Migros Culture Percentage

Learning by enjoying

In autumn 2013, the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (FMC) conducted a representative survey of 4048 people throughout Switzerland, along with one-on-one interviews with experts from the field of culture. On the basis of the results, the publication "Migros-Kulturprozent – Eine Kultur des Kulturförderns" (Migros Culture Percentage – A culture of promoting culture) was created in 2014, which provides important stimulus for the debate on the promotion of culture.

The survey revealed that culture is very important to three quarters of the Swiss population and that the support activities of Migros Culture Percentage consistently reflect the fundamental principles of Migros. Migros Culture Percentage thereby makes an important contribution to the credibility of the company, which can also be measured directly by the products that Migros sells. Other key findings from the survey: 79 percent of the population consider the promotion of culture to be a task for which the state and private economy are equally responsible. 65 percent declared that they consume culture to learn something new.

The publication was sent out to around 2000 decision-makers and can be downloaded free of charge on the Migros Culture Percentage Website.

Record audience for contemporary dance

The Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps attracted record audiences in 2014. The 14th edition of this biannual dance event opened at the Zurich Opera House with a world première. 45 out of the 86 shows throughout Switzerland were sold out. This latest rise in audience figures proves that Migros Culture Percentage is achieving its objective of making contemporary dance more accessible to the general public. Alongside the programme, the event featured an expert symposium, workshops for dance professionals, as well as hip hop workshops and presentations for 3000 schoolchildren. The public discussions organised together with the Swiss Dance Collection were very popular.

A global classic – for the general public

The 65th season of Migros Culture Percentage Classics came to an end in May 2014 with audiences running close to capacity. It offered a unique combination of global stars and outstanding Swiss musicians. Swiss talents were given the chance to perform in established concert halls in the 2013/2014 season, including the soprano singers Marysol Schalit and Rachel Harnisch, the cellist Sol Gabetta, the oboist Matthias Arter and the two composers David Philip Hefti and Dieter Amman. Migros Culture Percentage Classics once again presented internationally renowned soloists and outstanding orchestras in Switzerland, including Révolutionnaire et Romantique, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra led by Kent Nagano, the pianist Maria João Pires and the violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

A matter of life and death

GrossmütterRevolution dedicated its 2014 autumn conference to dying in old age. Under the heading "Should I stay or should I go?", 125 participants and experts discussed dignity and autonomy in connection with death and suicide. Movimento AvaEva, the Ticino sister of GrossmütterRevolution launched in 2013, also continued its encouraging development in 2014. Working groups on individual topics relating to being a grandmother were well-attended. They also gave interested women in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland a good opportunity to network.

Integration through food culture

The online platform conTAKT.ch makes a contribution towards intercultural quality of life in Switzerland and includes various integrative support programmes of Migros Culture Percentage. In 2014, conTAKT-spuren.ch launched the study topic "Traces of migration on our plates". The new educational material is intended to teach primary and secondary school pupils about life and food culture and to experience existing aspects from a different angle.

Coveted voluntary work

For the second time, Migros Culture Percentage and the Federal Commission on Migration (FCM) invited entries for the support programme contakt-citoyenneté, attracting more than 100 project ideas for implementation through volunteer work. A panel of judges selected 34 projects, which received total funding of around CHF 300'000 as well as specialist support. conTAKT-net.ch also recorded positive growth in the reporting year, including in Freiamt, Fricktal, Lucerne and Solothurn. The regions, towns and communities involved in the project publish a range of up-to-date and easy-to-understand information about better integration of migrants and new residents on their websites.

For the benefit of all

Migros Club School is Switzerland's biggest provider of training and education. It offers 600 different courses in six categories to help students overcome everyday challenges and enrich their lives. The figures for 2014:

• 8’846’700    participant hours
• 386'700         course and seminar participants
• 53'300           courses and seminars held
• 7500              course teachers
• 1600              employees
• 600                 different courses and seminars
• 50                   locations

Spotlight on online projects

Continuous digitalisation in many industries is causing major changes in the field of education. Migros Club School is therefore developing the Online Academy – an alternative to traditional lessons, based on e-learning and blended learning. A pilot will be conducted in 2015. The pilot phase of a web-based, personalised customer and instructor portal for managing and acquiring information has already been completed.

In 2014, Migros Club School launched a new PodClub app to learn languages by means of podcasts in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German. Every 14 days, PodClub users receive the latest entertaining episodes about everyday life, free of charge. With its innovations in the area of informal learning and e-learning, Migros Club School is addressing new customer groups and strengthening its position as a knowledge provider.

Successful partnerships

In 2014, Migros Club School launched the HomepageTool in collaboration with Swisscom. The website development app is based on a toolbox system and allows SMEs and individuals to easily create a website and keep it up to date. The launch was accompanied by the course "Your own website with the Swisscom HomepageTool".

Thanks to a new partnership with SFV (Swiss Florists Association), the vocational orientation of the course "SFV DIPLOMA in floristry" was aligned with the specific requirements of the market. The aim of the reorientation is to ensure that the creative and artistic course content is professionally acknowledged on the labour market.

SVEB accreditation

Migros Club School has further strengthened its position as the market leader in the highly competitive field of teacher training by having its courses accredited by the Swiss Federation for Adult Learning (SVEB). The accreditation process was passed successfully for the third time.

