I think you are right, sel. I have been asked often, by visiting Europeans, what the cultural life of my area is like. So I list, off the top of my head, galleries, theatres etc. it was easier when we lived in London, and Rochester was good because there was always Dickens! (Being frivolous!) but it is a question I haven't been asked by someone British, oddly enough.
I think we make the cultural life we have part of ourselves, and it's only when thinking about a question such as moved raises, that we realise exactly what we value. Poetry for me, always, always has the power to shake me.