Taking Part 2016/17:
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
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This report provides an overview of the engagement with museums and galleries by adults living in England.
Data is taken from the Taking Part Survey 2016/17 and makes comparisons with earlier years.
All statistically significant differences are noted in the text and on the charts: - a statistically significant difference is a difference which is probably true and not due to chance - a non statistically significant difference is probably not a true difference and is likely to be due to chance
indicates a statistically significant difference between 2016/17 and the earliest survey year shown.
indicates the period in which statistical significance has been tested. In this report, significance testing has been applied between 2010/11 and 2016/17.
More information about the Taking Part Survey can be found in Appendix A. A Technical Note on the survey is in Appendix B.
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Contents Key findings...... 4 Adult attendance of museums and galleries ...... 5 Digital engagement with museums and galleries ...... 7 Engagement with museums and galleries by gender ...... 8 Engagement with museums and galleries by age group ...... 9 Engagement with museums and galleries by disability ...... 10 Engagement with museums and galleries by ethnic group ...... 11 Engagement with museums and galleries by socio-economic group ...... 12 Engagement with museums and galleries by working status ...... 13 Engagement with museums and galleries by urban/rural ...... 14 Engagement with museums and galleries by region ...... 15 Influence of childhood and children ...... 17 Visting museums and galleries during childhood ...... 17 Visting museums and galleries and number of children ...... 18 Museum and gallery experience ...... 19 Enjoyment of last visit ...... 19 Recommendation of last visit ...... 20 Donations to museums and galleries ...... 21 Appendix A - About the Taking Part survey ...... 22 Appendix B - Technical note ...... 23
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Key findings
• Overall, half of adults in England (52.3 per cent) adults in England had attended museum or gallery in 2016/17 – a significant increase in proportion since 2010/11 (fig 1).
• Between 2010/11 and 2016/17, the frequency of adult visits to museums and galleries had changed. In 2016/17 adults were significantly more likely to have visited a museum or gallery between 1 and 4 times in that year (fig 2). Adult engagement had increased across all demographic categories in this report (fig 4 – 10).
• Regionally, adult engagement with museum and galleries had significantly increased in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and the South West between 2010/11 and 2016/17 (fig 11a). In 2016/17, adults in the North East and West Midlands were significantly less likely to have engaged with museums or galleries (fig 11b).
• Compared with the average adult in England 2016/17, adults in the following categories were significantly more likely to have visited a museum or gallery in the past 12 months: o Adults who had visited museum and galleries while growing up (fig 12). o Adults who had children in their household (fig 12). o Adults who had two children in their household (fig 13).
• Between 2010/11 and 2016/17, there was a significant increase in the proportion of adults who rated their last museum or gallery visit as 7 out of 10 or more (fig 14). There was also a strong relationship between adults enjoying their last visit and recommending the museum or gallery to a friend or family member (fig 15).
• Donations to museum and galleries had increased significantly in the East Midlands and West Midlands between 2010/11 and 2016/17 (fig 16). 4
Adult attendance of museums and galleries
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17, a statistically greater proportion of adults in England had attended a museum or gallery – 46.3 per cent and 52.3 per cent respectively. In 2016/17, 55.8 per cent of adults who had not recently engaged with museums or galleries had done so within the previous year.
In 2016/17, 66.2 per cent of adults who had visited a museum or gallery stated that at least one of the visits was within an hour’s journey from home.
Figure 1 – Attendance of museums and galleries in the past 12 month 60.0 52.8% 53.1% 52.0% 52.5% 52.3% 50.0 43.5% 42.3% 41.5% 48.9% 46.3% 43.4% 46.0% 40.0 *
30.0
20.0
10.0
.0 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
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Figure 2 outlines the frequency of adult attendance of museums and galleries over time. Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults who had visited museums or galleries ‘1-2 times a year’ and ‘3- 4 times a year’.
Figure 2 – Frequency of visits to museums and galleries
35.0%
30.0% 30.3% 1-2 times a year
27.4% 25.0%
20.0%
17.2% 3-4 times a year 14.7% 15.0%
10.0%
4.2% At least once a week/month 5.0% 4.7%
0.0% 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
During this period, there was a similar proportion of adults who visited museums or galleries ‘at least once a week or month’.
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Digital engagement with museums and galleries
In 2016/17, 27.8 per cent of adults had visited a museum or gallery website, a significant increase in proportion from 2010/11 (25.0 per cent).
Figure 3 outlines how adults in England engaged with museums and galleries; whether through attendance of museum and gallery exhibitions and events in person, by visiting museum and gallery websites, or both.
