Adults taking part in the arts
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Participation in the arts, culture and heritage.
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate to Percentage of adults who had taken part in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toPercentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years) section
- 4. Navigate toPercentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time section
- 5. Navigate to Methodology section
- 6. Navigate to Data sources section
- 7. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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in 2015/16, 76% of adults took part in the arts and this figure has generally been stable between 2005/06 and 2015/16
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between 2005/06 and 2015/16, White adults (including White ethnic minorities) and Black adults were significantly more likely to take part in the arts than Asian adults
Things you need to know
These figures are estimates based on the Taking Part survey.
The Taking Part survey is a ‘sample survey’. It collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach ‘findings’) about the total population.
Unless stated otherwise, the commentary for this data includes only reliable, or ‘statistically significant’, findings. Findings are statistically significant when we can be confident that they can be repeated, and are reflective of the total population rather than just the survey sample.
Specifically, the statistical tests used mean we can be confident that if we carried out the same survey on different random samples of the population, 19 times out of 20 we would get similar findings.
As with all surveys, the estimates from the Taking Part survey are subject to a degree of uncertainty as they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.
What the data measures
This data measures the percentage of adults (aged 16 and over) in England who had taken part in the arts in the year before taking the survey.
Percentages are calculated out of yearly totals of survey respondents. Results are adjusted to make them representative of the population as a whole.
The ethnic categories used in this data
For the period 2005/06 to 2015/16, the ethnic categories used are:
- White - including White British and White ethnic minorities
- Other - all other ethnic groups
These broad ethnic groups have been used because the number of respondents is too small to break down into more specific ethnic groups.
For each of the years 2005/06, 2010/11 and 2015/16, the number of respondents was large enough to break ethnicity down into 4 broad groups:
- Asian
- Black
- White (which includes White ethnic minorities)
- Other (which includes adults of mixed ethnicity)
2. Percentage of adults who had taken part in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity
| Standard Ethnicity | % | Number |
|---|---|---|
| All | 76 | 10,171 |
| Asian | 59 | 434 |
| Black | 70 | 242 |
| White | 78 | 9,312 |
| Other | 78 | 174 |
Download table data for ‘ Percentage of adults who had taken part in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘ Percentage of adults who had taken part in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Adults taking part in the arts Percentage of adults who had taken part in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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76% of adults had taken part in the arts at least once in the past year
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Asian adults, at 59%, were significantly less likely to take part in the arts than White adults (including White ethnic minorities), at 78%, or Black adults, at 70%
3. Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years)
| All | Asian | Black | White | Other | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | All % | All Number | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number |
| 2005/06 | 76 | 28,117 | 67 | 2,080 | 74 | 1,322 | 77 | 24,038 | 73 | 645 |
| 2010/11 | 76 | 14,102 | 64 | 796 | 74 | 423 | 77 | 12,617 | 67 | 238 |
| 2015/16 | 76 | 10,171 | 59 | 434 | 70 | 242 | 78 | 9,312 | 78 | 174 |
Download table data for ‘Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years)’ (CSV)
Summary of Adults taking part in the arts Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time (3 years) Summary
This data shows that:
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for all 3 years, Asian adults were significantly less likely to take part in the arts than White adults (including White ethnic minorities) and Black adults
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Asian adults took part in the arts significantly less in 2015/16 (59%) than in 2005/06 (67%)
4. Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time
| All | White | Other | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | All % | All Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number |
| 2005/06 | 76 | 28,117 | 77 | 24,038 | 70 | 4,047 |
| 2006/07 | 76 | 24,174 | 77 | 21,317 | 68 | 2,829 |
| 2007/08 | 77 | 25,720 | 77 | 22,794 | 71 | 2,880 |
| 2008/09 | 76 | 14,452 | 77 | 12,979 | 67 | 1,451 |
| 2009/10 | 76 | 6,097 | 77 | 5,455 | 66 | 630 |
| 2010/11 | 76 | 14,102 | 77 | 12,617 | 67 | 1,457 |
| 2011/12 | 78 | 9,188 | 79 | 8,301 | 70 | 871 |
| 2012/13 | 78 | 9,838 | 79 | 9,054 | 70 | 775 |
| 2013/14 | 78 | 10,355 | 78 | 9,545 | 70 | 798 |
| 2014/15 | 77 | 9,817 | 78 | 9,050 | 68 | 757 |
| 2015/16 | 76 | 10,171 | 78 | 9,312 | 66 | 850 |
Download table data for ‘Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Adults taking part in the arts Percentage of adults who had engaged with the arts in the past year, by ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
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overall, the percentage of adults taking part in the arts stayed fairly stable
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White adults (including White ethnic minorities) were more likely to take part in the arts than adults from all other ethnic groups
5. Methodology
The Taking Part survey measures cultural activity by adults (aged 16 and over) and children (aged 5 to 10 and 11 to 15), living in private households in England. There is no geographical restriction on where the activity or event occurred.
The sample for the Taking Part survey is chosen by first randomly selecting households from the Postcode Address File.
An interviewer visits these addresses and, if contact is made, records details of all individuals living at each address. One adult, and where applicable one child aged 5 to 10 and one aged 11 to 15, is then selected to participate in the survey.
The figures presented here only apply to adults aged 16 and over.
Weighting
Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.
For example, a survey which contains 25% females and 75% males will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know is around 50% male and 50% female.
Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.
Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.
The data in the Taking Part sample is weighted to make sure it is representative of the population in England. The data is weighted to:
- compensate for unequal probabilities of selection
- adjust for non-responses
Weighting is based on mid-2014 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
Confidence intervals
Confidence intervals for each ethnic group are available in ‘Download the data’.
In 2015/16, 76% of adults responding to the Taking Part survey question had taken part in the arts. This is a reliable estimate of the percentage of adults in England who took part in the arts in that period. But because the Taking Park survey is based on a random sample of adults, it’s impossible to be 100% certain of the true percentage.
It’s 95% certain, however, that somewhere between 75% and 77% of all adults in England took part in the arts. In statistical terms, this is a 95% confidence interval. This means that if 100 random samples were taken, then 95 times out of 100 the estimate would fall between the upper and lower confidence interval. But 5 times out of 100 it would fall outside this range.
The smaller the survey sample, the more uncertain the estimate and the wider the confidence interval. For example, the number of Black adults responding to the survey in 2015/16 (242 respondents) was much smaller than the overall adult population that responded to the survey (10,171 respondents), so we can be less certain about the estimate for the smaller group (Black adults, 70%). This greater uncertainty is expressed by a wider confidence interval, of between 62% and 78% for Black adults in 2015/16.
Rounding
Percentages are given to the nearest whole number.
Further technical information
6. Data sources
Source
Taking Part, focus on: diversity trends
Publisher
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Publication frequency
Ad-hoc
Secondary 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.