National Arts Agency News
Show latest news, more from July 2005.
Research Results Support Scottish Art
IFACCA/Artshub, 13 July 2005,United Kingdom
The findings from new research commissioned by the Scottish Arts Council reveal there is widespread support for the arts nationally.
The main objectives of the survey, entitled Taking Part, were:
To enable the Scottish Arts Council to identify and profile attenders and participants in terms of demographic data.
To assess attitudes towards a number of arts-related issues.
To provide general information for use by the Scottish Arts Council and other arts-related
organisations for advocacy purposes.
To provide baseline data on attendance, participation and attitudes among specific under-represented groups
Overall 2,753 face-to-face in-home interviews were undertaken throughout Scotland, with 2,020 interviews becoming the ‘core’ sample, representative of the Scottish adult population in terms of geographical distribution, age, working status, ethnicity and socio-economic profile.
The research, carried out in mid-2004, reveals that nine out of 10 adults agree that the success of Scottish art and cultural activity gives the outside world a good impression of Scotland, and eight out of 10 people agreed that central government has a responsibility to support arts and culture. Additionally, 81% of all respondents said that if any local area lost its arts and cultural activities, local people would lose something of value.
In terms of attendance and participation, findings show that:
Three out of four people in Scotland had attended an arts or cultural event in the previous 12 months
There is a huge potential for new audiences at arts events with around 40% of Scottish adults saying they would consider attending an arts or culture event that they had never been to before.
Two thirds of people had participated in an arts or culture event in the previous twelve months with reading books the most popular activity to participate in. 54% of the adult population had read at least one book in the last 12 months and 43% had read four or more books.
The research also included specific questions about the attendance, participation and attitudes of specific groups including women, disabled people, residents of deprived and rural areas, over 65s, people aged 16-24, and minority ethnic communities. To increase the accuracy of separate analyses undertaken amongst groups with a lower abundance across the population generally, a further 471 interviews were undertaken with members of minority ethnic communities and 287 were undertaken with residents of deprived areas. The results of these ‘booster’ interviews are reported separately.
Graham Berry, Chief Executive of the Scottish Arts Council, said: ‘The research results reinforce the confidence we have in Scotland’s artists and arts organisations to provide the best experiences for audiences and to make their fellow Scots proud.
‘This does not make us complacent, however, and it’s clear from the research there are some who are still not able to experience the fullest range of cultural opportunities. We will continue to address this in the forthcoming update to our policies on arts and disability and through our ongoing work looking at all of the barriers that prevent people from taking part,” he said.
To view the main report, CLICK HERE
To view the research into under-represented groups, CLICK HERE
For further information, CLICK HERE
Show latest news, more from July 2005.
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >