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

“A report based on the proceedings of the Policy Study Group on Federal-State Relationships convened by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, July 11-12, 1981, Arlington, Virginia.”

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.