The Scottish Government

STATISTICS ON CULTURAL PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS - BRINGING TOGETHER RECENT SCOTTISH SURVEYS - FEBRUARY 2009

1 Scottish Household Survey main survey 2007- Scotland's People: Culture and Sport Chapter 13 (sample of c10,300 adults in Scotland)

Participation

• 73% of the population had participated in cultural activities in last 12 months
• Reading for pleasure (64%) and dance (22%) were the two most popular activities
• Women were more likely than men to have participated in any cultural activity (77% v 68%)
• People over age of 75 least likely to have participated (61%)
• Participation rates increase from those in the most deprived SIMD quintile group (62%) to the least deprived (82%). The differential is greater for particular activities e.g. rehearsal - most deprived (3%), least deprived (7%); and dance - most deprived (18%), least deprived (25%).
• Participation is slightly greater in remote rural areas (80%) compared to other urban-rural classification types which are closer to Scotland as whole (73%). Those activities which show a significant differential include photography - in remote rural areas (13%) v large urban (7%) and crafts- remote rural (22%) v large urban (10%).

· Participation is lower in those with a disability (63%) compared to those without (76%). Not surprisingly, dance is less commonly undertaken by people with a disability (10%) v those without a disability (26%). Some activities e.g. crafts have similar participation in both groups (both 13%).

· There is a trend for cultural participation to be greater in groups with higher levels of academic attainment - those with a degree or professional qualifications (89%) compared with those with no qualifications (57%). For individual activities, those with a degree were at least twice as likely to have participated e.g. dance - those with no qualifications (12%) v those with degree or professional qualifications (30%).

• Reading for pleasure was undertaken more frequently than other cultural activities - 82% read for pleasure at least once a week. Of those who play a musical instrument, 55% do so at least once per week.

Attendance

· 74% of the population had attended cultural events or visited cultural places in the last 12 months.

· Seeing a film was the most common event (48%) followed by going to the library (31%); going to theatre (28%); museum (27%) and live music event (26%).

· Little difference between men and women in attendance levels.

· Attendance highest among 16-24 year olds, lowest among 75+ year olds (86% v 47%).

• Attendance rates increase from those in the most deprived SIMD quintile group (62%) to those in the least deprived (87%). The differential was greatest for opera - most deprived (3%) v least deprived (13%).

· Overall, attendance at cultural events was similar in urban and rural areas at around 75%. Those in remote rural areas were less likely to go to the cinema (38%) than those in large urban areas (52%). Conversely, those in remote rural areas were more likely to have attended a craft exhibition (24%) compared to those in large urban areas (11%).

· Attendance is lower amongst those with a disability (57%) than those without (80%). Those with a disability were less than half as likely to have attended a live music event (13%) than those with no disability (30%).

· There is a trend for cultural attendance to be greater in groups with higher levels of academic attainment - those with a degree or professional qualifications (91%) compared with those with no qualifications (51%). Visiting art or sculpture exhibitions shows a large differential - those degree or professional qualifications (40%) v those with no qualifications (6%).

• Frequency of those going to the library was higher than any other attendance - 20% go to library at least once a week, and a further 41% at least once a month

2 Scottish Household Survey Culture and Sport Module - People and Culture in Scotland (sample of c3,500 adults in Scotland)

