Latest evidence from The Audience Agency’s Cultural Participation Monitor shows that willingness to attend events has significantly increased, but COVID-19 audience safety measures remain important for some groups. The impact of the cost-of-living crisis will affect frequency of attendance and as home working increases, so too do intentions of attending arts and cultural events more locally.
- Overall there is much increased willingness to attend events and optimism about future attendance, though some groups continue to be especially concerned, with disabled people less likely to be willing or able to attend.
- Safety measures are rated as less important than they have been previously, but desire for them continues, with half of audiences still saying that they would not attend if precautions were removed all
- The cost-of-living crisis is emerging as a predictable barrier to engagement and is particularly likely to affect frequency of attendance (more than spend per attendance - though increased prices would act as a further deterrent).
- Working from home is still prevalent, preferred and expected to continue to some degree for most who are able to, which is likely a contributor to the intention to attend more locally in future than before the
Oliver Mantell, Director of Evidence and Insight, The Audience Agency says:
“We're starting to get some clues about what the new cultural landscape may look like after COVID-19, with people increasingly keen to get back to live attendance - especially younger and metropolitan groups - but with a risk of some others being left out. Ensuring disabled people aren't excluded is key, and so is adapting to the persistence of home working, which is likely to encourage more local attendance."
Explore the Key Findings in more detail
The Cultural Participation Monitor is The Audience Agency's nationwide longitudinal (ongoing) panel survey of changing views about participating in creative and cultural activities through the pandemic and beyond.