The Pandemic's Impact on Arts Attendance: Report from the NEA

The Arts Participation Patterns in 2022, is a report released by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) analyzing the results of the 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA).

The report explores how American adults participated in various arts activities over a 12-month period ending in July 2022, including attending arts events, creating art, reading books, and consuming art through digital media. The document highlights key findings, demographic differences in attendance rates, and provides an overview of the survey's methodology. The report also examines trends in arts participation, particularly in comparison to previous SPPA surveys conducted in 2017 and 2012.

One of the most striking findings is the overall decline in arts attendance. Compared to 2017, the rate dropped by almost six percentage points.

Attendance at performing arts events not specifically listed in the survey actually rose. This category, which encompasses genres like rock, folk, country, rap, hip-hop, comedy, improv, magic shows, and circus acts, saw participation grow to 21 percent of adults. This suggests a potential shift in audience preferences towards more diverse and non-traditional art forms.

The survey also highlighted the growing influence of social media in promoting arts events. Over 17 percent of adults reported first learning about an event they attended through social media, while 15 percent learned through friends, neighbors, or coworkers. This underscores the importance of digital platforms for arts organizations seeking to connect with audiences and build excitement for their programming.

Book readership, unfortunately, continued its downward trend. Fewer than 50 percent of adults reported reading any book in the past year, a decline of four and six points from 2017 and 2012, respectively. Novels and short stories experienced a particularly steep drop, with the reading rate diminishing by 17 percent over the past decade. This decline is concerning, raising questions about the future of literature and the factors contributing to this trend.

While the 2022 SPPA reveals a mixed landscape for arts participation, it offers valuable insights into the evolving ways Americans engage with the arts. The data underscores the resilience of art making, the growing importance of digital platforms, and the potential shift in audience preferences towards more diverse and accessible art forms. As the arts sector continues to recover from the pandemic, understanding these trends is crucial for developing strategies to promote participation and ensure the arts remain a vital part of American life.

Breaking (when it means dance, not news): Links

Years ago when I worked at Ballet Hispanico I saw a dancer rehearsing wearing a t-shirt that read "I'm not a tomboy, I'm an athlete". The phrase stuck with me. I remember thinking that a variation of the shirt could easily be "I’m an athlete because I’m a dancer."

Since Breaking was announced as the latest addition to the Olympics that phrase has been on my mind. I've been pleased to see so much conversation on my feeds with Breaking being about joyful, curious, exciting subjects instead of the latest in news mayhem.

• B-Girl Ami Yuasa wins first-ever breaking Olympic gold medal. (YouTube)

• B-Boy Phil Wizard claims inaugural men's breaking gold at Paris Olympics. (YouTube)

• How Breaking Went From a Street Dance to an Olympic Sport. This summer, 32 athletes will compete in what's commonly known as breakdancing, a dance sport that combines athleticism and artistry. (Smithsonian Magazine)

• Dance Leads the Way as Art Meets Sport at the Cultural Olympiad. A program of arts events shown in conjunction with the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games looks at the relationship between art and sport. (New York Times)

• Fantastic feature explaining Breaking: More than 50 years since its inception, BREAKING will debut as an Olympic sport in Paris, where B-boys and B-girls will vie for gold and glory. (New York Times)

• How Will Breaking Be Scored at the Olympics? A panel of nine judges will apply Olympic rules to the dance form that originated as a free-flowing expression of hip-hop culture. (New York Times)

• What if All Dance Forms Were Considered Equal? At the Palais Garnier, ballet met hip-hop and beyond in a glittering Cultural Olympiad presentation of Saïdo Lehlouh's ever-evolving "Apaches." (New York Times)

• Once Sidelined, Breaking's B-Girls Now Throw Down at Center Stage. Women are competing in breaking in greater numbers and, thanks to better training and more opportunities, with more dynamic moves. (New York Times)

• The Surprise of the Olympics: Breakers' Delight. Breaking was invented by Black and brown kids, mostly male, in the Bronx in the 1970s. That it made Olympic history by opening with B-girls was everything. The logic of introducing breaking as a new competitive event aside, these female competitors, with their B-girl spirit and ethos, pulled the Olympic Games into the global here and now. (New York Times)

• A Viewer's Guide to Breaking at the Olympics. (Dance Magazine)

• Judging Breaking at the Olympics Is an Art, Not a Science. Breaking debuts as an Olympic sport at the Paris Games. To get there, the breaking community had to figure a way to objectively judge the subjective, while letting the dance remain a dance. (Wired)

• Don't Think Breakdancing Is a 'Real' Olympic Sport? The World Champ Agrees (Kinda) Phil Wizard, the current favorite for Olympic Gold, says it's an art and culture first. But if you're gonna hate, he'd like you to at least learn the proper terminology. (Wired)

• Poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years. What Happened? Pierre de Coubertin hoped the modern Games would encourage the ancient Greek notion of harmony between "muscle and mind." (Smithsonian Magazine)

The Arts Contribute More Than $760 Billion to the U.S. Economy

The National Endowment for the Arts: 

Produced by the BEA and NEA, the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACSPA) tracks the annual economic impact of arts and cultural production from 35 industries, both commercial and nonprofit. The ACPSA reports on economic measures—value-added to gross domestic product (GDP) as well as employment and compensation. For the first time, the report also includes the arts impact on state economies as contributions to gross state product (GSP). The numbers in this report are from 2015, the most recent reporting year. 

The arts contributed $763.6 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015, 4.2 percent of GDP and counted 4.9 million workers, who earned $372 billion in total compensation.

• The arts added four times more to the U.S. economy than the agricultural sector and $200 billion more than transportation or warehousing.

• The arts saw a $20 billion trade surplus, leading with movies and TV programs and jewelry.

• The arts trended positively between 2012 and 2015 with an average growth rate of 2.6 percent, slightly higher than 2.4 percent for the nation’s overall economy. Between 2014 and 2015, the growth rate was 4.9 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars.

How much is 'smarter' worth?

Seth Godin: 

Smarter about the process, about the effects, about planning. Smarter about leadership, about management, about measurement.

How much is smarter worth?

In my experience, smarter is almost always a bargain, something you can buy for a lot less than it's worth.

Stephen Fry Hates Dancing

Stephen Fry Hates Dancing turns a monologue on the myriad ways in which the British comedian and actor hates rhythmic human movement into a strange celebration of the art through a spirited interpretive-dance reenactment/rebuttal. Directed, choreographed and performed by the US dancer and filmmaker Jo Roy, the result is a delightfully charged piece of performance art that’s utterly engaging, whichever side of the dance divide you tap your feet.