The Economic and Social Impact of Arts in Surrey
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2021 The Economic and Social Impact of Arts in Surrey. 1 A research report conducted by the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, in partnership with Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (Guildford, UK), The Lightbox (Woking, UK) and Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village (Compton, UK) Project Team: Professor Gang Li Professor Caroline Scarles Professor Nigel Morgan Dr Anyu Liu Dr Jason Chen Ms Ayeisha Green Ms Xiaoying (Eden) Jiao Project Partners: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Surrey (Lead Partner) The Lightbox, Woking, Surrey Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, Compton, Surrey Cover image: Pexels from Pixabay 2 Executive Summary Image: Art Talks, © The Lightbox Over recent decades, the Government, Arts there has been an increase in the number of Council England and other key organisations arts organisations engaging in community have been increasingly promoting culture and engagement and participation initiatives. arts as key contributors to the economic and social benefit of society. In addition to the Recognising the central role of arts in improving direct and indirect economic contributions community welfare and economic benefits, realised by the sector to local, regional and this report aims to provide a unique overview national economies, the important roles of arts about the social and economic impacts of and culture in the development of education, arts in Surrey. The research brings together health and well-being and community cohesion three leading arts organisations in Surrey as have been widely recognised. Given the direct the research partners, namely: Yvonne Arnaud correlation between the arts and culture and Theatre, The Lightbox and Watts Gallery – Artists’ community health, greater investments have Village, therefore enabling insights beyond been made in this field and, over recent years, individual arts organisations. 1 The research was conducted between March With respect to the economic impacts, this and July 2020. The research includes two parts: research reveals that the three art organisations the social impact of arts in Surrey and the share similar visitors spending patterns and economic impact of arts in Surrey. A mixed- economic impacts on the surrounding areas. method approach is adopted in this research. Besides the economic benefits to the three The first part of the research uses mainly the organisations themselves, the operations of qualitative method based on eight interviews arts organisations contribute economically with partner arts organisations and community to the local and non-local areas, respectively. partners to examine the social impact of In general, for every £10 of visitors’ on-site arts in Surrey. The research on the economic spending within the art organisations, a further impact of arts is carried out through a post- economic contribution of £3.91 to £13.28 are visit online questionnaire survey with the three likely to be generated in the local and non-local arts organisations’ visitors. In total, 370 valid areas, and most of this economic benefit is responses were received across the three maintained in the local economies. organisations. In the local area, the shopping and food and drink The research finds a range of ways through which sectors are likely to benefit the most from the arts organisations create supported spaces three organisations through their visitors’ further through collaboration and partnership to provide consumption in the local area during the same opportunities for engagement for community trip to the art venue. Although the economic members both as individuals and groups. impact diminishes in the areas farther from Such initiatives are embedded in, and align to, the organisations, food and beverage sectors the key social impact drivers of community are still likely to be benefited economically identity, health and wellbeing, education and from the three art organisations. Meanwhile, skills development, social inclusion, social according to the post-visit survey, nearly 70% justice and spirituality. This research also finds of the visitors would not have come to the area that arts organisations offer a wide range of where the three art organisations are located if engagement activities that directly increase the art organisations were not in the area, which community engagement with arts. In particular, indicates the importance of the existence of communication and collaboration with key these art organisations and the contributions to partners ensures that projects are designed to their local economies and beyond. connect with the needs of vulnerable groups and those who would otherwise remain physically It should be noted that given the lockdown, distanced from the arts sites. Arts organisations significant challenges were faced in obtaining offer their specialist