Blog Archive

informal (important) arts - 2010-04-09

a message from the Washington State Arts Commission Executive Director, Kris Tucker (from the WSAC April e-news)

I recently spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon at the State Finals for Poetry Out Loud, a poetry recitation competition presented by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation – and, in Washington state, by WSAC with dozens of partners in schools large and small.
 
More than 13,000 Washington students participated in Poetry Out Loud this year, up from 10,000 in 2009. Each student memorized poems selected from the extensive Poetry Out Loud anthology to be presented in a competitive recitation that moves from local schools through regionals and then the state finals. BreAnna Jones, a senior at West Valley High School in Yakima, was selected to represent Washington state in the National Poetry Out Loud Finals in Washington D.C. in late April. Congratulations BreAnna – and good luck at Nationals!
 
Arts researchers consider reading or writing poetry to be among the “informal arts” – activities that are self-initiated and community based. The ever-expanding list of informal arts activities also includes playing a musical instrument, creating an online film, participating in a performance at a place of worship, or attending a craft fair – as well as hobbies, folk arts, and popular culture. Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities  is a new report by the National Endowment for the Arts that builds on the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. These studies note that nonprofit arts groups and institutions are clustered in urban areas, and attendance at performing arts events and art museums is proportionally higher in urban areas than in rural places. Yet metro and non-metro residents tend to participate in the informal arts at the same rate. Other key findings:

• One in three adults attended an art museum or a live arts performance in the 12 months ending May 2008 – fewer than in previous years.

• 20% of both urban and rural dwellers attended a music, theater, or dance performance at a place of worship; 13% played musical instruments; 9% of each group created paintings, drawings, or sculptures; 2% performed dance.
• Rural residents were more likely than urban residents to sing in choirs, sew, weave, crochet, or quilt. Urban dwellers were more likely to create photography, videos, or films for artistic purposes.
• Compared with most other arts activities, Latin music concerts and outdoor performing arts festivals attract larger groups of young audiences, including adults at lower education and income levels.
• The 2008 survey took place six months into the recession, and found relatively high participation rates for low-cost, low-travel arts opportunities (including literary reading and online arts research): 41% of adults watched, listened, or explored the arts through some sort of media. Literary reading was up from 2002 levels, to more than 50%.
• Those who participate in one arts experience are more likely to participate in another.  69% of adults who purchased original art within the last year also visited an art museum or gallery. 45% of adults listening to or viewing a musical through broadcast media also attended a performance of a musical play. Nearly 24% of those who have ever taken a musical appreciation class attended a classical music performance in 2008.
  

The variety of arts participation opportunities continues to grow and evolve. As arts leaders we must continue to track the trends so we can best support and encourage a healthy variety of arts experiences in communities across the state.

Kris Tucker, Executive Director

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