Behavioural Study on Arts Participants: Stage 3 – Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation

The stage 3 study, which random selected 3,017 respondents successfully, was conducted between August and September 2022. It aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding on the general public’s post-Covid-19 arts participation, including art forms and categories of arts activities participated in, participation mode, participation frequency and expenditure on arts activities. The study also investigated audience’s awareness and experience of, as well as attitudes towards arts-tech, provided analysis on the market potential of activities in different arts forms and the application of arts-tech. HKADC shared the overall findings during the “Behavioural Study on Arts Participants - Dissemination Webinar: Focus Group Findings”¹ in April 2023. The main observations are as follows:
 

Arts participation over time

77.5% of the 3,017 respondents participated in at least one art form via either physical or alternative mode from July 2021 to July 2022, rebounding with 17% growth when compared to the arts participation rate during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
 

1. The physical-mode participation rate was 54.3% (including reading physical literary books), which represented a major rebound from that in 2020 (28.2%) and an increase of more than 10% compared to the 2015 level (43.9%).
2. For physical-mode participation alone, the proportion of respondents who took part in more than one art form activities grew when compared to that in 2015, implying the diversification of audience’s arts participation.
3. The three art forms that recorded the highest physical-mode participation rate were: Literary Reading (18%), Visual Arts and Literary Activities (15% respectively).
4. Alternative-mode participation rate also increased from 55.9% in 2020 to 61.2% in 2022, in particular, Music (21%) recorded the highest participation level among all art forms, followed by Dance and Film Arts (19% respectively).
    

Interest in arts participation in the future

85% of respondents expressed interest in participating in arts events in person in the 12 months after the survey, 11% higher than that from the 2020 survey.
 

Participation frequency
 

1. Average annual physical attendance (excluding reading literary books) in arts activities (free and paid admissions included) rose to 6.5 per arts participant, and the projected annual physical-mode attendance also surged to 17.8 million.
2. With arts participation via both physical and alternative modes included, each arts participant attended 13.8 arts events (local and non-local productions included) each year, and the projected annual attendance was approximately 60.1 million, in which 45% (26.8 million) were paid admissions.
    

Expenditure on arts participation
 

1. On average, each participant spent $948 on attending physical arts activities each year, and average annual spending was the highest among Theatre participants ($720) and lowest among participants of Literary Activities ($240).
2. Across all art forms (Dance, Theatre, Xiqu, Music, Multi-arts, Film Arts, Visual Arts and Literary Arts) and different modes (including reading literary books), it was projected that the arts industry earned $5.1 billion annually in total, with $2.5 billion from physical-mode participation and $2.7 billion from alternative-mode participation. Expenditure on Music events ($41 million) accounted for the largest share among the 2.5-billion physical-mode expenditure, and expenditure on Dance activities ($37 million) contributed the most to the 2.7-billion alternative-mode expenditure among all art forms.
3. The survey also further looked into respondents’ expenditure on pop/variety shows, commercial movies and museums, and the total projected expenditure on arts and cultural activities was $8.4 billion, of which 60% was spent on arts activities.
    

Awareness, experience of and attitudes on arts-tech

While every four in five respondents had reportedly heard of arts-tech and every three in five of them had experienced it via either physical or alternative mode, nearly every nine in 10 arts participants were aware of arts-tech and over seven in 10 of them had experience with it.
 

1. Most respondents who had experience with arts-tech (57-68% across different art forms) rated arts-tech as being able to improve their arts experience, in particular, image projection and live streaming were the most well-received.
2. 70% respondents who were aware of arts-tech hoped that arts events could provide promotional videos to help them understand how arts events were combined with arts-tech. Moreover, more than 70% of those who had experienced arts-tech indicated that, they would pay attention to whether arts-tech elements were incorporated when they chose arts activities.
    

Details can be referred to the reports below.

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Market Overview

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Dance

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Theatre

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Music

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Xiqu

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Multi-Arts

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Visual Arts

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Film Arts

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Literary Reading

Survey Report on Patterns of Arts Participation – Individual Art Form Analysis – Literary Activities

¹ HKADC carried out the “Behavioural Study on Arts Participants” in three stages between the year of 2021 and 2022. For the stage 1 study, a survey was conducted in 2021 to understand alternative modes of arts participation during the COVID-19 outbreak. Details and its research report can be found in our webpage (here). Through focus group interviews, the stage 2 study took place in 2022 to take a deep dive into the decision-making journey of audience before their arts participation. Details and its research report can be found in our webpage (here).