@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {1266},
      author = {Allen, Amanda and Baach, Patience E. and Lyons-Warren,  Abra and Schultz, Alexandria and Surh, Gregory and Teng,  Fei and Tung, Grace and Wilson, Breahna and Zhang, Meng},
      title = {Cultural Participation: A Survey about Arts & Cultural  Activities on Chicago’s South Side},
      address = {2013-03},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {Each year our graduate research class at the University of  Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy undertakes a  project to address a major issue in cultural policy. In  2013, our project was locally-based, but focused on an  issue with global implications: charting the multiple and  varied ways that people are now engaging in cultural  activities and experiences beyond the focus in recent  decades on arts attendance at established cultural venues.  Conducted periodically since 1982, the National Endowment  for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts  (SPPA) serves as the preeminent source of arts  participation data in the US. Historically, the most widely  reported summary statistic from the SPPA has been  attendance at the seven benchmark arts events.1 The 2008  SPPA found that only 34.6 percent of American adults had  attended any benchmark arts performance or exhibit in the  preceding 12 months. This finding, along with the general  downward trend in attendance across all art forms and among  all age cohorts, sent shock waves through the cultural  community of artists, arts professionals, audiences and  supporters. And the persistent finding that the majority of  cultural attenders tend to be white, well-educated, and  older than the median age of Americans was also cause for  concern and questioning. New questions have subsequently  arisen about the nature of arts and cultural participation:  What arts experiences are most relevant to people’s daily  lives? Through what means and in what settings do people  feel that they are participating in creative or cultural  activity? Does the SPPA adequately capture these  activities? Such issues about the extent and scope of  cultural participation are now being addressed in countries  around the world. A 2012 UNESCO study compiled the kinds of  survey questions that are now being asked internationally,  including “did you go to a library, attend the cinema, or  play videogames in the past 12 months?” “How often do you  read books, newspapers, magazines, or listen to the radio?”  “How often, if ever, have you taken photographs, or made  videos or movies?; played a musical instrument, sung, acted  or danced?) [UNESCO 2012]. Increasingly, arts are not  perceived as a luxury, but as an inherent cultural right to  self-expression and community participation (Ivey 2008).  Acts of individual creative expression, as well as  attendance, are vital aspects of a healthy arts ecology.  Our project to investigate the ways and means by which  individuals participate in arts and cultural experiences  took shape as a pilot project in Chicago’s South Side  community, where the University of Chicago is located. With  the help of the University-sponsored South Side Arts and  Humanities Network, we brought a local focus to the  questions of:     What “counts” as cultural participation?      How often do people participate?     What are the  physical and social contexts for participation?     How and  why do people participate in the way they do Ten cultural  organizations of varying sizes and membership, all of which  actively engage people in a range of cultural activities  and experiences, agreed to participate in our pilot study.  Our students conducted interviews with staff and volunteer  members of South Side arts and cultural organizations on  the topic of cultural participation, then developed and  conducted an online survey to gauge what kinds of cultural  participation take place in this local context. Although  our sample of respondents is an online convenience sample,  not representative of the South Side as a whole, it does  allow analysis of participation patterns within our sample  of 263 respondents. It also generates a snapshot view of  our local cultural landscape that can be used to encourage  researchers and policymakers to think much more expansively  about what cultural participation in the 21st century  means. The opportunity to address the question of “what’s  happening culturally?” in our local neighborhood proved  inspiring, particularly at this time when the latest 2012  NEA Survey of Public Participation in the Arts results are  forthcoming. In conjunction with the NEA’s recent efforts  to energize research to understand arts and cultural  engagement, we present our survey results and report with  the hope that it can make a contribution to a new and  broadened understanding of cultural participation. Jennifer  Novak-Leonard and Betty Farrell Instructors, PPHA 39703  Harris School of Public Policy, The University of Chicago  March 2013},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/1266},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.1266},
}