Community Database: Ticket Buying by Education

Erika Sung is an ASU doctoral student in community resources and development where she focuses on non-profit management.  Her analysis of the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database is underwritten by a grant from the Lodestar Foundation.  

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Here is one assumption – the more people are educated, then  the more they are interested in arts and culture, and the more  likely they are to buy tickets.  At first glance, that argument seems very reasonable if we only think of it from an arts appreciation perspective.

So, today we will examine how patrons for arts and culture differ by their education level. Look at the below graph.  We see that the largest proportion of arts and culture ticket buyers in the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database are people who have high school degrees. They represent almost half of the buyers, and  people who have college degree or graduate degree are a smaller part of the whole.

However, according to the US Census Bureau 2010 (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04000.html), the proportion of people (age 25+) who have high school degree is 85% in AZ; on the other hand, people who have Bachelor’s degree or higher indicate only 26.3%. If we consider this information, the result lends the credence to the above assumption. Even though people who have Bachelor’s or higher degree represent about one quarter of AZ residents, according to the below graph, they account for over 50% of ticket purchases.

The result supports to an extent, the assumption that arts & cultural participation corresponds to the level of educational achievement. However, in the meantime, it would be narrow and outdated view of arts and culture audience to think that only highly educated people attend arts and cultural events. People with lower educational attainment relatively account for over 80% of AZ residents. If organizations succeed in attracting them, it will make organizations have full of potential to grow.

Further, when organizations do their own analysis, it will be interesting to see how that finding stacks up for different types of events & activities. For example, it will be worthwhile to look at how a museum’s membership compares to audiences for musical theatre, dance or performances for families with children.

It’s time to let go of that old narrow-minded assumption, and we should approach more people to encourage their attendance because people with high school degree are still substantial arts and cultural audiences.