Global provider of language schools

Eurocentres managed to increase its market shares in key markets, as well as its direct sales volumes. Due to the increased presence in the Middle East (especially in the Gulf region), Eurocentres published a catalogue in Arabic for the first time. On the Italian market, Eurocentres recorded growth of more than 70%. The number of participants from Switzerland rose by more than 15% in comparison to 2013.

Since its launch in 2013, the online campus my.Eurocentres has successfully established itself at English schools and can now be found in Cape Town and San Diego as well. The innovative, integrative campus increases the speed of learning and enhances the experience of a language stay. In 2014, the Eurocentres website was redesigned and optimised for mobile applications. In addition, the first English-language school was opened in Barranquilla, Columbia – the first one in a non-English-speaking country. Eurocentres thereby enhanced its more than 20-year presence as one of the leading study tour providers in the Latin American country and is helping it to develop a bilingual society.

Commissioned studies as a pillar

The GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute generated a dozen studies and trend reports in 2014, with commissioned studies proving to be an important pillar. The study "The future of a networked society" for Swisscom was downloaded 2000 times within just a short space of time. The study "The future of sleep", conducted on behalf of Möbel Pfister and Jensen, was also very popular. GDI researchers reached around 25'000 people with 150 presentations in almost a dozen countries.

In 2014, the GDI held seven events and international conferences, and conducted five collaborations with partners including Senesuisse and Rewe International. The programme Sternstunde Philosophie, produced by SRF (Swiss Radio and Television) at the GDI, generated a lot of public interest. The Thoughtleader Ranking, compiled by the GDI together with MIT researcher Peter Gloor, received international recognition, as did the Map of Disruption, created together with Cisco in an exclusive workshop – a format that is becoming increasingly common at the GDI. Developments in the area of guest events were also encouraging: more than 200 events, attended by more than 15'000 participants, were held at the GDI in 2014.

Research for academia and practice

The Gottlieb Duttweiler Chair for International Retail Management at the University of St Gallen attracted a great deal of interest from students with its range of courses. With five teaching staff, the Chair supervised the following in 2014:

• 4 lectures at Bachelor's level
• 4 lectures and 8 application projects at Master's level
• 1 course at PhD level
• 68 Bachelor's theses
• 48 Master's theses
• 9 dissertations

The competence centres E-Commerce and Retail Branding and the centre for Price Management develop research results for academia and practice. One important event was the 6th St. Galler Handelstag on the subject of sustainable corporate management, featuring speeches by CEOs from selected best-practice companies. The following were also published in 2014:

• 14 academic and practice-related publications and conference contributions
• 2 publisher's editions
• 3 books/studies (Profiling and Customer Inspiration, Cross-Channel Management 2014, Swiss Pharmacy and Drugstore Market Report 2014/15).

Migros Culture Percentage offers the Swiss population a wide range of active leisure opportunities in the cities' surrounding nature. These revolve around the four "Parks im Grünen" (Green Meadow Parks) and the excursion mountain Monte Generoso, which offer relaxation, nature adventures, events and catering for both young and old.

In 2014, the new playground opened at Park im Grüene Rüschlikon after a short construction phase, much to the delight of the visiting children. The events season proved to be more challenging: Many events had to be cancelled due to bad weather. One highlight was the children's concert by Ueli Schmezer, who fascinated the audience with catchy melodies and lyrics based on the children's everyday life.

At Park im Grünen in Münchenstein, young and old alike enjoyed fauna, flora, a lake and ponds, dinosaurs, a restaurant, a carousel and a mini-golf course in 2014. Event highlights included the daily children's theatre during the summer holidays, the theatre evenings for adults in the arena, the Lilibiggs children's festival, the open-air summer stage featuring international stars, and the dragon festival.

At Gurten Park im Grünen, visitors were impressed by the new multifunctional pavilion in 2014. The new event series Pavillion-Stubete, which combines a brunch with folk music, was continuously sold out. Another new event was La nuit magique, a mixture of culture and dinner in the UPtown Culture Barn. In total, 118 Migros Culture Percentage events were held, attracting around 63'000 visitors.

Parc Pré Vert du Signal de Bougy expanded its open-air facilities with a park for children, consisting of inflatables and water games. Numerous events were held on Sunday throughout the 2014 season, along with free events almost every day in summer. The Easter and Halloween events, as well as the star chase as part of Féérie d’une nuit, are held every year.

On Monte Generoso, Ticino's most popular excursion destination, demolition work for the new building was completed and a new cableway for materials was built at the end of 2014. Passenger transportation was stopped on the Monte Generoso railway. In spring 2015, work will start on the new building designed by Mario Botta. The detailed concept includes a self-service restaurant (free-flow), along with a panorama restaurant, a large terrace, two conference halls, a cafeteria and a souvenir shop offering handmade products from the region.

Migros has been promoting the publication and discussion of socially relevant issues since the 1930s. Migros' founder Gottlieb Duttweiler developed the format of newspaper supplements, with the aim of making critical opinions more accessible to a large readership. He later founded the daily and weekly newspapers "Die Tat" (1935) and "Wir Brückenbauer" (1942), which focused on politics, culture and society.

Today, this tradition is being successfully continued by the publications Migros Magazin, Migros Magazine and Azione, which appear in German, French and Italian. These are supplemented by Vivai, which focuses on sustainability and a healthy lifestyle. The trilingual online magazine of Migros Culture Percentage is dedicated to opinions in the areas of culture and society.