Participation survey
The Participation Survey started in October 2021 and is the key evidence source on engagement for DCMS. It is a continuous push-to-web household survey of adults aged 16 and over in England.
The Participation Survey provides nationally representative estimates of physical and digital engagement with the arts, heritage, museums & galleries, and libraries, as well as engagement with tourism, major events, live sports and digital.
In 2023/24, DCMS partnered with ACE to boost the Participation Survey to be able to produce meaningful estimates at Local Authority level. The most relevant difference to the data shown on this page is that the number of respondents for the survey has increased by around a factor of 10 from 2022/23 to 2023/24, and therefore should be taken into consideration when interpreting the findings.
Changes over time and differences between groups are only reported on where they are statistically significant at the 95% level. You can read the main report for the participation survey for more information.
Adults who engaged with the arts in person
The percentage of respondents who attended an event or participated in an activity in person in the last 12 months.
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90%
Nationally — Sample size 171,748
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89%
In Newcastle — Sample size 643
Annual change in engagement
National physical engagement with the arts has seen a 1% increase since last year.
Local Authority level data only became available in 2023/24 and is therefore not presented here. The sample size was 171,748 respondents in the 2023/24 survey. This compares with 33,329 respondents for 2022/23.
| Question | Percentage of respondents 2022/23 | Percentage of respondents 2023/24 | Change between 2022/23 and 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engaged with the arts physically (attended an event or participated in an activity in person) in the last 12 months | 89 | 90 | Increase |
Frequency of attendance of arts events
The national percentage of respondents who attended an event or participated in an activity in person in the last 12 months.
A breakdown of the different frequencies is not available at Local Authority level. The sample size was 157,201 respondents in the 2023/24 survey. This compares with 29,837 respondents for 2022/23.
| Frequency | Percentage of respondents 2022/23 | Percentage of respondents 2023/24 | Change between 2022/23 and 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| At least once a week | 70 | 59 | Decrease |
| Less often than once a week but at least once a month | 12 | 15 | Increase |
| Less often than once a month but at least 3 or 4 times a year | 9 | 14 | Increase |
| Twice in the last 12 months | 4 | 6 | Increase |
| Once in the last 12 months | 4 | 5 | Increase |
Newcastle arts engagement data (2023-2024)
This presents a summary of survey respondents based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The sample size was 643 respondents.