A king of culture: Wagga ranked third in Australia for cultural experiences

A recent analysis by Preply - an online language learning marketplace - reveals which Australian cities have the most to offer regarding cultural experiences.

Wagga earned third spot, boasting 8.5 cultural experiences per 10,000 residents.

CSU Riverina Playhouse venue manager, Andrew Harris, was surprised to hear Wagga ranked so highly.

"It's great news," he said

"Since COVID, it was really hard to get going again and we've had to put a lot of effort into putting on events that people will come to."

Alice Springs in the Northern Territory took out the top spot in the study with an average of 14.2 cultural experiences per 10,000 residents, followed by Western Australia's Albany at 8.7, and then Wagga.

Preply consulted numerous resources including tourism websites, the Australian Good Food Guide, and the National Library of Australia, and then we crunched the numbers to rank Australia's most populated cities based on their cultural offerings.

Researchers compared 50 of Australia's most populated cities using eight different cultural metrics - number of cultural tours, hatted restaurants, cultural attractions, museums, theatre events, libraries, concerts and shows and markets.

Wagga led in two categories, with the highest number of theatre events, with 2.79 events per 10,000 residents and the most markets, with 4.88 events per 10,000 residents.

Riverside Markets owner and manager, Victor Dodds, said markets can deliver a special culture to the community.

"Markets are very eclectic. There's a lot of different ... things for sale that you normally wouldn't even see when you're walking down the main street," he said.

"[We] have a huge number of local store holders, like small businesses, ones who do it as hobbyist and ... bring it on to the next generation of holders, [encouraging them] to get involved.

"[We have] family owned small businesses to try and get the families involved in it, but also just the culture itself. Bring that on to the next generation."

It's not just theatre offered in Wagga, as the city was 17^th in concerts and shows per 10,000 residents, with 0.17.

"I'm seeing a lot more shows here. I have about an average of two a week," Mr Harris said.

"When I say shows, I probably should say events, because I do quite a wide variety of activities here.

"[We have] concerts ... I've just had the comedy festival here ... conferences and theatre shows ... it's really exciting to have a large variety of events here."

Mr Harris said certain events can bring the opportunity for partnerships between the different cultural experiences.

"I think things like the comedy festival certainly bring a lot of collaboration. I think that's what makes them a success," he said.

"The food vendors and the little coffee carts, the venues, all the different businesses, markets. I really do think it's beneficial.

"I think it all just helps everyone work together. It certainly creates a lot more awareness about the venues.

"I'm really excited to see things like the comedy festival that really helps that and I'm just hoping that it's going to get better from here."