Whilst overall public engagement with the arts remained constant between 2005/06 and 2006/07, there were statistically significant year-on-year decreases in attendance at four types of arts event during this period: plays and dramas, craft exhibitions, classical music performances, and operas or operettas. This and other data about attendance and participation in the arts by adults in the UK have been revealed in the latest DCMS ‘Taking part’ report, which gives details of the findings from its ongoing survey of 29,000 people conducted by BMRB Social Research into engagement and non-engagement in all types of culture and sport. The latest data, covering the period 2006/07, show that 66% of all adults attended an arts event that year, which was not significantly different from total attendance levels the previous year. The most popular type of events were ‘other theatre performances’, a category which includes musicals and pantomimes but excludes plays or drama, and ‘live music events’, excluding jazz or classical music. Between them, these genres accounted for more than half of all attendances. Although there was a significant increase in attendance by adults from a mixed ethnic background (up 10%), attendances by those from Black ethnic backgrounds fell by 6% compared with the previous year, and there was an 8% fall in attendance by those with no personal income. ‘Not really interested’ was the main reason given for non-attendance, cited by a third of all respondents.
The survey also covered arts participation, and found that just over half of all adults claimed some involvement in this. The most popular arts activities were buying original crafts (15%), textile crafts (13%) and painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture (12%). There were significant year-on-year increases in participation in dance, excluding ballet, but decreases in seven activities, with the largest being in creating original artworks using a computer. Participation by those with no personal income fell by 5%, and by adults living in London it fell by 6%, while there was an increase of 12% in participation by adults from a mixed ethnic background.