Landmark study reveals that culturally active Canadians seek out the arts for anxiety and stress relief

One of the surprising findings from the Business / Arts Culture Track: Canada report, the first Canadian study of its kind in more than twenty years

TORONTO, June 20, 2018 /CNW/ - Business / Arts, a national not-for-profit championing business investment in the arts and partnerships between the arts, business and government, today announced the findings of Culture Track: Canada, its groundbreaking study of Canada's cultural consumer.

The study, the first of its kind in more than two decades, looks at how Canadians define and interact with the arts. Based on interviews with more than 6,400 culture-goers from coast-to-coast, the data provides critical insight into audience behaviour that will help arts organizations, businesses and government navigate the Canadian cultural landscape and stay relevant to the evolving cultural consumer.

The findings dispel many of the commonly held myths about who is attending arts events and why, the issues of generational giving and the importance of technology (or lack thereof) for today's arts audience. Key survey findings include:

• Arts are the new spas
• Audiences, across all generations, look to cultural experiences to reduce anxiety, with 71 per cent of respondents citing culture's unique ability to relieve stress a significant motivator to participation.
  
  
• The Canadian culture of giving
• Millennials donate to more charities than any other generational cohort and the two causes uniquely near and dear to them are human rights and equality. While 20 per cent of millennial donors give to human rights (making them two-thirds more likely than Gen-Xers, baby boomers, and pre-wars collectively to give to these types of causes), only 12 per cent of older generations say they give to human rights-focused charities. The giving gap is increasingly prevalent for causes relating to equality, with 15 per cent of millennial donors supporting organizations tackling inequality compared to only six per cent of older generations.
• When compared with our U.S. counterparts, 47 per cent of Canadians donate to causes vs. 35 per cent of Americans.
• Only five per cent of Canadians donate to arts and culture organizations, reflecting the public perception that government is the primary funding source for the arts. In reality, government funding is often a small percentage of an arts organizations operating budget; a misconception arts advocates need to address with all generations of culture-goers.
  
  
• Technology is not front and centre in the arts
• Nearly 40 per cent of Canadians prefer an analogue experience to a digital one when it comes to cultural activities.
• The interest in digital experiences is higher in history museums (49 per cent) and art galleries (33 percent) than in the classical performing arts (14 per cent).
  
  
• The changing face of today's cultural audience
• In keeping with Canada's multicultural reputation, Allophones (those who speak a language other than English or French at home) are more culturally active than Anglophones or Francophones, across all generations.
• These cultural consumers, who are often first-generation immigrants or immigrants themselves, participate in 3.1 cultural activities per month, compared to 2.1 for Anglophones and 2.7 for Francophones.

"This is the first market research work on the Canadian cultural consumer in more than two decades and we are incredibly proud to help champion this highly relevant study," said Nichole Anderson Bergeron, president & CEO, Business / Arts. "The study's findings offer an evolving definition of what culture means for Canadians and will act as a powerful resource for today's arts, business and government organizations, all of whom will be able to access the data free of charge through our website."

Survey methodology:

The Culture Track: Canada survey was fielded by LaPlaca Cohen and Nanos Research from December 21, 2017 to January 11, 2018. There were a total of 6,444 respondents nationwide in an online questionnaire administered in both French and English. All respondents were 18 years or older, and were screened into the survey based on two criteria: their participation in at least one cultural activity in the past twelve months and their definition of that activity as a "cultural" activity.  

The sample size for each province was at least 400. In addition, oversamples were completed in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec (resulting in sample sizes of over 1,000 for each of those provinces) to ensure an even more robust pool of audience data from which to draw conclusions. The samples from all provinces were then weighted to ensure accurate proportionality based on actual population counts in each province.

The full Culture Track: Canada report, including the raw data, is available free of charge online at www.businessandarts.org/culturetrack.

Business / Arts is a national charitable organization that aims to strengthen arts and culture in Canada by getting more businesses involved as partners in art, not just today, but for generations to come. The organization's national flagship program, artsVest has generated an investment of $23.4M into Canada's cultural sector, while the Canadian Arts Summit and Culture Track Canada provide arts and business leaders across the country access to professional development, and research to make strategic investments for the future health of the sector. The arts & business exchange, artsScene and boardLink cultivate the next generation of arts supporters in the business sector, while the annual awards gala celebrates leading figures in the business and arts communities across Canada. To learn more, please visit www.businessandarts.org/culturetrack.

SOURCE Business / Arts

For media inquiries only: Alana De Guerre | 416-586-1932 | [email protected]; Carolyn Gagnon | 416-848-1414 | [email protected]