The Changing Landscape of Arts Participation: A Synthesis of Literature and Expert Interviews (original) (raw)
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1996
This monograph examines the extent to which the U.S. adult population was involved in personal art participation in 1992, compares it to participation in 1982, and profiles personal arts participants. The National Endowment for the Arts attempted to determine the scope of adult public participation in the arts through the Surveys of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) of 1982, 1985, and 1992. Conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and originally focused on participation and attendance of events related to opera, ballet, classical music, art museums, musicals/operetta, and plays, the later surveys included a look at other forms such as weaving, photography, sculpting, and attendance at art/crafts events and movies. The document is organized into 4 sections. Section 1 looks at the number and proportions of individuals involved in various types of hands-on activities through creation or performance of art. The extent of hands-on arts participation is compared with other dimensions of art participation, including arts attendance, arts media involvement, and taking art classes. Section 2 profiles personal arts participants as a group according to demographic backgrounds and involvement, participation, or preference for various activities. Section 3 looks at each group of participants according
Arts integration: a survey of attendance at school and community arts events in Florida
Arts Education Policy Review, 2020
This paper presents a background of the rates at which educators, teaching artists, college students, retirees, parents, and the public attend arts programs in their schools and communities. The researcher circulated a 19-question online survey to measure the rates of attendance to visual and performing arts events, such as music, dance, arts community workshops, concerts, and festivals across Florida during the 2018-2019 academic year. The total sample size was 619 adults over 18 years of age. This paper applies a quantitative methodology to examine the respondents' dispositions of the arts in education and communities. The questionnaire requested that the respondents rank the importance of benefits of the arts in schools and share their attendance at school and community arts events. Findings from the study show that the respondents agreed on the importance of integrating arts in education, and that they possess the ability to advance a community's understanding of arts integration. Tangible results of arts attendance in schools and communities are presented, which could help arts school-community leaders in discussing ways to develop, promote, and cultivate resilient arts environments.
2010
We know it happens. We have seen art save lives, cultural practices bring people together, cultural activism mobilize people, and artists activate the social imagination to make something new possible. While the potency of the arts as a catalyst for civic and social change is widely observed, cultural and community leaders struggle to measure it and make the case for the value of arts in civic engagement. Whose standards should apply? What evidence should be tracked and documented? How can hard-to-measure civic outcomes be substantiated? And, can they be attributed to our arts-based civic engagement efforts exclusive of other factors?
Hearts and Minds: The Arts and Civic Engagement
2017
The Arts and Civic Engagement Foreword Does participation in the arts influence civic engagement? This is an important question for all leaders, artists, and nonprofits who believe that arts experiences can lead to a better society-fostering deeper understanding and empathy among diverse populations, helping individuals gain the ability to adapt to change, and inspiring all to act in the interest of others. The answer to this question is especially vital to the growing number of arts nonprofits experimenting with or fully embracing engagement as a pathway to sustained relevance. This group includes participants in Irvine's New California Arts Fund, a learning community of grantee-partners committed to arts engagement as the basis for organizational transformation. To inform the efforts of these grantee-partners and others who share their interests, we asked Nick Rabkin, a leading thinker and researcher in the sector, to take a close look at links between arts and civic engagement. As Nick reports from his wide-ranging study, there is ample evidence of compelling connections. The headline is that people who participate in arts, especially those who go beyond traditional arts audience experiences, are more likely to be active in their communities and to be making a difference in the lives of others. His analysis yields essential knowledge regarding the personal and societal values rooted in experiences of arts and culture. At Irvine, we are encouraged by Nick's distillation of research pointing to the positive effect of arts involvement on civic participation. All arts nonprofits, not only those in the New California Arts Fund, have natural advantages in helping people achieve new levels of understanding, empathy, and adaptation-critical capacities for acceptance and connection across class, race, heritage, or immigration status. Nick Rabkin's study shows that, for many, arts experiences fuel civic engagement, enabling people to apply these levers for greater good. We hope that arts nonprofits and others absorb and own the implications of these findings, exploring ways to more effectively provide arts experiences that enrich our shared social and civic life.
BMC Public Health
Background Engaging in the arts is a health-related behavior that may be influenced by social inequalities. While it is generally accepted that there is a social gradient in traditional arts and cultural activities, such as attending classical music performances and museums, previous studies of arts engagement in the US have not adequately investigated whether similar demographic and socioeconomic factors are related to other forms of arts engagement. Methods Using cross-sectional data from the General Social Survey (GSS) in the US, we examined which demographic, socioeconomic, residential, and health factors were associated with attendance at arts events, participation in arts activities, membership of creative groups, and being interested in (but not attending) arts events. We combined data from 1993 to 2016 in four analytical samples with a sample size of 8684 for arts events, 4372 for arts activities, 4268 for creative groups, and 2061 for interested non-attendees. Data were ana...