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THROUGH THE
Sallyport
Cheering for the Arts
New Kinder Institute survey reveals widespread support for the arts in Harris County
We love our football in Texas. And basketball, too. And baseball and
soccer and, well, you get the picture. So the results of a new survey
on the arts in Houston, conducted by Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban
Research, may be surprising. The first Houston Arts Survey revealed that,
if given the choice of preserving either the arts or sports, 56 percent
of Houstonians would choose the arts, compared with 35 percent who
would preserve sports.
“The survey participants express broad-based support for investments
that will enhance the visibility and quality of the arts in this region,
even if it means an increase in taxes,” said Stephen Klineberg, professor
of sociology and co-director of the Kinder Institute. “The respondents
are clear in their belief that the arts are important to Houston, that their
Percent of Respondents
“If Houston had to choose between having either excellent music and theater or great
sports teams and stadiums, which would you most want to preserve? In other words,
which would you miss most — music and theater (56%) or sports teams and stadiums
(35%) — if one or the other were to disappear from Houston?”
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
60%
51%
42%
Male
Female
28%
Music and theater
50% 53% 53%
41%
Never involved with
the arts as a child
36% 36%
Involved for two
years or less
availability and excellence are critical to the area’s quality of life and that
arts instruction should be a part of every child’s education.”
The study found that Houstonians are more likely than Americans
in general to attend live arts performances and that the most important
attendance predictors are education, household income and exposure to
the arts in childhood. Ethnic background makes no difference at all in attendance
rates: African-Americans, Latinos and Asians are just as likely as
Anglos to report that they attended a live performance in the arts during
the preceding 12 months.
“The usual suspects — mainly costs, traffic, safety and no time —
were among the reasons respondents do not attend arts performances,”
Klineberg said.
Americans today are far more likely to access
Sports teams and stadiums
63%
27%
Involved for more
than two years
the arts at home through the media than at live
performances, but the respondents indicate that
viewing or listening to the arts at home is more
likely to increase than to decrease their interest
in attending live arts performances.
“If Houston is to succeed in the 21st century,
it will need to nurture a far more educated
work force, improve its overall quality of life and
capitalize on its burgeoning ethnic and cultural
diversity,” Klineberg said. “The survey findings
bode well for the future of our region.” The
study was funded by Houston Endowment Inc.
and aided by an advisory panel of leading national
and local arts experts.
Read more:
››› kinder.rice.edu/shea
—Lynn Gosnell
Rice Magazine • No. 15 • 2013 5