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 examined geographic characteristics of Arizona’s arts & cultural patrons. Today, we will examine overall demographic characteristics, especially age and gender. Needless to say, understanding the demographics of a region can be an efficient and effective marketing tool to attract audiences.

First, we will take a look at the age distribution of ticket buying households in AZ (as tracked by the nearly 700,000 households represented in the Community Database.)  Not surprisingly, a middle-aged population (the highest rate is range of age 52-53) is the driving force in sales. However, one thing good to observe is the STRENGTH of participation of populations leading UP to the peak at age 52-53.  (Isn’t it it interesting to note that the ”downward slide” of participation by older audiences is steeper than the upward climb of younger populations?)  For example, the range of age 52-53 households accounts for 5.8% by all buyers, while the range of age 34-35 represents 3.0% but is still greater than the power of the population over over age 66.

Now, the below graph is grouped by same generations. Generally, the age 45-64 group (baby boomers born 1946-1964) accounted for 44% of the total.  The next younger population (age 25-44) indicates the next largest buyer proportion (40%) of the total. Does that mean that as generations progress over time that arts & cultural participation stands as a major function of achieving “middle-age”?  The jury is still out on that question – and we will be using the community database to answer that question over time.

Next, let’s consider overall gender difference. The Community Database reports that women show slightly more active attendance to arts and culture event than men. Let’s look at the below graph. Women represent 52.2%, which is about 4% higher than men. Personally, I’m not surprised by this.  Whenever I attend arts and cultural events, there seem to be more women than men in attendance.  But whether this is a quantitative or qualitative difference – as measured by the Community Database – remains to be explored.

However, here are some interesting points. Even though the average attendance of women is higher than men’s, according to the below graph, the actual gap between men and women in the group of under the age 44 is less than 1%. Further, arts and cultural attendance of  the age between 65-74 shows equal proportions (6% each) as well; rather, in the group of age plus 75, men (4.2%) show more frequent buying action rather than women (3.9%). Therefore, focusing simply on women without a consideration of consumer’s age is no more magic formula to boost arts and cultural consumption.

Utilizing the classification of age, it is now possible for arts & cultural organizations to understand important and nuanced facts about their audience – and employ those insights in growing future audiences.  Remember:  every insight that we are writing about here regarding the totality of the Community Database is also easily and freely available to each organization participating in the Community Database to use to confidentially evaluate their own audiences.

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As the 6^th largest city in the United States today, the Phoenix metropolitan area has more than 130 arts and cultural organizations for Phoenix residents and visitors. The range and diversity of organizations and activities is reflective of a rich arts and cultural environment; it includes a symphony orchestra, opera and ballet companies, producing and presenting theater and dance organizations, performing arts centers, art and history museums, botanical garden, and festivals. However, not all of them are big organizations supported by large amounts of funding annually; rather most of them have relatively small annual budget to run their organizations.

As you can see, our 28 art and cultural organizations out of 49 member organizations also run their organizations on less than $500k annually–which is close to 57% of Community Database participants. On the other hand, only 19% of participating organizations have more than 6 million dollars per year.

Note: number of organizations is in the parentheses.

So, what do you think? Do you think relatively small budget organization barely contribute to the Community Database as compared to the big organizations? Below graph shows an interesting result, indicating how important small budget organizations are.

Of course, nine relatively largest budget size organizations cover 64% of households in the Community Database. However, in this graph, the point we have to focus on is not the largest budget size organizations but smallest budget size organizations. Even though their annual budget size is less than $500k, they can cover almost 29% of the households in the Community Database. Their annual budget is only 1/12 of the largest budget size. Yet even though, audiences explained by each organization may be slight, with accumulation from the numbers of organizations, almost 200,000 households are covered by small budget size organizations.

It is easy to overlook the influence of small organizations. However, like an old saying, ‘many a little make a mickle’, if small budget organizations stand together to understand their audiences, they will make a huge contribution to analyzing the whole database. Therefore, small budget size organizations are really important compositions of the Community Database.

The Swedish have a saying that “Shared joy is double joy” – and that’s a great attitude to bring to the analysis of the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database as you discover what your audiences do (and don’t) have in common with those of other organizations.  
 
So far, 49 arts & cultural organizations have uploaded their audience & supporter databases into the highly secure and totally confidential repository.  Yet their combined reach already accounts for nearly 700,000 Arizona households – which is close to 25% of ALL Arizona households.
 
It is important to understand the BREADTH of organizations represented in the Community Database – and understand that each organization’s entire database is classified into a Genre.

As you can see, various types of arts & culture organizations represented. Here is how they are grouped:  

Genre • Participating Organization(s)

• Choral/Vocal • Phoenix Boys Choir
• Orchestra/Instrumental • DuoWest • ProMusica Arizona Chorale & Orchestra • West Valley Symphony Association Inc.
• Dance • A Ludwig Dance Theatre • Arizona Dance Coalition • AZ Dance Group • Conder/Dance • Desert Dance Theatre • Scorpius Dance Theatre • Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre
• Theatre • Actors Theatre • Arizona Broadway Theatre • Arizona Theatre Company • Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre- Arizona • Carnival of Illusion • Childsplay, Inc. • Nearly Naked Theatre • New Carpa Theatre • Phoenix Theatre • Prescott Center for the Arts • Southwest Shakespeare Co. • Theatre Artists Studio
• Performing Arts Center • ASU Gammage • ASU Kerr Cultural Center • Chandler Center for the Arts • City of Prescott/Elks Opera House • Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts • Herberger Theater Center • Mesa Arts Center • Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
• Museum • Arizona Museum of Natural History • ASU Art Museum • Children’s Museum of Phoenix • Heard Museum • Phoenix Art Museum • Smoki Museum, Inc. • The Children’s Museum Alliance, Inc.
• Service/Advocacy • Alliance for Audience • Arizona Citizens/Action for the Arts
• Film • Phoenix Film Foundation
• TV/Radio • Friends of Public Radio Arizona – KJZZ & KBAQ • KAET Arizona PBS
• Education • Phoenix Conservatory of Music
• Nature • Desert Botanical Garden
• Other • Jazz in Arizona (Jazz in AZ) • Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau • Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau • West Valley Arts Council

Such a wide variety of groups are collaborating to build arts and cultural capacity in Arizona! Understanding how “genre” is represented is a basic step to get acquainted with Community Database.

In the coming weeks, we’ll examine the total database from a variety of perspectives. We’ll talk about distribution of organizations by budget size and examine audiences from the perspective of their demographics and also discover fascinating patterns in what they attend – and where – and when.

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Have a question about the Community Database that you’d like to ask Erika to explore?  Please submit it to Census@allianceforaudience.org.

November 9 is the deadline for NEW organizations to sign up for the Arizona Arts & Culture Census/Community Database!

This opportunity is FREE OF CHARGE and is exclusively available as a benefit to Alliance for Audience member organizations in Greater Phoenix, Metro Tucson, Flagstaff and the Prescott Area. 

Simply complete and return the participation agreement (CLICK HERE) by November 9.   The participation agreement includes important information regarding deadlines & processes related to uploading your data.

For additional information, please visit: http://www.allianceforaudience.org/Pages/arts&culturecensus.html or contact Matt Lehrman at MLehrman@allianceforaudience.org; 602-971-2223 x101.

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