Dropping in and dropping out: understanding cultural value from the perspectives of lapsed or partial arts participants

该项目旨在探讨“有文化意识的非参与者”对艺术和文化价值的态度（Winzenried，2004年;多布森和皮茨，2012年）-这部分人接受艺术参与，但目前参与程度最低。三个相互关联的访谈和调查研究将包括以前学过乐器但不再演奏的人，以及那些对一种艺术形式感兴趣但不太可能参加另一种艺术形式的人。对于这一庞大的人口群体来说，他们对艺术价值的认识只是部分地转化为行动，如果能够找到进一步激发他们潜在兴趣的方法，他们将成为艺术宣传和参与的潜在丰富来源。阁楼上的小提琴-调查失效的音乐参与这项研究将重点关注业余音乐家，探索那些不再演奏的人的经历和态度，他们通常认为时间、家庭和工作的压力是导致他们停止参与的原因（Pitts，2005;2012）。通过深入访谈约30个“失效”的音乐团体的成员，这项研究将探讨如何音乐参与的利益和成本是由那些谁不再积极参与，并确定导致参与者停止参与的因素。这些发现将为那些在生活中有其他优先事项的人所感知的文化价值提供新的视角，并将有助于提出留住和重新吸引这些人作为积极参与者的战略。研究2：忠诚及其局限性-探索跨艺术形式的文化价值这一大规模的问卷调查研究将探讨跨流派的文化价值的表达，通过询问那些参加范围狭窄的艺术活动的人，他们对自己选择的艺术类型的体验，以及他们对社会艺术的更广泛的理解。将从一系列场所的观众那里寻求答案，包括独立电影院，剧院，音乐霍尔斯和博物馆;每个人都将被问及他们的出席频率，选择活动的因素，对其他艺术形式的开放程度以及对不太熟悉的艺术的态度。因此，这项研究将突出观众在特定艺术活动中的态度和体验之间的任何差异，从而阐明“文化价值”是否是艺术参与的通用价值，还是需要针对不同的观众进行更微妙的定义。研究3：生活与地方的文化价值本研究将回到研究1中使用的深度访谈方法，因此，我们可以对过去的艺术参与者和偶尔参加艺术活动的人进行比较，并通过更深入地探索成人生活中的态度和参与模式，加深研究2的证据。将使用生活史方法对来自研究2的约30名志愿者进行访谈（参见皮茨，2012年），探讨他们过去的参与程度，以及这如何塑造了他们的艺术对他们的生活和当地社区的贡献的看法。因此，这项研究提供了另一个角度的因素，促进和抑制参与艺术，并围绕这些参与决策的文化价值的表达。该项目将产生具有学术意义的数据和讨论（将在至少两份不同相关学科的期刊上发表），并对艺术组织具有实用价值（将通过谢菲尔德表演者和观众研究中心网站-http：//www.sparc.dept.shef.ac.uk/报道）。调查结果将报告给艺术组织、地方政府和艺术理事会代表，从而在地方和社会范围内以及通过对学术辩论的贡献实现澳大利亚人权委员会议程的目标。

This project aims to explore attitudes towards the arts and cultural value amongst 'culturally aware non-attenders' (Winzenried, 2004; Dobson & Pitts, 2012) - the sector of the population who are receptive to arts involvement, but are currently minimally engaged. Three interlinked interview and survey studies will include people who have previously learnt a musical instrument but no longer play, as well as those with an interest in one art form who are unlikely to attend another. For this substantial sector of the population, their perception of the value of the arts is only partially translated into action, making them a potentially rich source of arts advocacy and involvement, if the means can be found to further activate their latent interest.The three studies will take place as follows:Study 1: The violin in the attic - investigating lapsed musical participationThis study will focus on amateur musicians, exploring the experiences and attitudes of those who no longer play, and who commonly cite pressures of time, family, and work as having caused them to cease involvement (Pitts, 2005;2012). Through in-depth interviews with around 30 'lapsed' members of musical groups, this study will explore how the benefits and costs of musical participation are articulated by those who no longer actively participate, and will identify the factors in causing participants to cease their involvement. These findings will shed new light on cultural value as perceived by those who have other priorities in their lives, and will help to propose strategies for retaining and re-engaging such people as active participants.Study 2: Loyalty and its limitations - exploring cultural value across art formsThis large-scale questionnaire study will explore the articulation of cultural value across genres, by questioning those who attend a narrow range of arts events about their experiences of their chosen genre, and their broader understanding of arts in society. Responses will be sought from audiences in a range of venues, including independent cinema, theatre, concert halls and museums; each will be asked about their frequency of attendance, factors in choices of events, openness to other art forms, and attitudes towards less familiar arts. The study will therefore highlight any differences between the attitudes and experiences of audiences at specific arts events - and so shed light on whether 'cultural value' is generic to arts engagement, or needs to be more subtly defined for different audiences.Study 3: Cultural value in lives and localitiesThis study will return to the in-depth interview approach used in Study 1, so allowing for comparisons between lapsed arts participants and occasional arts attenders, as well as deepening the evidence from Study 2 with a closer exploration of how attitudes and patterns of engagement are formed in adult life. Around 30 volunteers from Study 2 will be interviewed using a life history approach (cf. Pitts, 2012) to explore their level of past engagement, and how this has shaped their perceptions of the contribution of the arts to their life and to the local community. This study therefore offers another perspective on the factors that promote and inhibit involvement in the arts, and on the articulation of cultural value that surrounds those participation decisions. The project will generate data and discussion of academic interest (to be published in at least two journals of different related disciplines) and of practical value to arts organisations (to be reported through the Sheffield Performer and Audience Research Centre website - http://www.sparc.dept.shef.ac.uk/). Findings will be reported back to arts organisations, local government and Arts Council representatives, so fulfilling the aims of the AHRC agenda on a local, social scale as well as through contribution to academic debate.