, for instance, financial success, lots of friends, good education.

Three different questionnaires were used for the survey. For longer projects, people filled in an initial questionnaire in the beginning of the project and another one at the end. For shorter projects, only one combined questionnaire was used. However, in December 2009 the initial and end questionnaires were dropped and a new questionnaire was developed, which people filled in at the end of the project. There was also a separate questionnaire for short dance workshops held in the Kainuu region and another one for short movie workshops in the Jyväskylä area.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, economic activity, educational institution, field of study, region (NUTS3) of residence, type of neighbourhood, country of birth, the parent's education, with whom R lived and whether had two homes, and financial situation of the family.