Participation in the arts, culture and heritage

Published 23 February 2024

Contents

1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
3. Navigate to By ethnicity (engaging in the arts) section
4. Navigate to By ethnicity (visiting museums and galleries) section
5. Navigate to By ethnicity (using a library) section
6. Navigate to By ethnicity (visiting a heritage site) section
7. Navigate toData sources section
8. Navigate toDownload the data section

1. Main facts and figures

in the year ending in March 2023, 89% of people aged 16 and over had engaged in the arts (such as going to an exhibition or performing in a play) at least once in the past year
33% of people had visited a museum or gallery, 19% had visited a public library, and 67% had visited a heritage site at least once in the past year
A higher than average percentage of people from the white British (91%) and white ‘other’ (93%) ethnic groups engaged in the arts in the last year
a lower than average percentage of people in the Pakistani (16%), black African (25%) and Indian (28%) ethnic groups visited a museum or gallery
a lower than average percentage of people from the white British ethnic group visited a public library (18%)
a higher than average percentage of people from the white ‘other’, mixed white and Asian ethnic groups (both 76%) and white British ethnic group (69%) visited a heritage site in the past year

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 and over who had engaged in the arts in the year before being surveyed. This includes:

taking part in an activity like performing in a concert or play
taking part in art, photography or filmmaking as an artistic activity
attending an arts event like an exhibition, live performance or play

The data also shows the percentage of people who had:

visited a museum or gallery
visited a library, including mobile libraries
visited a heritage site – these include cities or towns with historic character, historic parks, gardens or landscapes, monuments such as castles, forts or ruins, and sites of archaeological interest

The data covers people living in private households in England.

Percentages are rounded to whole numbers.

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 the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.

If someone does not give their ethnicity, it is recorded as ‘refused’ or ‘undeclared’.

The data does not include respondents whose ethnicity is not known.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

The figures 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 (engaging in the arts)

Location:: England
Time period:: April 2022 to March 2023
Source:: Participation Survey 2022–23 annual publication

Percentage of people aged 16 and over who engaged in the arts in the past year, by ethnicity
Ethnicity	%	Number of respondents
All	89	33,231
Asian	80	2,141
Bangladeshi	78	180
Chinese	88	287
Indian	80	845
Pakistani	72	382
Asian other	86	342
Black	80	694
Black African	81	453
Black Caribbean	81	204
Black other	withheld to protect confidentiality	16
Mixed	90	654
Mixed White/Asian	93	184
Mixed White/Black African	75	83
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	92	183
Mixed other	95	121
White	91	28,240
White British	91	25,995
White Irish	89	299
White Gypsy/Traveller	withheld to protect confidentiality	17
White other	93	1,439
Other	85	433
Arab	81	103
Any other	87	241

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (engaging in the arts)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (engaging in the arts)’ (CSV)

4. By ethnicity (visiting museums and galleries)

Location:: England
Time period:: April 2019 to March 2020
Source:: Participation Survey 2022–23 annual publication

Percentage of people aged 16 and over who visited a museum or gallery in the past year, by ethnicity
Ethnicity	%	Number of respondents
All	33	33,402
Asian	31	2,146
Bangladeshi	28	182
Chinese	51	287
Indian	28	846
Pakistani	16	383
Asian other	43	343
Black	27	706
Black African	25	462
Black Caribbean	29	205
Black other	withheld to protect confidentiality	18
Mixed	36	655
Mixed White/Asian	41	184
Mixed White/Black African	27	85
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	29	182
Mixed other	44	121
White	33	28,382
White British	32	26,135
White Irish	42	300
White Gypsy/Traveller	withheld to protect confidentiality	17
White other	51	1,440
Other	42	435
Arab	40	103
Any other	43	243

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (visiting museums and galleries)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (visiting museums and galleries)’ (CSV)

5. By ethnicity (using a library)

Location:: England
Time period:: April 2022 to March 2023
Source:: Participation Survey 2022–23 annual publication

Percentage of people aged 16 years and over who used a library in the past year, by ethnicity
Ethnicity	%	Number of respondents
All	19	33,309
Asian	25	2,141
Bangladeshi	27	182
Chinese	30	286
Indian	24	844
Pakistani	19	383
Asian other	30	341
Black	21	697
Black African	23	454
Black Caribbean	17	204
Black other	withheld to protect confidentiality	18
Mixed	25	649
Mixed White/Asian	28	184
Mixed White/Black African	26	83
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	24	178
Mixed other	26	121
White	19	28,315
White British	18	26,077
White Irish	25	298
White Gypsy/Traveller	withheld to protect confidentiality	16
White other	21	1,434
Other	20	434
Arab	34	103
Any other	19	242

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (using a library)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (using a library)’ (CSV)

6. By ethnicity (visiting a heritage site)

Location:: England
Time period:: April 2022 to March 2023
Source:: Participation Survey 2022–23 annual publication

Percentage of people aged 16 years and over who visited a heritage site in the past year, by ethnicity
Ethnicity	%	Number of respondents
All	67	33,034
Asian	60	2,140
Bangladeshi	52	181
Chinese	69	286
Indian	61	844
Pakistani	46	383
Asian other	71	341
Black	49	691
Black African	48	450
Black Caribbean	50	203
Black other	withheld to protect confidentiality	17
Mixed	66	647
Mixed White/Asian	76	183
Mixed White/Black African	46	82
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	64	182
Mixed other	66	117
White	70	28,058
White British	69	25,819
White Irish	72	295
White Gypsy/Traveller	withheld to protect confidentiality	16
White other	76	1,438
Other	66	434
Arab	63	103
Any other	68	242

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (visiting a heritage site)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (visiting a heritage site)’ (CSV)

7. Data sources

Source

Participation Survey 2022–23 annual publication

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

Official statistics

Publisher

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

To provide a central, reliable evidence source that can be used to analyse cultural, digital, and sporting engagement, providing a clear picture of why people do or do not engage.

8. Download the data

Engaging in the arts, culture and heritage - Spreadsheet (csv) 15 KB

This file contains the following variables: Measure, Ethnicity, Ethnicity_type, Geography, Time, Time_type, Value (weighted), Lower 95% C.I., Upper 95% C.I., Sample size

Publication release date: 23 February 2024

full page history

23 February 2024 Updated with the latest available data.