Cultural Ministers Council

Statistics Working Group

Australia's Culture No 9.

Attendance at Selected
Cultural Venues April 1999

Prepared with the assistance of the
Australian Bureau of Statistics

Table of Contents

• Art Galleries
• Animal or Marine Parks
• Libraries
• Classical Music
• Dance
• Other performing arts
• Summary
• Are they employed?
• Attendance at Cultural Venues/Activities - 1995 and 1999
• Who attends libraries?
• Cultural Ministers Council

Art Galleries

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 083.4	21.4	4.1
VIC.	786.2	21.0	3.3
QLD	529.4	19.3	1.9
SA	256.5	21.4	0.9
WA	299.7	20.6	1.1
TAS.	82.2	22.2	0.4
NT	33.2	30.7	0.2
ACT	89.2	37.7	0.4
AUST.	3 159.7	21.2	12.3

• 21% of the population aged 15 years or more went to an art gallery at least once.
• Attendance rates were higher for females for all age ranges, with this being most marked for 15-17 year old females who had the highest attendance rate at 36%.
• 43% of art gallery attendees went 2-4 times and 16% went more often.

Museums

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 046.0	20.7	2.5
VIC.	601.0	16.0	1.6
QLD	550.4	20.1	1.3
SA	262.4	21.9	0.6
WA	306.2	21.0	0.8
TAS.	106.6	28.8	0.3
NT	41.7	38.6	0.1
ACT	61.1	25.8	0.2
AUST.	2 975.4	19.9	7.4

• About 20% of the population visited a museum in the year to April 1999, significantly less than in the last survey in 1995 (28%).
• Highest attendance rates were for people aged 15-17 years (26%) and 34-44 years (25%).
• 26% of dependent students visited a museum at least once during the year.
• Attendance rates were higher for females than for males up to the age group of 35-44 years.

Animal or Marine Parks

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 628.4	32.2	3.5
VIC.	1 354.1	36.1	2.8
QLD	762.7	27.8	1.8
SA	425.6	35.6	0.9
WA	653.9	44.9	1.5
TAS.	86.4	23.3	0.2
NT	50.2	46.4	0.1
ACT	87.3	36.9	0.2
AUST.	5 048.5	33.9	11.0

• 5 million people aged 15 years or more visited an animal or marine park.
• More than three-fifths of these people went to a zoological garden.
• The age groups with the highest attendance rates were 25-34 years (45%) and 35-44 years (44%).
• Highest rates occurred where there was a husband and wife with children aged under 15 years in the household (48%).

Botanic Gardens

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 639.9	32.4	6.7
VIC.	1 532.3	40.9	7.4
QLD	1 020.3	37.2	4.8
SA	456.4	38.2	1.7
WA	466.7	32.0	1.8
TAS.	127.2	34.4	0.5
NT	40.4	37.4	0.1
ACT	96.6	40.9	0.4
AUST.	5 379.8	36.1	23.3

• Botanic gardens were the third most popular venue with an attendance rate of 36%.
• For males, they were the second most popular venue with 33% visiting them at least once.
• 39% of females visited them during the year.
• Most people who visited botanic gardens went more than once (47% went 2-4 times and 16% visited 5 times or more).

Libraries

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 833.1	36.2	34.8
VIC.	1 403.8	37.5	30.3
QLD	1 072.2	39.1	21.4
SA	492.5	41.2	9.8
WA	582.4	40.0	11.8
TAS.	145.0	39.2	3.1
NT	46.8	43.3	0.9
ACT	108.3	45.8	2.3
AUST.	5 684.1	38.1	114.5

• Libraries were the second most popular venue after cinemas for females.
• 46% of females and 30% of males visited a library at least once.
• Unlike the other venues, attendance rates were higher for unemployed people (46%) than employed people (37%).
• Persons with a postgraduate diploma or still at school had the highest attendance rates (both 65%).

Popular Music

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 265.8	25.0	7.0
VIC.	934.1	24.9	4.5
QLD	649.1	23.7	3.2
SA	333.0	27.9	1.7
WA	399.0	27.4	2.0
TAS.	100.6	27.2	0.5
NT	28.7	26.6	0.2
ACT	71.4	30.2	0.4
AUST.	3 781.8	25.4	19.5

• Attendance rates were highest for the 18-24 year age group (42%) and then steadily declined with age to 7% for persons aged 65 years and over.
• Persons who did not live with related persons had a rate almost 6 percentage points higher than persons who resided with other family members.
• Attendance rates for people born in Australia (28%) and in main English-speaking countries (24%) were higher than for those born in other countries (14%).

