AUTHOR=Schulte-Basta Dorothee 

TITLE=Definition and distinction of the concept cultural center using the example of Finland

JOURNAL=European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy

VOLUME=Volume 15 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/journals/european-journal-of-cultural-management-and-policy/articles/10.3389/ejcmp.2025.14704

DOI=10.3389/ejcmp.2025.14704

ISSN=2663-5771

ABSTRACT=Cultural centers play a crucial role in European sociocultural life, yet remain under-researched as their diverse nature has hindered consistent analysis and policymaking. A key challenge is the absence of a clear definition, leading to inconsistent categorization and making it difficult to assess their visibility in statistics, funding allocations, and cultural policy frameworks. This gap limits researchers, communities, and policymakers from fully understanding and supporting these institutions. Without clear definitions and standardized data collection, cultural centers struggle to secure funding, and underserved communities risk losing access to vital cultural and social resources. This is crucial, especially for rural and sparsely populated areas, where cultural centers often serve as key cultural infrastructure that supports social cohesion, cultural participation, and regional equity. To address this gap, this study develops a structured framework to define and classify cultural centers, aiming to enhance conceptual clarity and support evidence-based policymaking. Focusing on Finland as a case study, this study employs the Walker and Avant concept analysis method to identify four defining attributes of the concept cultural center: provider and creator, experience and active participation, diversity and multidisciplinary, and interaction and community orientation. Through a systematic and descriptive approach, these attributes are operationalized and applied to a dataset from Statistics Finland on Cultural halls and centers by region 2023, which reflects the current landscape of cultural centers in Finland. By systematically examining 259 facilities, the study traces the presence of these attributes in practice. The combination of conceptual analysis and empirical investigation results in a refined typology that allows for a clearer distinction between cultural centers and other facilities. This structured approach not only advances theoretical clarity but also supports cultural policymakers in recognizing and categorizing cultural centers more effectively. The findings emphasize the need for improved data collection to better capture the diversity and roles of cultural centers, both in Finland and beyond. Although this research focuses on Finland, the developed typology may offer a useful framework for cross-country comparisons and could support policy alignment within the EU cultural sector, provided that local adaptations are made.