Exploring motivations to consume arts goods

The aim of this paper is to study individuals’ motivations to consume artistic goods in Yasuj city located in south-west of Iran. Methodologically, this is a qualitative research and relevant data is collected by in-depth interviews. A sample consisted of 40 persons (20 males and 20 females), between the ages of 22 to 48 years old were interviewed. The interviews took more than 23 hours. The places of interview were two galleries and three arts stores in the Yasuj city. The time period of research was 29 November to 4 December 2014. The findings suggest that the motivations and experiences affecting the visit of arts galleries and artworks consumption are family orientations, training and educational, pleasure (psychological, aesthetic and entertainment), income, location and type of artworks supply, media, consumption taste, cultural policy, and, finally, age and sex factors. The results suggest that among the factors mentioned, the most important factors related to motivation are, family background, education and media factors. Also, the most important factors related to experiences are psychological, aesthetic and entertainment pleasures. In addition, despite the specific socio-cultural and ecological characteristics of Yasuj, that were predicted to be significant factors affecting the consumer tastes and their motivational parameter, it seems the people of this city, like many other cities in Iran, follow comprehensive and similar consumer mechanisms, notably the general pattern of consumption which is influenced by global and media promoted values.