Classical Music

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	478.2	9.5	1.5
VIC.	305.1	8.1	1.0
QLD	191.4	7.0	0.6
SA	108.6	9.1	0.4
WA	155.5	10.7	0.5
TAS.	30.3	8.2	0.1
NT	7.7	7.1	0.0
ACT	33.5	14.2	0.1
AUST.	1 310.3	8.8	4.2

• 7% of males and 10% of females attended classical music concerts at least once.
• Attendance rates rose from 5% for the 15-17 year age group to 12% for the 45-54 group and fell to 9% for the 65 plus group.
• Most people who attended classical music went more than once (40% went 2-4 times and 17% 5 times or more).

Theatre

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	883.9	17.5	2.6
VIC.	649.5	17.3	1.8
QLD	346.0	12.6	0.8
SA	196.3	16.4	0.5
WA	260.4	17.9	0.6
TAS.	59.9	16.2	0.2
NT	17.5	16.2	0.0
ACT	51.4	21.7	0.1
AUST.	2 464.9	16.5	6.7

• 2.5 million people attended theatre at least once during the year.
• The 15–17 year age group had the highest attendance rate at 25%.
• Australian-born persons had an attendance rate of 17%, compared with 19% for those born in the main English- speaking countries and 11% for those born in other countries.

Dance

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	472.8	9.3	1.3
VIC.	320.0	8.5	0.8
QLD	204.0	7.4	0.5
SA	114.1	9.5	0.2
WA	152.1	10.4	0.4
TAS.	37.1	10.0	0.1
NT	12.2	11.3	0.0
ACT	32.7	13.8	0.1
AUST.	1 345.0	9.0	3.4

• 7% of males and 11% of females attended dance at least once.
• The higher female attendance rate was most marked for age ranges 15-17 years and 45-54 years.
• 58% attended once only and 34% attended 2-4 times during the year.

Opera or Musical

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	892.6	17.6	1.9
VIC.	653.2	17.4	1.4
QLD	351.8	12.8	0.7
SA	161.7	13.5	0.3
WA	274.8	18.9	0.4
TAS.	42.3	11.4	0.1
NT	11.4	10.5	0.0
ACT	42.6	18.0	0.1
AUST.	2 430.4	16.3	4.9

• 2.4 million people attended at least one opera or musical during the year.
• 2.1 million people (14% of the population) attended at least one musical.
• 0.5 million people attended at least one opera.

Other performing arts

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	1 008.6	19.9	2.0
VIC.	685.1	18.3	1.2
QLD	408.2	14.9	0.8
SA	175.6	14.7	0.3
WA	237.3	16.3	0.4
TAS.	63.1	17.1	0.1
NT	17.6	16.3	0.0
ACT	52.5	22.2	0.1
AUST.	2 648.0	17.8	5.0

• Of the 18% who went to other performing arts, just over half went to circuses.
• There were about 5.0 million visits to other performing arts by 2.6 million people.
• Nearly 70% of people who went to other performing arts only went once.

Cinema

	Persons	Attendance rate	Total visits(a)
State/Territory	'000	%	million
NSW	3 297.2	65.2	29.8
VIC.	2 559.1	68.3	22.4
QLD	1 828.8	66.7	17.7
SA	798.5	66.8	6.5
WA	1 052.2	72.3	10.2
TAS.	200.2	54.1	1.3
NT	78.0	72.2	0.8
ACT	173.7	73.5	1.8
AUST.	9 987.6	67.0	90.5

• Nearly 10 million people aged 15 years or more visited a cinema in the 12 months ending April 1999.
• Cinema was by far the most popular venue with 67% of the population attending at least once, representing an increase of 5 percentage points since the last survey in 1995.

Summary

• During the 12 months ending April 1999, almost 85% of the Australian population aged 15 years and over (12.6 million persons) attended at least one of the cultural venues/activities surveyed.
• A higher proportion of females (87%) attended a cultural venue than males (82%).

