Preferences of those interested in urban socio-cultural events: a three-component approach to research and management

The article examines the perception of various elements of sociocultural events based on which management decisions can be optimized to achieve the strategic goals of the initiator. A three-component principle is proposed for considering the structure of event-management processes: infrastructure management (material environment), information and communication management (information environment), social management (social environment). Using this principle as a methodological basis made it possible to implement a comprehensive approach to research that is relevant to the objective conditions of the sociocultural environment specifics. Based on an empirical study, the article shows the peculiarities of perception of various elements of events and of organizational work by those interested, demonstrates their motivation. The paper reveals sources of obtaining information about the event, assessing its significance, and secondary audiences for its dissemination. The features of social interaction between visitors of events are shown, including the aspect of influence of reference groups or individuals. The author traces the relationships between a number of elements of the event and such factors as the city specifics, the type of events usually attended, gender, and age. In the discussion section, the paper highlights the problem of heterogeneity in the community of those interested in events, identifies a number of vectors for further research based on the table of contingency analysis, puts forward a hypothesis about interdeteminacy of staing at social events. The article argues for: the integrative approach to communication policy instead of the integrated one; focus on the identified specifics when attracting visitors while taking into account variability and flexibility of their behavior and perception at the event itself; focus on the potential of social technologies when working with visitors. The results and conclusions obtained are of interest to specialists in creative industries or social management in the field of culture who use event activities to achieve the strategic goals of organizations.