Participation

• 79% of adults had participated in cultural activities in last 12 months.
• Reading for pleasure (64%) and doing any performance (25%) were the two most popular activities.
• Women were more likely than men to have participated in any cultural activity (82% v 74%).
• Participation highest among 16-24 year olds and lowest among 75+ years (85% v 71%).
• Participation rates increase from those in the most deprived SIMD quintile group (67%) to those in the least deprived (87%). The differential is greater for particular activities listed which involve purchases e.g. buying a book - most deprived (28%) least deprived (57%), moving to equitable levels for others e.g. dance for fitness - most deprived (5%) v least deprived (5%).
• Participation was slightly lower in small remote towns (74%) compared to other types of urban-rural area classification which matched that for Scotland as a whole (79%). Wood crafts were done by a greater proportion of people in remote rural areas (8%) compared to those in large urban areas (3%); and photography was undertaken by 14% in remote rural areas compared to 6% in large urban areas.
• Participation is lower in those with a disability (62%) compared to those without (73%). Not surprisingly, dance (for fitness) is less commonly undertaken by people with a disability (3%) v those without a disability (6%). Some activities e.g. textile crafts have similar participation in both groups (15% v 13%).
• Cultural participation is greater in groups with higher levels of academic attainment - those with a degree or professional qualifications (92%) compared with those with no qualifications (60%). For individual activities, those with a degree were two or more times as likely to have participated e.g. dance (not for fitness) - those with degree or professional qualifications (12%) v those with no qualifications (7%).

Attendance

• 75% of the population had attended cultural events in last 12 months.
• Attendance is similar for men (73%) and women (76%).
• Attendance is highest amongst the 16-24 age group (89%) and lowest in the over 75 years age group (48%).
• Attendance rates increase from those in the most deprived SIMD quintile group (60%) to those in the least deprived (89%). The differential was greatest for ballet - most deprived (2%) v least deprived (8%).
• Attendance at cultural events was lowest in small remote towns (67%) and highest in large urban areas (78%). Those in remote rural areas were less likely to go to the cinema (46%) than those in large urban areas (60%). Conversely, those in remote rural areas were more likely to have attended a craft exhibition (19%) compared to those in large urban areas (12%).
• Attendance is lower amongst those with a disability (56%) than those without (81%). Those with a disability were less than half as likely to have attended a live music event (12%) than those with no disability (25%).
• There is a trend for cultural attendance to be greater in groups with higher levels of academic attainment - those with a degree or professional qualifications (91%) compared with those with no qualifications (47%). Visiting art or sculpture exhibitions show a large differential - those with degree or professional qualifications (46%) v those with no qualifications (9%).
• Seeing a film was most common event attended (55%).
• Going to the library was measured separately - 52% of the population had gone to the library in last 12 months, with 13% having visited at least once a week, and a further 35% at least once a month.
• Attendance was highest among 16-24 year olds and lowest among 75+ years (89% v 48%).

3 Scottish Arts Council's (SAC) Taking Part Survey - sample of c5,000 adults in Scotland

Participation

• 71% of adults had participated in cultural activities in last 12 months.
• Reading for pleasure (61%) was the most common cultural participation activity.
• Participation is higher for women (75%) compared to men (66%). In the 2008 survey, female respondents were more likely than males to have read or bought one or more books (67% and 56% participated respectively) or to have undertaken any craft activity (19% and 6%).
• People aged 65+years had participation rate of 66% (lower than average of 71%.
• Those from the 10% most deprived areas were less likely to participate (66%) compared to those from other areas (71%). This was especially noticeable for reading - most deprived (57%) v others (62%).
• Analysis by urban/rural classification used aggregates for 'all towns/urban compared to 'all rural', which differs from the complete separation of six categories used in the Scottish Household Survey (SHS). However, the Taking Part survey substantiates the SHS, showing no large difference in overall participation - rural (74%) compared to other (70%). There is a preference for crafts in rural (17%) compared to other (11%) areas.
• Participation was lower for people with a disability (65%) than for those without a disability (71%).
• Those with a degree (97%) were more likely to have participated or attended an event than those with no qualifications (74%). This was particularly noticeable for reading books - those with a degree (72%) compared to those with no qualifications (51%).

Attendance

· 77% of adults had attended cultural events in last 12 months.

· Seeing a film was the most common event (55%), followed by going to the museum (32%) (this survey didn't ask about libraries).

• Attendance is similar for women (77%) and men (76%). However, women were more likely than men to have attended any theatre performance in the past twelve months (47% and 31% attended respectively) but less likely to have attended any music event (37% and 44%).

