Here Are Some Interesting Facts About Art

Why do you love art?

Is it because you know the art world closely? Perhaps an art history class in college got you a little interested. Or maybe because art usually makes you happy.

Business / Arts, a national non-profit that’s in partnership with art, business and government announced its findings of Culture Track: Canada. This is a study on Canada’s cultural consumers.

The one-of-a-kind study looks at how Canadians define art and interact with it. The data reveals audience behaviour that could potentially help arts organizations, businesses and government on how to set up the cultural landscape and stay relevant with the evolving consumer.

The findings ditch the common myths held about who attends arts events and why, the issues of generational giving and the importance of technology (or lack thereof) for today’s consumers.

Here’s a look at some of the findings:

Arts are the new spas
Across generations, people seek cultural experiences to reduce anxiety. Seventy-one per cent said that culture has a unique ability to relieve stress, which makes them want to participate in it.

Canadian culture of giving
Millennials donate more to charity compared to any other generation, and the two main causes dear to them are human rights and equality. While 20 per cent millennial donors give to human rights, only 12 per cent of older generations say they donate to human rights-focused charities. Only five per cent donate to arts and culture organizations, which shows that people usually believe that such organizations receive help from the government. In reality, government funding is a small percentage of an art organization’s operating budget.

Technology is not at the front of arts
Nearly 40 per cent prefer an analogue experience to a digital one when it comes to cultural activities. Forty-nine per cent have an interest in digital experiences in history museums, 33 per cent in art galleries and 14 per cent in the classical performing arts.

The changing face of today’s cultural audience
The study revealed that in keeping with Canada’s multicultural reputation, Allophones (people speaking languages other than French or English at home) are more culturally active than Anglophones or Francophones. First-generation immigrants or immigrants themselves participate in 3.1 cultural activities per month, compared to 2.1 for Anglophones and 2.7 for Francophones.

“The study’s findings offer an evolving definition of what culture means for Canadians and will act as a powerful resource for today’s arts, business and government organizations, all of whom will be able to access the data free of charge through our website,” said Nichole Anderson Bergeron, president & CEO, Business / Arts.