October 2015
Featured in this insight: Culture, heritage & leisure, IT & telecommunications
Market research highlights levels of arts participation: Recent analysis of public engagement and participation with the arts, during the two years between 2012 and 2014, has discovered that just over 75 per cent of adults in England engage with or participate in the arts. Despite a high level of participation, just two thirds engage with the arts over consecutive years.
Commissioned by the DCMS, in partnership with the Arts Council England, Sport England and Historic England, the longitudinal survey discovered that half of adults in England visit museums and galleries but just 37 per cent visit over consecutive years.
The findings refer to the overall pattern of arts engagement in England, one which has been stagnant for the past 10 years. On the other hand, museum attendance has increased notably throughout England since 2005/2006.
In its 11th year, the quarterly Taking Part survey collates consistent national data about different features of the population’s participation with leisure, sport and culture across England. The survey also collects data about respondents’ socio-demographic information.
After 11 years of the survey being in operation, the DCMS is now asking for opinions on proposals for the future of the research, such as potential amends to the content of the survey, a reduction of the sample size, the utilisation of the internet (as opposed to face to face interviewing) and different methods of analysis. However, the researchers acknowledge that changing the survey could make identifying long-term patterns more difficult, although, the current length of the survey makes administration costly and negatively impacts response rates.
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