Americans Attend the Arts

Percent of U.S. Adults Attending a Live Arts Event: 1982-2002

The percentage of Americans attending live arts events held relatively steady over the past 20 years at 40 percent.

Year – Attendance Percentage
1982 – 39.0%
1992 – 41.0%
2002 – 39.4%

In 2002, four-in-ten American adults (39.4 percent) attended at least one of seven “benchmark” arts activities: live jazz, classical music, opera, musical, play, ballet or art museum (not including elementary or high school performances). Although the 2002 rate (39.4 percent) is slightly less than the 1992 rate (41.0 percent), this difference is not statistically significant. While the attendance rate dropped between 1992 and 2002, the U.S. population grew. Thus, there was actually an increase in the number of adults that attended at least one of the benchmark arts activities from 76 million to 81 million, during this same time period.

(Source: 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, 2003.)

Percentage of 143.3 million U.S. adult travelers that included culutral events on trips of 50+ miles:

Any Cultural - 65% (92.7 million)
Historic Site – 43% (61 million)
Museum – 30% (42.6 million)
Live Theatre – 23% (32.8 million)
Art Gallery – 21% (30.2 million)
Heritage/Ethnic Festival – 20% (29.1 million)
Opera/Classical Concert – 10% (13.7 million)
Dance Performance – 9% (13.5 million)
Poetry/Literary Reading – 5% (7 million)
Film Festival – 3% (4.6 million)
Other Concert – 19% (27.3 million)
Other Cultural Activity – 14% (20.4 million)

“Arts, culture and heritage are key to marketing your community to domestic and international travelers” was the message to travel professionals from the Travel Industry Association of America’s 1998 and 2001 studies of cultural tourists.

(Source: Partners in Tourism and Travel Industry Association of America, 2002).