Alternative Modes of Arts Participation Survey Highlights – Multi-arts

Hong Kong Arts Development Council commissioned a research consultancy to study the public perceptions of and behaviours on alternative modes of arts participation during COVID-19, in particular being the audience via alternative channels such as social media, paid video-on-demand platforms, and TV / radio broadcast. An online survey was conducted in January 2021 on a random sample of 1,500 Hong Kong citizens aged 16-64. Full report of the survey has been published here. The following is a summary of findings on the Multi-arts section.

1	Changes in Overall Participation Incidence
	1.1	For the purpose of this survey, Multi-arts referred to performances encompassing two or more art forms (e.g. electronic music theatre with digital imagery), or performances involving elements of magic, acrobatics, sand painting, video projection, etc.
	1.2	Participation in Multi-arts programmes dropped slightly from 11% in 2018-2019 to 10% during COVID-19. (See the left of the chart below)
	1.3	Of the 1,500 respondents, 46% had at some point participated in Multi-arts programmes as audience. 4% of the respondents were Retaining Participants, who were not influenced by COVID-19 and had participated in all time periods. (See the right of the chart below)
	1.4	Despite 6% of the respondents having lapsed since the COVID-19 outbreak, 4% resumed participation in Multi-arts programmes during the epidemic. (See the right of the chart below)
	1.5	During COVID-19, respondents aged 25-34 and married persons having children under the age of 18 were more active in watching Multi-arts programmes or participating in other kinds of activities related to Multi-arts.
	1.6	Whether before or during the epidemic, the respective participation incidences of men and women in Multi-arts programmes were both at around 10%. However, the reasons for not participating in Multi-arts programmes were slightly different between the two genders. For example, more men suggested that they were not interested in the art form or that they had no relevant knowledge for appreciating the arts programmes.
2	Physical-mode and Alternative-mode Participation and Future Potential
	2.1	The percentage of audience participation in Multi-arts programmes via alternative modes grew from 77% in 2018-2019 to 96% during COVID-19. The main channels were social media platforms, TV/radio broadcast and paid video-on-demand platforms. (See the right of the chart below)
	2.2	Compared to physical-mode participation before the epidemic, alternative-mode participation in Multi-arts programmes during COVID-19 was more frequent. (From the left of the chart below, in 2018-2019, 44% of physical-mode participants participated 2 times or more on average per year; whereas during COVID-19, 52% of alternative-mode participants participated 2 times or more.)
	2.3	During COVID-19, 25% of participants were willing to pay for alternative-mode Multi-arts programmes. (See the left of the chart below)
	2.4	Participation rate in non-local Multi-arts programmes during COVID-19 (42%) was slightly higher than that before the epidemic. (See the left of the chart below)
	2.5	57% of all respondents expressed interest in watching Multi-arts programmes at post-COVID-19 period, more than triple the actual participation incidence in recent years (16% in Jan 2018 - Jan 2021). Although respondents expressed greater interest for both physical- and alternative-mode Multi-arts programmes, the interest growth for physical-mode participation was more prominent.
3	Potential Participants
	3.1	Nearly 60% of the respondents expressed interest in watching Multi-arts programmes at post-COVID-19 period. From the chart below, it could be seen that the sample of potential participants (the right column) and that of Multi-arts programme audience from Jan 2018 to Jan 2021 (the middle column) were both skewed towards young adults aged 25-34, married persons having children under the age of 18 and blue-collar workers.
	3.2	Potential participants of alternative-mode Multi-arts programmes generally expected to pay at 50% of the physical ticket price. (See the left of the chart below)
	3.3	85% of potential participants at post-COVID-19 period did not participate in Multi-arts programmes at the moment (i.e. they were Lapsed Participants or Non-participants). Among the Non-participants who had never watched Multi-arts programmes before but expressed interest in physical-mode participation in the future, 25% had not participated in Multi-arts programmes in 2018-2019 due to high ticket prices (see the right of the chart below). Therefore, in order to attract them to attending Multi-arts programmes, the ticket prices should be more affordable.
Click here to download the full analysis on the Multi-arts section.