Performing arts attendance and geographic adjacency

Abstract

Much research has been conducted on the willingness of audiences to travel to access the performing arts. Most studies are based on surveys filled in by arts consumers. The general findings indicate an average distance that audiences are willing to travel for performances within certain genres like theatre, dance and concerts. In this study we inverted conventional methodology and worked the other way around. We studied the databases of several theatres, which feature different programming and serve different geographical areas. In this research, the willingness to travel varies from 15 to 145 kilometres for 75% of the audience. We found a strong “distance decay” of the audience for the various genres. Distance decay is the decrease of the part of the population that consumes a good or service related to an increase in distance. In fact, geographic accessibility appears to be an important variable in the demand for performing arts product. As a result of the research, it can be stated that if the objective of cultural policy is to maximise the total number of visitors to the performing arts, in many cases it is preferable to present performances in multiple locations, thereby creating wide geographic accessibility. Notwithstanding the additional transportation and marketing costs to implement mobile productions and the possible compromising of overall production standards due to the constraints of traveling.