· People aged 65+ years had attendance rate of 49% (lower than the average, of 77%).

· Those from the 10% most deprived areas were less likely to attend cultural events (69%) compared to those from other areas (78%). This was especially noticeable for theatre - most deprived (27%) v others (42%).

· Overall, attendance was similar for those from rural (75%) and other areas (78%). As was found in the SHS, going to the cinema was lower amongst those from rural (49%) compared to other areas (56%).

· Attendance for people with a disability was much lower than for those without a disability - 49% v 82%.

• Those with a degree (97%) were more likely to have participated or attended an event than those with no qualifications (74%). No separate analysis for attendance was given for stratification by qualification level.

Commentary

These statistics show similar factors across the various surveys which reported in the last 6 months, for example:

· Cultural participation and attendance sits above 70%;

· Reading for pleasure, and performance, are the most popular types of participation (reading being by far the most popular);

· Women tend to participate more than men;

· Attendance and participation rates are lower for those in the higher age ranges;

· The same is true for those living in deprived areas;

· Participation and attendance patterns for different activities are location-dependent, based on urban/rural classification. One possible explanation might be the difference in the availability and accessibility of facilities, where activities not reliant on communal cultural facilities, e.g. crafts, photography, are more popular in the more rural areas;

· Larger scale differences were evident for participation and attendance by those with a disability, who clearly are less engaged with cultural activity than the rest of the population; and

· A noticeable difference is also seen between those with and without academic qualifications - those who have qualifications participate in and attend cultural activity markedly more than those who don't.

The effect of these demographic factors will be considered in relation to a further piece of analysis that is looking at the effects of exposure to culture at a young age.

It also bears explaining why these surveys are all undertaken, since it might appear from the lists of stats above that 'we seem to be measuring the same things'. For example, we may appear to be measuring the same things by the SHS main survey and the SHS Culture and Sport Module, but in fact this is not the case. We are only measuring participation rates at very high levels by the SHS main survey, and it does not look at attitudes, barriers, historic sites, archives, volunteering in culture, growing up etc.

· The principal purpose of the main survey and its questions on participation and attendance is that it will allow us (for the first time during 2009), to analyse the high level data at local authority level, and LAs can then use these levels as a baseline from which to measure cultural participation and attendance, and progress against the target proposed for the national performance framework.

· The principal purpose of the Culture and Sport Module is to look at participation and attendance not in isolation but along with attitudes, barriers, encouragement to participate/visit more, reasons why people do and do not participate etc. However, the Module also provides high level participation rates for a wider range of activities that are not explicitly captured by the main survey, and covers additional areas such as internet use, volunteering and childhood exposure to culture.

In future we plan to use the SHS main survey's participation and attendance findings, at local authority level, for the statement of High Level Stats, while using the Culture and Sport Module to look more deeply into attitudes, barriers, effect of exposure to culture when growing up etc for further policy analysis and development.

For information, the SHS stats take a broad-based approach and are gathered using random representative sampling. The SAC has its own rationale for gathering the Taking Part stats - to measure differences year on year, and to focus on different types of art forms in which they have an interest.

A general observation which sometimes is made about cultural statistics is that higher levels of participation might be attributable to the impact of a percentage of people reading only one book in a year, or going to the cinema just once a year. The SHS main survey statistics show, reassuringly, that while only 3% of those visiting the cinema in the past year had done so 'at least once a week', a further 22% had done so at least once a month, and 43% at least 3-4 times a year. In addition, 82% of those who had read a book in the last year, had done so at least once a week, whereas only 1% had only read one book in the whole year. This shows that, particularly as regards reading for pleasure, the vast majority of people who read books do so very frequently, and those who have only read one book in the last year only represent a very small proportion of the population. We are able to produce these statistics on frequency, as they are gathered through the SHS surveys (both main and Module).

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT: CULTURE, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM

February 2009