Cultural Institutions and Performing Arts

• 51% of Australians went to cultural institutions which comprise art galleries, museums and libraries.
• 50% went to performing arts which comprise popular and classical music, theatre, dance, opera or musicals and other performing arts.

Where do they live?

• People living in the six State capital cities had higher attendance rates than people living in the remainder of the country for all venues and activities, with the exception of other performing arts.

Are they employed?

• Attendance rates were higher for employed persons than those persons who were unemployed or not in the labour force for all venues and activities except for libraries.
• Part-time workers had higher attendance rates than full-time workers.

Do they have a degree?

• Attendance rates for people with bachelor degrees or higher were greater than for those with no qualification or still at school, except for libraries and cinemas. This was especially so for attendance at botanical gardens, art galleries, classical music, opera/musicals, and animal/marine parks.

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Attendance at Cultural Venues/Activities -
1995 and 1999

Venue/activity	1995	1999
PERSONS ('000)
Art gallery	3 134.1	3 159.7
Museum	3 905.6	2 975.4
Animal or marine parks	4 966.0	5 048.5
Botanic gardens	5 410.5	5 379.8
Library	5 403.1	5 684.1
Popular music	3 790.7	3 781.8
Classical music	1 081.3	1 310.3
Theatre	2 336.3	2 464.9
Dance	1 407.5	1 345.0
Opera or musical	2 722.1	2 430.4
Other performing arts	2 634.4	2 648.0
Cinema	8 733.8	9 987.6
All selected venues/activities(a)	11 670.0	12 615.8

ATTENDANCE RATE (%)
Art gallery	22.3	21.2
Museum	27.8	19.9
Animal or marine parks	35.3	33.9
Botanic gardens	38.5	36.1
Library	38.4	38.1
Popular music	26.9	25.4
Classical music	7.7	8.8
Theatre	16.6	16.5
Dance	10.0	9.0
Opera or musical	19.3	16.3
Other performing arts	18.7	17.8
Cinema	62.1	67.0
All selected venues/activities(a)	82.9	84.6

• Attendance rates for people attending cinemas increased by almost 5 percentage points from 1995 to 1999.
• The venue/activity with the largest decline in attendance rates was museums—from 28% in 1995 to 20% in 1999.

Who attends libraries?

• Other than for those aged 65 years and over, attendance at libraries was significantly higher for females than males.
• 32% of library goers aged 65 years and over visited libraries 26 times or more during the year. This compares with 12% of 18–24 year old visitors.

Who attends the cinema?

• Attendance rates at cinemas decreased steadily with age from 91% for 15–17 year olds to 36% for persons aged 65 years and over.
• 70% of cinema goers aged 15 to 24 years attended cinemas 6 or more times during the year. This compares with 33% of attendees 65 years and over.

Cultural Ministers Council

The Cultural Ministers Council was established in 1984 to provide a forum for the exchange of views on issues affecting cultural activities in Australia. It comprises Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory, and New Zealand government Ministers responsible for arts and cultural heritage.

Statistics Working Group (CMC SWG)

The Cultural Ministers Council established the Statistical Advisory Group, now known as the Statistics Working Group, in November 1985. The group liaises with the ABS on cultural statistics, monitors the need for the development, collection and dissemination of culture/leisure statistics, commissions studies, and provides advice to the Cultural Ministers Council on statistical matters.

Information regarding the SWG or its activities can be obtained by contacting The Secretariat, Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group, c/o The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601. Telephone 02 6271 1671, Fax 02 6271 1697.

About the data

This brochure contains data from a survey of Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics covering the 12 months ending April 1999. The sample survey was conducted in approximately 30,000 dwellings in rural and urban areas of all States and Territories. The survey obtained data about the attendance at selected cultural venues/activities of persons aged 15 years and over and their basic demographic characteristics.

Further information on the concepts and methods used in the survey, the definitions, the interpretation and reliability of the results as well as more comprehensive data provided by the survey are included in the publication Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues, April 1999 (Cat. no. 4114.0). It is available from all bookshops of the ABS. Additional information on a range of culture/leisure statistics can be obtained from the ABS National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics, GPO Box 2272, Adelaide 5001. Telephone 08 8237 7449.