Children and The Arts
The office for National Statistics and The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have recently released a report looking at how 11 – 15 year olds engage with sport and culture.94% of all children had engaged with both the arts and sport at least once over the last 12 months, and there were encouraging results looking at individual arts sectors. 54.7% had visited a museum or gallery, 74% had attended an arts event, and 91.3% had participated in an arts event.
Museums and Galleries
Of the young people who had visited a museum or gallery, 82% had done so outside of school lessons, with the majority visiting 1-2 times in a twelve month period. A third had visited at least 3-4 times. When asked to rate their enjoyment of these visits on a scale of 1-10, the average rating was 7.
Arts Events
74% of young people had visited and arts event in the last 12 months, with 92% of these doing so outside of school. This equates to 68% of all children. The most common type of event visited was a theatre performance, with 42% attending. Carnivals and festivals were in second place with 22%. These were also the most common events visited outside of school. 55% attended an arts event 1-2 times a year, with 29% visiting at least 3-4 times. On the scale of 1-10, the average enjoyment rating of an arts event was 8.
Arts Participation
84% of those who had participated in an arts activity had done so outside of school, which equates to 77% of all children. The most common type of activity was painting, drawing, and sculpture (60%), and was also the most common activity done outside school. Computer aided artwork was the second most popular activity (45%), followed by theatre performance (38%). 70% of children participate in the arts at least once a week. The average enjoyment rating for arts participation was 8 out of 10.
