Funded by: Derbyshire Arts Development Group

Participation in the Arts and Well-Being:

Barriers and Benefits

Glenn A. Williams, Alan Humberstone & Tim Harris

British Psychological Society Annual Conference

14-16 April 2010

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Taking Part in the Arts: Headlines

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Benefits From the Arts: Three Components

•Intrinsic benefits

•Extrinsic benefits

•No benefits at all

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Barriers to Participating in the Arts

6 groups:

• Time-conscious

• Non-motivated

• Arts resistant

• Uninformed

• Isolated

• No barriers

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Context

•National Indicator 11 – Engagement in the arts

– Defined as “% of adult (16 years or over) engaged (attended or participated at least 3 times in last 12 months”

– National average = 45%– London = 49.4% (Sport England’s Active People Survey

2009)– Derbyshire estimate = 39.4% - 43.6%– Rest of East Midlands = 42.4% - 50.2%

•DCMS (2008) Taking Part:

– Engagement at least once in last 12 months– 65% in East Midlands– 17 different arts activities measured

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Other Research into Arts Engagement

•Highly Engaged

– Urban Arts Eclectic– Traditional Culture Vulture

•Some Engagement

– Fun, Fashion & Friends– Mature Explorers– Dinner and a show– Family & community

focused– Bedroom DJs– Mid-life hobbyists– Retired arts and crafts

•Not currently engaged:

– Time-poor dreamers– Quiet pint with the match– Older and home-bound

Arts Council England (2008) Arts Audiences: Insight

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Methods: Sampling

•Citizens Panel (May-August 2008) in Derbyshire

•Eight districts 4,327 out of 8,000 (54% response rate)

•Response rate 39% - 65% by district

•Approx 50/50 split by sex (49.9% female)

•Mainly White British (97.9%)

•Age split roughly even:

=<44 years (30.5%)45-59 years (34.2%)60 + years (34.9%)

http://www.maps-of-britain.co.uk/map-of-derbyshire.htm

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Methods: Measures

•Arts engagement: Same 17 items as DCMS Taking Part arts activities (e.g. Theatre; art; craft; classical music) and added ‘Film’ as well

•Barriers to taking part: 17 items (e.g. ‘not really interested’, ‘wouldn’t enjoy it’) yes/no response scoring

•Perceptions of the arts (including benefits): 17 items (e.g. ‘It makes me feel good’, ‘arts events are not inclusive enough’): scored with 5-point Likert scale responses

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Arts Events: Most and Least Popular for Interest

Most Popular by Ranking Districts

1st: Theatre (e.g. plays or drama)

5 out of 8

1st: Film 3 out of 8

2nd: Other Theatre (e.g. musicals, pantomimes)

5 out of 8

Least Popular by Ranking Districts

Culturally specific festivals (e.g. Mela, Bhaisakhi, Navatri)

6 out of 8

Video/electronic arts events 1 out of 8

Exhibition of art, photography, sculpture

1 out of 8

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Arts Events: Most and Least Popular for Taking Part

•Similar trends for events rating highly in popular participation:

– Theatre performances (plays, dramas)– Other Theatre performances (pantomime,

musicals)– Film (2nd most popular in 2 districts, joint most

popular in 1 district)

•Events that were the least popular in participation

– Culture events (5 out of 8 districts)– Exhibition of art, photography, sculpture (1 district)– Video/electronic arts events (3 districts)

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Frequency of Participation

Frequency No. (%)

At least once a week 104 (2.4%)

At least once a month 406 (9.4%)

Three to four times a year 1,081 (25.0%)

One or two times a year 1,131 (26.1%)

More than a year ago 571 (13.2%)

Never 667 (15.4%)

Don’t know 176 (4.1%)

Missing response 191 (4.4%)

TOTAL 4,327 (100%)

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Perceptions of the Arts: Benefits

•Factor analysis:

– Maximum Likelihood factor extraction– Kaiser’s criterion– Orthogonal factor rotation

Factor Total % of variance Cum. % of variance

1 6.87 40.39 40.39

2 2.07 12.17 52.56

3 1.17 6.88 59.45

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Factor 1: Intrinsic benefits (loadings)

