Bolz Center for Arts Administration

Does arts education affect participation in the arts?

According to a report created by the National Endowment for the Arts, the amount of arts education individuals receive does indeed serve as an indicator for later participation in the arts. According to the report, individuals with the most arts education are the highest consumers and creators of various forms of visual art, music, drama, dance, or literature.

In fact, for the various forms of participation examined by the study (attending, listening, watching, reading, creating, performing), arts education was by far the strongest predictor in almost all areas, even more than socioeconomic status. The only area in which arts education did not predict later involvement was performance. (Much of the influence of arts performance remains unidentified.)

Not surprisingly, the report also found that the higher one's socioeconomic status, the more one participates in arts activities. However, much of this effect is due to one's socioeconomic circumstances serving as a resource factor, contributing to whether or not one receives education in the arts.

An executive summary of the report The Effects of Arts Education on Participation in the Arts is available on the NEA website.

How many people in the U.S. play musical instruments?

According to a 2003 survey conducted by The Gallup Organization and commissioned by the International Music Products Association, slightly more than half of all U.S. households surveyed (54 percent), had a member who played an instrument.

The study also found that almost half (48 percent) of those instrument-player households had at least one additional player.

Extending this finding to the 105.5 million households in the country (according to the 2000 U.S. Census), that would translate into almost 57 million households with at least one instrument player, and another 27 million additional players within those households, for a total of at least 84 million individuals that play a musical instrument in the United States.

Of the individuals who play instruments, 31 percent were between the ages of 5 to 17, and 27 percent were between the ages of 18 to 34. Not surprisingly, most individuals began their music study at a young age, with 64 percent beginning between the ages of 5 to 11, and 18 percent between the ages of 12 to 14.

SOURCE: International Music Products Association and U.S. Census

How many Americans volunteer for arts organizations?

In a 2001 survey sponsored by the Independent Sector, 44.2 percent of Americans over the age of 21 (83.9 million people) volunteered for religious or secular organizations during the previous year. Of that figure, 4.8 percent reported to have volunteered for arts, culture, and humanities organizations. That translates into approximately 9 million people.

The percentage of individuals who volunteer is greater in high-income households than in households with less income. In households where the annual income is less than $25,000, 27.3 percent volunteered for a nonprofit organization in the previous year. In households where the income is over $100,000, that figure increases to 55.5 percent.

SOURCE: Giving and Volunteering in the United States.

How many arts and culture organizations are there?

The 1997 Census of Service Industries (Economic Census) counted over 26,000 arts and cultural organizations that were active at the end of 1997. These organizations fell into three major categories:

• Performing Arts (57.9%)
• Museums, Historical Sites, etc. (21.1%), and
• Retail Arts Dealers (20.9%).

Not counting retail art dealers, there were 20,866 arts and cultural organizations. Of these, about two in five (41.6%) were tax-exempt (nonprofit), while three in five (58.4%) were not.

The largest component of organizations whose payroll counted in the 'Arts, entertainment, and recreation' sector were those in the 'Amusement and recreation industries,' comprising 61% of all establishments in this sector. Performing arts organizations, museums, historical sites, and related institutions accounted for about 21%.

It is important to note that these figures do not include organizations that had no employees, had budgets less than $25,000, or were subsidiaries of other organizations belonging to another industry (e.g. arts museums on college campuses).

SOURCE: CPANDA (the Cultural Policy & the Arts National Data Archive)

Why do people attend orchestra concerts?

A large study of classical music audiences, published in October 2002, found that people attend live orchestral performances for many reasons beyond the music itself. In fact, the study identified seven distinct values that audiences place on the live orchestral experience, with only one directly related to artistic or educational goals.

Here's an excerpt from the study's final report:

Some people use classical concerts to entertain visiting friends and family members ('occasion value'), while others use concerts as a means of nurturing and sustaining their personal relationships ('relationship enhancement value'). In focus groups, classical consumers quickly start talking about the 'healing and therapeutic value' of classical music and the 'spiritual or transformational value.' These layers of benefits and values surround the actual artistic and educational experience, which is what orchestras sell.

Understanding the range of values that drive audiences to engage in creative experience is a fundamental requirement for arts marketing, development, education, and community outreach. Only recently have such studies started to dig into the question.