Figure 3 – Digital and place based engagement with museums and galleries
100.0% 90.0%
80.0% 44.4% 49.8% No engagement 70.0% * Just digital 60.0% Just place based 3.2% 50.0% 3.7% Place based and digital 40.0% 27.7% 25.1% 30.0% * 20.0% 10.0% 21.3% * 24.7% 0.0% 2010/11 2016/17
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults who had place based engagement and overall engagement. There was also a decrease in the proportion of adults who had no engagement.
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Engagement with museums and galleries by gender
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in both the proportion of men and women that had attended a museum or gallery.
Figure 4 – Engagement with museums and galleries by gender
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0% 52.5% 52.1% 45.9% 46.7% 50.0% 2010/11 2016/17 40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% Male Female * * 8
Engagement with museums and galleries by age group
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in engagement with museums and galleries across all age groups.
Figure 5 – Engagement with museums and galleries by age group
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0% 56.4% 60.0% 55.4% 54.6% 47.3% 51.6% 50.7% 2010/11 50.0% 45.8% 2016/17 37.8% 40.0% 35.0% 27.0% 30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% 16-24 25-44 45-64 65-74 75+
* * * * * 9
Engagement with museums and galleries by disability
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults had engaged with museums and galleries, both those with a disability and those without a disability.
Figure 6 – Engagement with museums and galleries by disability
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0% 54.8% 48.9% 50.0% 2010/11 43.3% 36.6% 2016/17 40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% No disability Disability
* * 10
Engagement with museums and galleries by ethnic group
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults had engaged with museums and galleries in the white ethnic group and other ethnic group.
Figure 7 – Engagement with museums and galleries by ethnic group
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0% 53.6% 50.0% 47.3% 2010/11 44.1% 2016/17 40.0% 37.7%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% White ethnic group Other ethnic group
* * 11
Engagement with museums and galleries by socio-economic group
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults had engaged with museums and galleries across socio-economic group.
Figure 8 – Engagement with museums and galleries by socio-economic group
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0% 63.0%
60.0% 56.3%
50.0% 2010/11 36.5% 2016/17 40.0% 32.5% 30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% Upper socio-economic group Lower socio-economic group * * 12
Engagement with museums and galleries by working status
Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 there was a statistically significant increase in the proportion of adults had engaged with museums and galleries across working status.
Figure 9 – Engagement with museums and galleries by working status
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
56.2% 60.0% 51.2% 46.9% 50.0% 2010/11 39.2% 2016/17 40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% Working Not working
* * 13
Engagement with museums and galleries by urban/rural
Engagement with museums and galleries significantly increased in proportion across adults living in urban and rural areas between 2010/11 and 2016/17.
Figure 10 – Engagement with museums and galleries by urban or rural location
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0% 52.0% 54.0% 46.0% 47.4% 50.0% 2010/11 2016/17 40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% Urban Rural
* *
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Engagement with museums and galleries by region
Figure 11a provides an overview of engagement with museums and galleries by region. Between 2010/11 and 2016/17 adult engagement with museums and galleries significantly increased in the East Midlands, East of England, the South West and England.
Figure 11a – Engagement with museums and galleries by region
100.0% 90.0% 80.0% 70.0% 56.1% 55.3% 60.0% 52.8% 53.3% 54.2% 54.1% 52.3% 48.9% 48.4% 50.9% 49.4% 47.2% 45.1% 46.6% 45.4% 46.4% 50.0% 44.3% 42.5% 39.9% 40.6% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% North East North West Yorkshire & East Midlands West Midlands East of London South East South West England Humber England * * * * 2010/11 2016/17
In 2016/17, around two thirds (66.2 per cent) of adults had spent less than an hour travelling to reach their destination of their most recent visit to a museum or gallery.
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Figure 11b – Engagement with musuems and galleries by region (2016/17 only)
In 2016/17, 52.3 per cent of adults in England had engaged with a museum or gallery.
Regions where engagement was significantly lower than the national average:
• North East – 45.1 per cent
• West Midlands – 46.6 per cent
All other regions were statistically similar to the national average.
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Map image created using Datawrapper Influence of childhood and children
Visting museums and galleries during childhood
Visiting museums and galleries while growing up significantly impacted on adult engagement – adults who had visited museums and galleries during childhood were more likely to continue as an adult, and adults who did not were less likely to attend museum and galleries in the past year.
Figure 12 – Adults that had visited a museum or gallery by their childhood visits and household structure (2016/17)
100.0% 90.0% 80.0% 63.4% 70.0% 51.2% 55.1% 60.0% 52.3% 50.0% 36.3% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0% Did not visit as a child Visited as a child Adults with no children Adults with children * * * Average for all adults in England
Adults with children were significantly more likely to have attended a museum in the past 12 months. 17
Visting museums and galleries and number of children
Adults with children in their household were significantly more likely to have attended a museum or gallery in the past 12 months. However, likelihood to engage varied by the number of children in an adult’s household.
