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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Previously, we learned that, at least here in Arizona, arts and culture is not only for the highly educated people. This week we consider that arts and cultural participation engages audiences far broader than those who primarily identify themselves as fans of arts and culture.

According to the Community Database, people’s lifestyles are classified into eight different categories. For example, high-tech living style, representing almost 19% of Arizona households life style means that the household has at least three of the following interests: Computers, PC Internet/Online Service User, PC Modem Owner, Games-Computer Games, Music-Home Stereo, Movie Collector, Games-Video Games, Photography, TV-HDTV/Satellite Dish; also, cultural living style indicates that household has at least three of the following interests: Arts, Collectibles-Art, Collectibles-Antiques, Theater/Performing Arts (see definitions of other category in the end of the blog for more details).

As indicated below, the pie chart shows very interesting results. Look at the cultural living category. Contrary to this expectation, people who have cultural living life style represent only 1.1% of total arts and culture ticket buyers. Turns out that those people who aspire towards different life styles, not focusing only on arts and culture, show higher proportions of arts and culture ticket buying action. Even people who have the money seeker life style account for 10% of arts and culture ticket buyers in Arizona.

The above results give us much room to develop audiences because it means that regardless of life styles, all people can be viewed as valuable marketing assets. people may have many other reasons to attend arts and culture events; for example, people can attend arts and culture event for socialization, or for spending their free time with family and friends, rather than aesthetic appreciation of arts and culture itself. Arts and culture participation is open to anyone regardless of their life styles. Further, because there are so many reasons people are induced to participate, we should broadly approach more people, and market arts and cultural products.

< Note: Definitions of Life Styles by Community Database>

Broader Living: Household has at least three of the following interests: Travel-International, Current Affairs/Politics, Theater/Performing Arts, Community/Charities, Reading-Audio Books, Reading-Magazines, Reading-Science Fiction, Reading-Religious/Inspirational, Reading

Common Living: Household has at least three of the following interests: Religious/Inspirational, Reading-Religious/Inspirational, Natural Foods, Sweepstakes/Contests, Collectibles-Coins, Collectibles-Stamps, Christian Families, Gardening.

High Brow: Household has at least three of the following interests: Investments-Personal, Investments-Real Estate, Investments-Stock/Bond, Community/Charities, Self Improvement.

Money Seekers: Household has at least three of the following interests: Investments-Personal, Investments-Real Estate, Investments-Stock/Bond.

Professional Living: Household has at least three of the following interests: Career Improvement, Self Improvement, Investments-Personal, Career Interest, Education Online.

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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Over the last couple of weeks, we examined basic demographic characteristics of arts and culture ticket buyers in Arizona. This week, we take a look at how the patron profile differs by marital status, presence of children and home ownership rate.

Following the graph below, we see that 70% of the arts and culture ticket buyers represented in the Community Database are married people. Why do arts and culture events appear to draw so many more married people than single?

One of the reasons might be the presence of children. Attending arts and culture events near their home is an easy way to spend free time with children. Let’s look at the below graph. However, contrary to this expectation, it shows distinguished results between ticket buyers who have children and those who do not. People who have children represent 42.7%, of those buying arts and cultural event tickets; rather, people who do not have children show higher proportions of ticket buying action (57.3%). So, the presence of children is not the solo reason to influence ticket buying action for married people. It may be valuable to look at other factors such as lifestyle rather than simple presence of children.

Let’s look at ticket buying by home ownership. As indicated below, home owners comprise 98.4% of the households in the Community Database!  Why would that be when, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, the proportion of home ownership of Arizona is 68.3%?  Have we actually just declared 31.7% of Arizona’s population (i.e. non-homeowners) to be NON-arts & cultural attenders?)  

That’s a fascinating and important question – but having checked with TRG Arts to make sure we really are concluding what we THINK we are concluding, let’s just call it too-early in the process for this to be considered a settled fact.

So far, no further data in the Community Database helps us to figure out what aspects impact on the ticket buying action depending on people’s home ownership. However, regardless of the presence of children, married people are clearly attractive arts and culture consumers. It will be worthwhile to investigate further what makes them attend arts and cultural events in Arizona.

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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In the previous blog, we looked at the basic demographic patron profile, age and sex. Today, we examine the household income of arts and cultural patrons in Arizona. Income can directly impact arts and culture patronage, with an expectation that active patrons are more likely drawn from higher income levels. Today, we will examine whether higher income households attend more arts and cultural events in Arizona.

First, let’s look at how the proportion of ticket-buying households varies by income in Arizona, drawing  on the Community Database. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the median household income in Arizona is $48,711.  This means that half of Arizona households make less than $48,711, and half make more.

Now consider the graph below, which shows how ticket sales break across these two (approximately) equally-sized groups.  It indicates that higher income households are a large majority (81.7%) of arts and cultural events attenders.

However, looking now at the income distribution (below table), the result suggests that we must not overlook lower income households.  Clearly, most of the action is in the higher-income categories. Households in the $70,000 to $79,999 annual income range account for 16.9% of ticket buyers.  Households with incomes ranging from $125,000 to $150,000 are the next largest group, accounting for 15.4% of attendance. These two groups alone represent one third of ticket buyers.

However, even though it seems to look like a small proportion when you are looking at the distribution,  nearly one in eight ticket-buying households (11.9%) fall in the annual income range between  $30,000 and $49,999.

Distribution of Ticket-buying Households by Levels of Income

Of course, income is not the only factor that influences ticket buying.  We have to consider other factors as well, such as genre, ticket price, and the disposition of arts and culture consumers. However, even so, I am happy to see that attending arts and cultural events is not just for the rich families. If you have previously overlooked the potential of lower to mid income households as a valuable consumer, it is time to devote attention to them from now on.

It is also important to recognize that this analysis represents an overview of the TOTAL Community Database – which itself is a growing & on-going work in progress.  In addition, organizations that are participating in the Community Database have the independent (and confidential to them) ability to specifically analyze the income profile of their own unique audiences.