A survey has revealed what the people of Mykolaiv are missing when it comes to cultural leisure activities

Celebrations for Mykolaiv City Day 2025. Photo: NikVesti

In Mykolaiv, the results of a resident survey showed that city dwellers most often complain about a lack of leisure facilities and a lack of information about cultural events.

This was announced during a live broadcast by Yurii Lyubarov, Head of the Department of Culture and Cultural Heritage Protection at Mykolaiv City Council.

According to him, the survey was conducted to find out how residents assess the city’s cultural life and what changes they consider necessary. At the same time, he emphasised that the survey is not statistically representative of the entire population of Mykolaiv, but reflects the views of an active audience.

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In total, the organisers collected 704 questionnaires, of which 294 respondents provided detailed answers.

As Yurii Liubarov noted, the majority of survey participants were people aged between 30 and 60. Furthermore, 82% of those surveyed were women.

«This is very important to know. It is also very important that 82% of those who completed the survey were women. This is the predominant audience that plans family leisure activities, looks for events for children, and prioritises accessibility and safety above all else,» he explained.

Yuriy Lyubarov. Screenshot from the live broadcast

Among the main problems, 65% of respondents cited a lack of venues and cultural events.

According to the official, 459 people noted that the city lacks places to go. At the same time, he acknowledged that Mykolaiv has room for development in this area.

«Perhaps the city has room for development. We will increase the number of events. But we have many events that you may not yet be familiar with,» said Yurii Liubarov.

Almost 50% of respondents also reported that they lack information about the city’s cultural life. According to the head of the department, following the start of the full-scale invasion, cultural events were deliberately not advertised for security reasons — to avoid large gatherings of people and not create additional risks.

Now they plan to change the situation: every Thursday, the Department of Culture will announce events scheduled for the weekend.

The survey paid particular attention to the psychological and emotional state of city residents. The largest proportion of respondents — around 22% — rated their state as 5 out of 10.

«This is not a catastrophic state, but it is not good either. It is somewhere in the middle, with signs of fatigue. A further 20% rated their psychological and emotional state as 7. These are people who maintain a relatively stable state and the ability to lead an active life. Another 15% rated it as 6,» explained Yurii Liubarov.

Earlier, Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, stated that the city needs to develop its cultural life more actively, organise more events for young people and support performances by local creative groups.

Yurii Liubarov, head of the Mykolaiv Department of Culture, also said that over three thousand events were held in Mykolaiv in 2026.

It should be noted that in frontline Mykolaiv, the City Council’s Department of Culture has refrained from holding large-scale public events since the start of the full-scale invasion. The head of the department, Yurii Liubarov, has repeatedly explained that organising city-wide events and erecting large-scale decorations is currently impossible due to the security situation and budget constraints.

In particular, a year ago, when residents were invited to join in the City Day celebrations, which took the form of small local events, he emphasised that for security reasons the exact times and venues would not be announced, and therefore advised people to find out about the events through other sources.

Also, during the New Year 2026 celebrations, Mykolaiv was once again left without a main Christmas tree or festive events in the city centre. The editorial team at NikVesti contacted Yurii Liubarov, but he said that he considered it inappropriate to hold large public events in the city centre.