An analysis of a report released in January 1986 by the Internal Revenue Service using information from nonprofit charitable organizations on Form 990. The data reflects an analysis of 75,738 filers for the tax year of 1982.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that consumers spent $12.1 billion ($42 per person) on admissions to performing arts events in 2002. This amount was $2.5 billion more than spending on tickets to movie theaters, but $1.5 billion less than outlays on admissions to sporting events.

A comparison of total revenues for nonprofit and taxable performing arts (theater, music, dance) based on the Economic Censuses of 1992, 1987, 1982, and 1977. State and regional estimates are also provided.

This Note examines data collected in the 1982 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts in terms of such barriers to greater arts attendance as ‘art form not available’ and ‘too far to go’. The Note relates these barriers to two different schema for describing urbanicity: urban/rural place, and metropolitan/outside metropolitan areas. 40.6 million adults were projected to have one or both of these barriers.

Executive summary — Acknowledgements — The study in brief — Programming in the arts — Program quality and accomplishments — Distribution and audiences — Impact on the media — Impact on participating artists and arts organizations — Impact on the arts — Summing up — Appendix A. Descriptions of major series — Appendix B. Organizations and individuals in the sample — Appendix C. Research design and methodology — Appendix D. Interview instruments

Results from the 1982 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts are analyzed in terms of the location of the residence of the participating and non-participating publics. Data is presented for the following arts activities: attending jazz, classical music, musical plays/operetta, non-musical plays, opera, and ballet; and visiting art museums and galleries for the public living on rural farms, on rural non-farms, in metropolitan areas, outside metropolitan areas, and in the eight large cities — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit, Boston, and Baltimore/Washington. Comments are made about participation rates in each of these urban locations and for each one of the art forms.

Analysis of the rationale for gathering new data on participation in the arts by the American public, and technical considerations of obtaining new data on arts participation and suggestions for NEA to consider.

This note provides information on arts participation in four different geographical regions and the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, New York, and Baltimore/Washington, D.C. Based on data compiled from the 1992 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) which was conducted for the Endowment by the U.S. Census Bureau. (See also: NEA Research Division Report #27.)