As always, Colleen Dilenschneider and the folks at IMPACTS provided some attention worthy data in July regarding perceptions of the value of paying for museum and performing arts tickets. Basically, are the tickets worth it?
One of the things they found is that people expect to pay less for exhibit based and performing arts experiences in 2024 than they did in 2019, There is a lot nuance to this result according the Dilenschneider on her colleagues. First of all, this response is based on what people remember paying for their experience in pre-pandemic 2019. As you might imagine, they note that memory is imprecise and so comparing what they expect to pay this year compared to what they remember paying five years ago isn’t going to provide the most accurate results. In fact, data about what was spent in the first two quarters of 2024 tends to be higher than what they said they planned to spend.
The other thing to know is that people aren’t planning to cut back on admission tickets, but rather the other activities surrounding the central event. What IMPACTS terms off-site spending:
As of Q2 2024, the top area where folks recall spending money in relation to their visit is admission. Still, we do not see that admission costs are a top barrier to attendance to cultural organizations. So, to continue our work as data detectives, we’ll want to observe where other changes have taken place.
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Folks are spending more on parking, admission, and onsite retail, and they are spending less on the other aspects surrounding the cultural experience.
Nowadays, despite rising food costs and restaurant prices, cultural participants plan to spend less (and actually do) on food and beverage. In 2019, performing arts patrons were more likely to grab a dinner before the show and perhaps drinks afterwards. Now, however, the data suggest that patrons may be more likely to only do pre-theater drinks, or perhaps skip the fancy bottle of wine for a single glass or choose a more affordable fast casual option than a Michelin-starred meal. These choices reflect consumers’ decisions to “trade off” or “trade down” when it comes to making their cultural-related spending choices. Fortunately for many cultural organizations, these “trades” thus far seem to primarily affect offsite spending (and indicate less sensitivity to onsite consumer behaviors).
Of course, these results are associated with people who actually made the choice to participate in an experience. A fair part of the article is devoted to a conversation about the general pessimism people in the US especially feel about the economy. Ticket prices are fairly low on the list of cost related barriers to visitation compared to concerns about the economy, prices, inflation, investment, personal finances, etc.
Is it perhaps also the case that those who are continuing to attend in 2024 are those who value the art form or cultural experience in its own right rather than as a social experience? And that these people might have always spent less or even nothing on non-essential peripherals such as dining out or interval drinks in favour of attending more events?
Yes, it is difficult to know exactly from the way the data is presented. While people are asked what they recall paying, I don’t think there is any way to determine if people attending in 2024 cut back on spending or if they are just the ones who continue on attending in numbers, as you say. I imagine there are a number of people who are attending in 2024 who have cut back, but it is hard to know what the overlap between 2019 and 2024 is. There are certainly people to stopped/scaled back attending due to age, finances, etc. as well as people who started or increased participation for those same reasons.