knowledge and expertise access to partner organisations, associated to support the social inclusion, health and community groups and visitors, which restricted wellbeing, education and creation of community the sample sizes of both the interviews and the identity within the region. online survey. A larger number and a broader range of interviewees and survey respondents During the COVID-19 lockdown, while arts would potentially offer richer, deeper and organisations recognised the importance of physical more accurate insights and wider perspectives delivery of programmes and initiatives, experiences of the social and economic impacts of arts during COVID-19 highlight the vital need to revise the organisations. offer of programmes and initiatives and consider the need for hybrid solutions to community engagement that extend across both physical and digital engagement platforms. 2 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 1 THE STRATEGIC DIRECTION OF ARTS WITHIN COMMUNITIES 9 1.1 THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF ARTS 10 1.1.1 Arts and Health and Wellbeing in Society 10 1.1.2 Community and Identity: Social Inclusion Through Arts 11 1.1.3 Arts and Education 11 1.2 THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ARTS 12 1.3 PROJECT OVERVIEW 12 1.4 RESEARCH DESIGN 12 1.5 RESEARCH PROJECT PARTNERS 13 1.5.1 Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (Guildford) 14 1.5.2 The Lightbox (Woking) 14 1.5.3 Watts Gallery – Artists' Village (Compton) 14 1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT 15 2 THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF ARTS IN SURREY: ENGAGING COMMUNITIES THROUGH ART 16 2.1 UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL IMPACTS AND INDICATORS 17 2.1.1 Health and Wellness 18 2.1.2 Infrastructure – Community Development 20 2.1.3 Social Justice 20 2.1.4 Culture and Heritage 21 2.1.5 Education 21 2.1.6 Faith 22 2.2 RESEARCH DESIGN FOR SOCIAL IMPACT STUDY 22 2.3 THE ROLE OF ARTS IN REALISING SOCIAL IMPACT IN SURREY 23 2.3.1 Building Relationships by Creating Family Spaces 23 2.3.2 Community Identity 24 2.3.3 Health and Wellbeing 24 2.3.4 Education and Skills Development 26 2.3.5 Social Inclusion 26 2.3.6 Social Justice 27 2.3.7 Spirituality 28 3 2.4 RANGE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES IN CONNECTING WITH ARTS 28 2.4.1 Arts Workshops 28 2.4.2 Visits and Tours 30 2.4.3 Projects 30 2.4.4 Talks 30 2.4.5 Courses 31 2.4.6 Live Performances 31 2.5 THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ENGAGING WITH COMMUNITIES 32 2.5.1 Switching Online 32 2.5.2 Impact on Community Partners 32 2.5.3 Repairing the Damage of Covid-19 32 2.6 OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 33 2.6.1 Creating Opportunities 33 2.6.2 Facing Challenges 34 3 ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ARTS IN SURREY: VISITOR SPENDING PATTERNS 35 3.1 INTRODUCTION 36 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 36 3.3 OVERVIEW OF ALL THREE ORGANISATIONS’ SPENDING PATTERNS 37 3.4 YVONNE ARNAUD’S VISITOR SPENDING PATTERNS 38 3.4.1 Demographic Profile 38 3.4.2 Behavioural Profile 39 3.4.3 Average Spending 41 3.4.4 Average Spending by Demographics 43 3.4.5 Cluster Analysis 50 3.4.6 Summary 55 3.5 THE LIGHTBOX’S VISITOR SPENDING PATTERNS 56 3.5.1 Demographic Profile 56 3.5.2 Behavioural Profile 58 3.5.3 Average Spending 59 3.5.4 Average Spending by Demographic Groups 62 3.5.5 Cluster Analysis 68 3.5.6 Summary 72 3.6 WATTS GALLERY – ARTISTS’ VILLAGE’S VISITOR SPENDING PATTERNS 74 3.6.1 Demographic Profile 74 3.6.2 Behavioural Profile 76 3.6.2 Average Spending 78 3.6.3 Average spending by demographic groups 80 3.6.4 Cluster analysis 86 3.6.5 Summary 89 4 4 CONCLUSIONS 90 4.1 THE SOCIAL IMPACTS OF ARTS IN SURREY 93 4.1.1 COVID-19: Connecting with Communities During Times of Crisis 93 4.1.2 Ensuring Community Engagement: Hybrid Digital-Physical Solutions, Collaborations and Partnerships for Social Impact 94 4.2 THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ARTS IN SURREY 94 4.3 LIMITATIONS 95 REFERENCES 96 5 List of Tables Table 1. Demographics of the sample (N=276) 39 Table 2. Per person spending in Yvonne Arnaud 42 Table 3. Per person spending in the local area 43 Table 4. Per person spending in the non-local area 43 Table 5. Average spending of people who spent by cluster 52 Table 6. Percentage distributions of demographic variables of each cluster 53 Table 7. Demographics of the sample (N = 64) 57 Table 8. Per person spending in The Lightbox 60 Table 9. Per person spending in the Local area 61 Table 10. Per person spending in the non-local area 61 Table 11. Average spending of people who spent by cluster 70 Table 12. Percentage distributions of demographic variables of each cluster 71 Table 13. Demographics of the sample (N = 30) 75 Table 14. Per person spending within Watts Gallery – Artists' Village 79 Table 15. Per person spending in the local area 79 Table 16. Per person spending in the non-local area 79 Table 17.