Nearly half of people engaged with arts and culture digitally during the pandemic
April 2022
Cultural Participation Monitor
Wave 6 | Spring 2022
This research is from The Audience Agency's nationwide longitudinal (ongoing) panel survey of changing views about participating in creative and cultural activities through the recent and ongoing crises, and beyond, the Cultural Participation Monitor.
Themes
Nearly half of people say that they engaged with arts and culture online in some form during the pandemic, weighted towards audiences who are younger, typically high cultural engagers anyway, or disabled.
Overall, 45% of people said they had taken part in an online cultural activity during the pandemic.
- This is much higher in the 16-24 age category, as well as for Metroculturals.
- Those with some specific types of disability were also more likely to engage online than the overall average, such as those who are visually impaired and those with depression or anxiety.
The types of activity with the most online engagement are watching a performance/event, following by a virtual tour/online exhibition.
- More niche categories like immersive/virtual reality digital art or online creative workshops see 5-10% of respondents taking part.
- It should be noted that across nearly all online activities, the same percentages of respondents said they were doing this before the pandemic.
- Watching a live or recorded performance online is the exception, increasing from 23% to 28%.
Other findings from Wave 6 | Spring 2022
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Willingness to attend events, especially outdoors, is rising
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.
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Support for Covid-19 safety measures is starting to ebb
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 together.
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The cost of living crisis is starting to impact people's willingness or ability to spend on arts and culture
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).
