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Participation in the arts, culture and heritage.
1. Main facts and figures
- in 2018 to 2019, 77.4% of people aged 16 and over took part in the arts (like going to an exhibition or performing in a play) at least once in the past year
- this figure has generally been stable since 2012 to 2013
- 88.7% of people with Mixed ethnicity took part in the arts, the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 and over who had done one of the following in the past year:
- taken part in an activity like performing in a concert or play
- taken part in art, photography or filmmaking as an artistic activity
- attended an arts event like an exhibition, live performance or play
The data covers people living in private households in England.
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Not included in the data
The data does not include:
- people who live in institutional settings (such as hospitals or prisons)
- people who live in temporary housing (such as hostels or bed and breakfasts)
- homeless people
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for 5 aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Mixed
- White
- Other
This means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable conclusions about any of the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
In the data file
See Download the data for confidence intervals for each ethnic group. Find out more about how confidence intervals are used to determine how reliable estimates are.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Number of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| All | 77.4 | 8,161 |
| Asian | 59.7 | 487 |
| Black | 68.5 | 226 |
| Mixed | 88.7 | 121 |
| White | 79.3 | 7,239 |
| Other | 66.5 | 46 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Participation in the arts By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2018 to 2019, 77.4% of people aged 16 and over had taken part in the arts in the past year
- 88.7% of people with Mixed ethnicity took part in the arts, the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity over time
| All | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | All % | All Number of respondents | Asian % | Asian Number of respondents | Black % | Black Number of respondents | Mixed % | Mixed Number of respondents | White % | White Number of respondents | Other % | Other Number of respondents |
| 2012/13 | 78.4 | 9,838 | 66.0 | 394 | 73.4 | 188 | 79.1 | 171 | 79.5 | 9,054 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 22 |
| 2013/14 | 77.5 | 10,355 | 65.2 | 404 | 72.8 | 203 | 82.9 | 142 | 78.5 | 9,546 | 74.9 | 49 |
| 2014/15 | 76.8 | 9,817 | 66.7 | 367 | 66.7 | 239 | 80.0 | 99 | 77.9 | 9,050 | 66.8 | 52 |
| 2015/16 | 76.1 | 10,171 | 59.3 | 434 | 69.7 | 242 | 81.8 | 119 | 77.6 | 9,312 | 72.3 | 55 |
| 2016/17 | 77.4 | 9,352 | 66.8 | 423 | 68.7 | 242 | 81.4 | 170 | 78.5 | 8,473 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 27 |
| 2017/18 | 78.9 | 7,715 | 64.4 | 397 | 74.0 | 203 | 86.8 | 144 | 80.1 | 6,854 | 72.5 | 79 |
| 2018/19 | 77.4 | 8,161 | 59.7 | 487 | 68.5 | 226 | 88.7 | 121 | 79.3 | 7,239 | 66.5 | 46 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Participation in the arts By ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
- between 2012 to 2013 and 2018 to 2019, the percentage of people aged 16 and over taking part in the arts remained stable, ranging between 76.1% and 78.9%
- in each ethnic group, the percentage of people who engaged with the arts at least once in the past year remained broadly consistent
5. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Publication frequency
Twice a year
Purpose of data source
The Taking Part Survey measures people's involvement in cultural activities in England.
The data is widely used by policy officials, practitioners, academics and charities.
6. Download the data
This file contains: Measure, Time, Ethnicity, Geography, Value, Upper bound, Lower bound, Number of respondents