Figure 13 – Adults that had visited a museum or gallery by number of children in an adult’s household (2016/17)
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0% 61.0% 60.0% 51.2% 52.5% 48.4% 52.3% 50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0% Adults with no children Adults with 1 child Adults with* 2 children Adults with 3+ children * Average for all adults in England
Adults with two children in their household were significantly more likely to have visited a museum or gallery in 2016/17.
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Museum and gallery experience
Enjoyment of last visit
Figure 14 – Enjoyment of last museum or gallery visit 35.0%
29.4% 30.0% 26.4%25.8% 24.2% 25.0%
20.0% 18.2% 16.3% 16.9% 2010/11 15.2% 15.0% 2016/17
10.0% 8.0% 5.1% 6.0% 5.0% 3.5% 1.6% 0.2%0.1% 0.4% 0.3% 0.7% 0.4% 0.7% 0.0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Awful Brilliant
Respondents were asked to rate the enjoyment of their last visit to a museum or gallery, with 1 being ‘awful’ and 10 being ‘brilliant’. Between 2010/11 and 2016/17, there was a significant increase in the proportion of respondents that rated their last visit as 7 out of 10 or more – from 84.0 per cent to 88.9 per cent respectively.
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Note: 7/10 aggregated figure excludes ‘don’t know’ answers and therefore differs to sum of individual totals as shown in figure 14 Recommendation of last visit
In 2016/17, 76.0 per cent of adults recommended the last museum or gallery that they had visited to family or friends. This was similar to the proportion of adults that said the same in 2010/11 (75.0 per cent)
Figure 15 – Enjoyment of last visit and whether the respondent recommended the museum or gallery to a friend or family member, 2016/17
88.9 %
80.6 % 76.0 %
Enjoyed their last visit to a museum or Recommended their last museum or Scored their last visit at 7/10 or more and gallery (scored it as 7/10 or more) gallery visit to friends or family recommended it to friends or family
In 2016/17, there was a strong relationship between high scoring visits and recommendations. Compared to the average adult that recommended their last museum or gallery visit to family or friends (76.0 per cent), adults scored their last visit as 7 out of 10 or above were significantly more likely to pass on their recommendations – 80.6 per cent.
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Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com Donations to museums and galleries
Figure 16 – Donations to museum and galleries by region
30.0%
25.0%
20.9% 19.3% 20.0% 18.9% 18.4% 17.4% 16.8% 17.2% 16.6% 16.6% 16.0% 16.1% 16.1% 15.2% 15.6% 15.2% 14.6% 14.4% 15.0% 13.6%
10.3% 10.6% 10.0%
5.0%
0.0% North East North West Yorkshire & East Midlands West Midlands East of London South East South West England Humber England * * 2010/11 2016/17 *
Donations to museums and galleries had significantly increased in England between 2010/11 and 2016/17 – from 15.2 per cent to 17.4 per cent. Regionally, donations to museums and galleries had increased significantly in the East Midlands and West Midlands.
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Appendix A - About the Taking Part survey
Taking Part is a major, continuous survey of cultural and sport participation in England, commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in partnership with Arts Council England, Sport England and Historic England.
Every year it collects detailed information from adults (aged 16 and over) in England about their attendance at a wide variety of arts events, museums, galleries, libraries and heritage sites, and about their participation in creative activities and sport in the last 12 months. The survey has been conducted since July 2005 and since 2008 there has also been a child survey.
Findings from Taking Part, including national trends and some regional analysis, are released twice a year by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. An annual report summarises trends over the financial year. All these reports can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-culture-media-sport/series/taking-part
In March 2016 DCMS published a strategy outlining proposed developments to the Taking Part survey over the next five years: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/taking-part-a-strategy-for-the-next-five-years
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Appendix B - Technical note
Data conventions
The figures in this report are rounded to the nearest decimal place – therefore the totals may not always add up to 100 per cent.
Statistically significant differences on the charts:
* indicates a statistically significant difference between 2016/17 and the earliest survey year shown.
indicates the period in which statistical significance has been tested. In this report, significance testing has been applied between 2010/11 and 2016/17.
Statistical significance
Significance testing has been used to identify where differences are statistically significant at the 95 per cent level and not due to chance. Only where the differences are significant are they noted in the text and on the charts. A significant increase or decrease at the 95 per cent level means that there is less than a 5 per cent (1 in 20) chance that the difference observed within the sampled respondents is not representative of the population as a whole.
Weighting
The data are weighted to ensure the representativeness of the Taking Part sample. Weighting is based on mid-2016 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics. 23