Author: National Research Center of the Arts

Publication Year: 1973

Media Type: Report

Summary:

This report presents the findings of a study of awareness, attitudes and behavior of the people of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County toward the arts and culture.

Abstract:

This report presents the findings of a study of awareness, attitudes and behavior of the people of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County toward the arts and culture. This is, we believe, the first study of its scope to probe in depth what the people in a community think, say and do about the arts. This is a departure from the ordinary information used in the planning and administration of the arts. There is a deliberate effort here to draw upon the views of the citizens of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County in the development process and to obtain the facts and figures from the public that would bring the arts and cultural programs and productions into perspective with the general as well as specific consumer interests of the people of the community. This is an early stage of what will eventually become a routine matter for community, county and municipal leaders in the course of their work. It is only fitting that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County should be a pioneer in arts research, since it was also the pioneer in establishing one of the first, if not the first, community arts councils in the .

The study was conducted for that council - the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County - to obtain information that would assist the Council and the arts organizations in the area in future planning of programs and policies that would best serve the entire community. The data were obtained through personal, in-home interviews conducted during April 1974 with a sample of 753 adults 18 years of age and over. This sample was drawn to represent accurately the total adult population of Forsyth County, North Carolina. In areas where residents are predominantly Black - which are entirely within the city limits of Winston-Salem - a disproportionately large number of interviews were conducted to insure that a sufficient number of Blacks would be included for detailed analysis. In aggregating the data weights were applied to compensate for this oversampling of the Black population, and the results shown here are validly projectable to the county's entire population.

CONTENTS
Introduction.
Summary, observations and recommendations.

Chapter 1. Patterns of leisure-time:

Activities.
Leisure-time activities enjoyed most.
Arts and cultural activities.
Specified activities done a great deal.

Chapter 2. Frequency of attendance at the performing arts:

Music.
Theatre.
Dance.
Demographics of attenders.
Patterns of attendance.

Chapter 3. Attitudes toward the performing arts:

Music.
Theatre.
Dance.

Chapter 4. Factors affecting attendance:

Accessibility.
Importance of accessibility.
Transportation.
Scheduling.
Sources of information.
Ticket costs.
Barriers to increased attendance.

Chapter 5. Familiarity with, attendance at, and attitudes toward specific places and 
                events:

Attendance at places and events.
Composition of attenders.
Attitudes toward performances and events.
Attitudes toward locations of performances.

Chapter 6. Arts and crafts activities:

Classes in crafts.

Chapter 7. Children and the arts: the arts in the schools.

Chapter 8. Support of the arts:

The Arts Council.
Perceived financial condition of cultural organizations.
Attitudes toward support.

Chapter 9. The arts and the community.

Appendix: Tables.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Funding