December 18, 2009

The National Endowment of the Arts Survey of Public Participation in the Arts report, released earlier this year, indicated that overall arts participation fell 4.4% since 1982.  This statistic has been cause for concern throughout the arts sector about future audiences (for more information, see the Associate Press story here). 

However, a recent Los Angeles Times article has placed this decline in context by comparing it to attendance at movies and sporting events.  The article notes that movie attendance has declined twice as quickly, and that attendance at sporting events has declined four times as quickly.  The article quotes AMS Planning & Research Founding Principal Steven A. Wolff, who makes the comparison betwen sporting event experience to the arts experience.