• It makes me feel good (.81)

•Arts events are a good thing (.75)

•Many arts events are entertaining (.72)

• It broadens my horizons (.71)

• Intellectual stimulation (.71)

•Productive use of my time (.70)

• It gives me a sense of wonder and awe (.70)

•Time seems to pass by more quickly (.67)

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Factor 2: Extrinsic benefits (loadings)

•Working as a group (.82)

•Physical health (.78)

•A sense of personal identity (.68)

•Makes my community have a stronger group identity (.67)

•Like meeting new people (.66)

•Like being with those with whom I have a lot in common (.61)

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Factor 3: Lack of benefits (loadings)

•Many arts events are not inclusive enough (.75)

•Most arts events are difficult to understand (.71)

• In general arts events do not provide good VFM (.70)

http://makingmore.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/if-more-was-a-picture/

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Barriers to Arts Participation

•Latent Class Analysis used

•Analysed with MPlus 4 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2006)

•2 17 possible (yes/no) response patterns

•654 response patterns obtained

•Most common response patterns:

– ‘Nothing stops me’ ONLY– ‘No’ to all reasons– ‘Lack of time’ ONLY– ‘Lack of interest’ ONLY– ‘Lack time’ AND ‘too costly’

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Deciding on number of classes

Model LRX2 (d.f) p AIC BIC SSABIC LRT Entropy

2 3599.39 (262040) 1.00

46433.15 46681.67 46557.75 2111.90 (0.00)

0.64

3 2942.01 (262023) 1.00

45786.64 46162.61 45975.13 682.44 (0.00)

0.63

4 2538.01 (262005) 1.00

45405.09 45908.51 45657.48 419.04 (0.00)

0.70

5 2432.92 (262003) 1.00

45069.09 45699.95 45385.37 373.20 (0.04)

0.68

6 2186.01 (261986) 1.00

44805.83 45564.14 45186.01 301.46 (0.00)

0.71

7 2045.14 (261968) 1.00

44681.17 45566.93 45125.25 164.04 (0.14)

0.71

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Profile of latent classes

Class 1: Arts resistant Probability of saying ‘yes’

Not really interested 70%

Don’t really know enough about it 50%

It’s difficult to find the time 45%

Never occurred to me 40%

I wouldn’t enjoy it 30%

Class 2: Time conscious

It’s difficult to find the time 77%

Class 3: Uninformed

Not enough information on what is available

93%

Not enough notice about the event

65%

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Profile of latent classes continued

Class 4: Geographically and financially isolated

Probability of saying ‘yes’

It costs too much 60%

Lack of transport 55%

Not close enough 40%

Don’t have anyone to go with 20%

Class 5: Non-motivated

Not really interested 35%

Class 6: No barriers

Nothing stops me from attending 100%

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Sex differences: Benefits & barriers

•Benefits:

– Females significantly higher levels of intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of arts participation

– Males significantly higher levels of lack of perceived benefits

•Barriers:

– Females more likely to be in the ‘time conscious’, ‘geographically & financially isolated’ and ‘non-motivated’ classes

– Males more likely to be in the ‘arts resistant’, ‘uninformed’ and ‘no barriers’ classes

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Age group differences: Benefits & barriers

•Benefits:

– No significant age differences

•Barriers:

– Aged 60+ years: Less likely to be in the ‘arts resistant’ class and more likely to be in the ‘no barriers’ class

– Aged 60-64 and 65-74 years: More likely to be in the ‘time conscious’ class

– Aged 25-44 years: More likely to be in ‘arts resistant’, ‘geographically and financially isolated’ and ‘non-motivated’ classes

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Discussion & Where Next?

•Representative sample, non-biased sampling, large scale compared to other similar studies

•Understands the psychology behind participation and non-participation in the arts

•Can complement Arts Council England’s segmentation approach

•Currently being used to target interventions as follow-up Arts Audience Development projects in the area (by Cultivate East Midlands):

– ‘On your doorstep’– ‘Little Treasures’– ‘Audiences of the Future’