Motivational and Demographic Factors for Performing Arts Attendance Across Place and Form

Abstract

Previous research seeking to explain why people attend live performing arts events has focused primarily on demographic explanations, such as the age or income of patrons. Recent research reinvigorates an old debate regarding the veracity of psychological motivations for attendance, such as an appreciation for beauty or the opportunity to socialize with others. We add to this line of inquiry by investigating how demographic and motivation explanations fare across three cities, and for three different art forms. We find that demographic variables fare better overall than psychological motivations across place and form. Despite evidence of strong consistency of the magnitude of variable coefficients across place and form, we conclude with warnings that inconsistencies of significant effects between place and form should cause us to question whether results in one or several sites can provide stable and useful generalizations for managers and arts marketers.

Understanding the cultural consumption of a new wave of immigrants: the case of the South Korean community in South West London

“…This explanation is certainly plausible in light of the qualitative findings that indicated that perceived cultural and language barriers were particularly high amongst South Korean immigrant group. Although childhood exposure to the arts was not significant in explaining omnivorous cultural consumption, this same variable, and in line with Hager and Winkler's () work, did have a strong impact on highbrow arts consumption ( F = 4.823, sig. = 0.031; F = 6.517, sig.…”

“…Social/economic status (H2a) and childhood exposure to the arts (H2c) could not explain the cultural consumption practices of the sample, even though in the western world, these are suggested as some of the best predictors of adult participation in the arts (see Silva, ; Bennett et al ., ; Hager & Winkler, ). To understand why these variables were not significant, a number of analyses of variation were carried out to see how sample members' cultural consumption responses differed according to these items.…”

“…Previous research in the field has found that the best predictors of adult participation in the arts are childhood exposure to the arts (Upright, 2004;Buraimo et al, 2011;Hager & Winkler, 2012) and educational attainment (Robinson et al, 1985, p. 15;McCarthy & Jinnett, 2001;Upright, 2004;Silva, 2006), followed closely by social class (Silva, 2006;Bennett et al, 2009), occupational class (Bennett et al, 2009), status (Chan & Goldthorpe, 2007) and income (Nichols, 2003;Roberts, 2004;Buraimo et al, 2011). People with higher levels of education have been found to feel more comfortable with, and more appreciative of the arts, especially more highbrow forms (Hager & Winkler, 2012). According to Van Eijck (1997) and Ganzeboom, Nagel and Harry (2002), parents' cultural resources were the most important determinant of the cultural participation of their children.…”

Flow within theatrical consumption: The relevance of authenticity

“…the work of a particular director), and reduction of negative experiences (e.g. escaping from events) (Bouder‐Pailler, ; Cuadrado and Mollà, ; Caldwell, ; Swanson et al ., ; Hager and Winkler, ; Walmsley, ). Audience behaviour, as a research topic, has garnered scholarly attention in the last three decades, mainly from the disciplines of marketing and consumer behaviour, following the ideas of broadening of marketing (Kotler and Levy, ) and consummation potential of everything individuals do (Holbrook, ).…”

Theatre Art In The Information Age: Youth Audience Perception Features

“…with the world of art, actors and directors (Hager & Winkler, 2012;Montgomery, 2017;Sedgman, 2017;Wing, Glos, & Kenson, 2017).…”