The coming crisis of cultural engagement? Measurement, methods, and the nuances of niche activities

Abstract

Do ticketing data and national survey data on attendance tell the same story? This question is particularly important in the context of debates over the power of new forms of data to supplant the "traditional" survey methods that have underpinned our understanding of the social stratification of culture. This paper compares three data sources on attendance: the Active Lives Survey, the Taking Part Survey, and Audience Finder. We first compare self-reported attendance at events in each English local authority from the Active Lives survey with ticket sales data, finding a close relationship. We follow up by comparing the distributions of ticket buyers across the Indices of Multiple Deprivation with those from Taking Part, finding that for widelyticketed and widely-attended art forms they track closely together, providing support for existing trends. Ticketing data does not seem to offer more information on social stratification than traditional social science sources. However, we extend the comparison through more detailed analysis of subcategories within less well-researched formsliterature and dance eventswhere numbers of attendees are lower, with accompanying uncertainty in survey sources. We find that the audiences for dance vary widely, with ballet attendance being heavily socially stratified but attendance at contemporary dance much more similar to the general population. However, we find that audiences for literature events are more heavily socially stratified than almost any other art form, almost regardless of the subcategory. The power of new datasets is in offering specificity about artforms, rather than overturning what we know about culture and inequality.

Class and the problem of inequality in theatre

“…When looking specifically at class-as-occupation, we see creative occupations, including those in theatre and performing arts, as having much higher levels of attendance and engagement in culture as compared to those in other professional and managerial occupations, and very different patterns to those in routine or manual, working-class, occupations. This pattern holds if we consider other means of data collection, such as ticketing, and other ways of thinking about inequality, such as levels of deprivation in an area (Hanquinet, O'Brien, and Taylor 2019).…”

Cultural participation in digital environments: goals and stakes for Quebec cultural policies

“…Although many culture professionals are enthusiastic about the prospects for exploiting behavioural data, which would allow for detailed analysis of certain niche activities (Hanquinet et al 2019), these new practices also raise anxieties. They are rejected by some artists as antithetical to their political values and underground positioning (Creton 2018).…”