SOURCE: Classical Music Segmentation Study: How Americans Relate to Classical Music and Their Local Orchestras, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, October 2002. Details available on-line.

How many jazz musicians are there?

According to a 2001 Jazz Artists Study conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture, there are an estimated 33,003 jazz musicians in New York, 18,733 in San Francisco, and 1,723 in New Orleans.

The study collected data on the working and living situations of jazz musicians in four cities—New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Detroit. In each city, two surveys were conducted:

• A conventional random sample of musicians belonging to the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
• A "respondent-driven sample" (RDS) of jazz musicians, using a new form of chain-referral sampling developed by Cornell University sociologist Douglas Heckathorn

A total of 1,963 musicians were interviewed in the AFM survey, and 733 musicians were interviewed in the RDS survey.

More information is available on the CPANDA web site. The summary report is available in downloadable format from the NEA website. Look for Research Division Report #43, "Changing the Beat: A Study of the Worklife of Jazz Musicians."

What's the economic impact of the arts?

In a report called Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts Organizations and Their Audiences, Americans for the Arts found that America's nonprofit arts industry generates $134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenues. The $134 billion total includes $53.2 billion in spending by arts organizations and $80.8 billion in event-related spending by arts audiences.

Furthermore, the report found that the $134 billion in activity generated:

• 4.85 million full-time equivalent jobs
• $89.4 billion in household income
• $6.6 billion in local government tax revenues
• $7.3 billion in state government tax revenues
• $10.5 billion in federal income tax revenues

You can read all about the report, and download its specifics, from the Americans for the Arts web site. They also have a handy Arts & Economic Prosperity Calculator to run some numbers for your own community.

How many people participate in arts and cultural activities?

The 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) found that about half of the adult population of the United States attended at least one of seven "benchmark" arts activities (jazz, classical music, opera, musical plays, plays, ballet, or art museums) in the twelve months prior to the survey. This translates to an estimated 97 million American adults who were exposed to at least one of these seven arts activities.

When the list of arts-related activities is expanded to include four others (visiting historic sites, attending arts or crafts fairs, attending dance performances other than ballet, and reading "plays, poetry, novels, or short stories"), the overall rate of public participation increases to four out of five American adults (80.7%; 157.8 million) who participated in at least one of these eleven activities during the 12 months leading up to the 1997 SPPA study.

Adult Participation in Arts and Cultural Activities- 1997
Arts and Cultural Activities	Percent of Adults who Participated at Least Once in Past 12 Months	Estimated Number of Adults (in millions)	Average Number of Visits Per Attendee	Estimated Total Number of Visits (in millions)
Seven Benchmark Activities
Jazz performance	11.9%	23.3	3.1	72.2
Classical music	15.6%	30.5	2.9	88.5
Opera	4.7%	9.2	1.8	16.5
Musical play	24.5%	47.9	2.2	105.4
Play (non-musical)	15.8%	30.9	2.5	77.3
Ballet	5.8%	11.3	1.7	19.3
Art museum	34.9%	68.3	3.3	225.3
Other Cultural Activities
Dance (other than ballet)	12.4%	24.3	2.6	63.1
Historic park	46.9%	91.7	4.1	376.1
Arts/craft fair	47.5%	92.9	2.6	241.6
Literature	63.1%	123.4	NA	NA
Source: 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts Summary Report (Washington DC: National Endowment for the Arts, 1998)

SOURCE: CPANDA (the Cultural Policy & the Arts National Data Archive)

Where do nonprofit arts and cultural organizations receive financial support?

In fiscal year 1998, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations received 54% of their revenue from earned income, 25% from private sector income, 12% from investment income, and 9% of their income from public sources, according to data from the 2001 National and Local Profiles of Cultural Support study.

Financial support for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations can be divided into four sources of revenue -- earned income, public contributions, private contributions, and investment income. Earned income includes all revenues from admissions, fundraising, and other sales of product or services; in fiscal year 1998, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations received the largest portion of their organizational revenue from this source (54%). The second highest portion of revenue came from private contributions (25%), which include donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Interest and endowment income represented 12% of revenues, followed by public contributions from government, which represented 9% of total organizational revenue.

SOURCE: CPANDA (the Cultural Policy & the Arts National Data Archive)