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The Diversity of Cultural Participation: Findings of a National Survey 2004 (United States, 2004)
Year 2005
Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation
Author/s Urban Institute
Methodology Phone survey of a random sample of Americans (1231) aged 18 and older asking
about their participation patterns, motivations, and experiences during the previous
12 months.
Objectives The purpose of this report was to fill the gaps in terms of qualitative data of the
Survey of Public Participation in the Arts carried out by the National Endowment for
the Arts making it possible to compare motivations and experiences for participation
Cultural domains /
Other issues
at different types of cultural events.
This report examines only live attendance and does not cover other modes of
participation, such as production, participation through media, or reading.
They were also included some question on civic engagement and participation
Notes The study built on and extended an earlier survey of arts participation in five local
communities conducted by the Urban Institute in 1998, also commissioned by the
Wallace Foundation. That survey, “Reggae to Rachmaninoff”, took a broad and
inclusive view of culture, highlighted the diverse venues where people attend cultural
events, and demonstrated the links between cultural and civic participation.
The major innovation of this study was that it also asked people a set of questions
about their most recently attended event: what they attended, why, where, with
whom, and what experiences they had. This provided information that allowed
linkage to particular types of motivation, venues, and experiences to particular types
of arts attendance in order to determine what people wanted from a particular kind of
arts event and whether they felt the event actually delivered.
URL http://www.giarts.org/sites/default/files/Diversity-of-Cultural-Participation.pdf
Arts, Culture and the Social Health of the Nation 2005 (United States, 2005)
Year 2005
Commissioned by Institute for Innovation in Social Policy
Author/s Marque-Luisa Miringoff and Sandra Opdycke
Methodology The information about the methodology used is not provided in the report
Objectives The goal of this survey was to envision participation in arts and culture as a critical
component of the social health of the nation, one that could be measured and
monitored on a systematic basis. This report assesses the role that arts and culture
play in people’s lives, the benefits they gain from their participation, and the obstacles
Cultural domains /
Other issues
that make full participation difficult for them.
The survey was focused on 6 domains: Music at home, Reading, Creative work,
Movies, Live performances, Art shows and museums.
For each domain the data gathered were used to provide information on adults and
children participation and engagement and participation across incomes lines.
Notes This is the second report based on the Institute’s National Social Survey, run twice: in
2002 and 2005. In this survey people were asked not only about what they did but
also what these experiences meant to them, both in their own words, and in response
to specific questions.
URL http://iisp.vassar.edu/artsculture.pdf
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