New Zealanders’ Cultural Participation in 2023 | Manatū Taonga

Overview

In 2020, Manatū Taonga commissioned research to better understand New Zealanders’ participation in cultural events and activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research surveyed people's participation in a variety of arts, culture, and heritage activities, their preferences for in-person and online events, and barriers to engagement. The research was repeated in 2022.

In 2023, Manatū Taonga commissioned Verian to update the participation research so that we can better understand New Zealand’s changing social challenges. Tracking participation data over time provides insight into the health of the cultural system.

New questions were included to understand the drivers and barriers to participating in cultural activities. Questions were also added to better understand visiting New Zealand archives, reading New Zealand literature, playing locally developed games, and people’s own creative practices.

Overall participation in arts, culture and heritage

Nearly all New Zealanders (97%) have participated in at least one form of cultural activity in the last three months. This includes listening to music, watching movies, visiting art galleries or historical places, and attending culturally significant festivals and commemorations.

Engaging with audio media, such as music and podcasts, is most common. 89% of New Zealanders surveyed had listened to music, podcasts, and radio in the three months prior to the survey. Other popular activities were watching New Zealand-made programming and movies, literary arts and education, and heritage and cultural sites.

Key statistics include:

Listening to commercial radio is the most frequently engaged in activity, with 66% listening at least once a week in 2023
Almost three in four New Zealanders (71%) reported watching a New Zealand-made programme, series or documentary (excluding news and sports) at least occasionally, with 44% watching weekly
51% of New Zealanders reported going to the library in the last three months
29% of New Zealanders reported going to a museum in the last three months
One in five New Zealanders (21%) reported attending a musical, dance or theatre performance in the last three months
29% of New Zealanders reported attending a public commemoration event at least once in the last year
35% of New Zealanders reported visiting a visual arts gallery in the last 12 months.
26% of New Zealanders reported attending a Matariki public or community event in the last 12 months

Engagement with arts, culture and heritage

Participation in the last three months

Engaging with audio media (sound) was the most common activity that people reported participating in over the last three months. 74% of New Zealanders surveyed listened to commercial radio in the three months prior to the survey. Other activities with high participation rates included watching locally made programmes (71% excluding news and sports) and listening to New Zealand-made music (68%).

Screen

2,829,000 (71%) people watched a New Zealand-made programme, series or documentary
1,598,000 (40%) people watched a New Zealand-made movie

Sound

2,935,000 (74%) people listened to New Zealand commercial radio
2,716,000 (68%) listened to New Zealand music
1,283,000 (32%) listened to RNZ radio
316,000 (8%) listened to student radio
1,145,000 (29%) listened to New Zealand-made podcasts
781,000 (20%) listened to New Zealand community radio
338,000 (9%) listened to iwi radio

Gaming

493,000 (12%) people played a New Zealand made video or computer game

Literary arts and education

926,000 (23%) people used or sourced information from archives
1,086,000 (27%) people read New Zealand literature

Participation in the last twelve months

For participation in the last twelve months, engagement with libraries was the most common. 60% of New Zealanders surveyed said that they visited a library in the twelve months prior to the survey.

The next most popular activities were visiting a museum (46%) or buildings or places due to historical or cultural significance (37%), and visual arts galleries (35%).

Festivals and commemorations

1,147,000 (29%) attended a public commemoration event
796,000 (20%) attended another type of festival or cultural gathering
549,000 (14%) attended a Māori cultural festival
472,000 (12%) attended a Pasifika cultural festival
1,031,000 (26%) attended a Matariki public or community event

Performing arts

1,240,000 (31%) attended a musical, dance or theatre performance
906,000 (23%) attended a live performance of New Zealand music
680,000 (17%) attended Māori performing arts
434,000 (11%) attended Pacific performing arts

Heritage and cultural sites

1,843,000 (46%) visited a museum
1,475,000 (37%) visited a building or place because of its cultural or historical significance
651,000 (16%) went on a driving, walking or cycling tour related to New Zealand history
545,000 (14%) attended a meeting, lecture, or presentation on New Zealand history
650,000 (16%) visited a marae

Visual arts

1,376,000 (35%) visited a visual arts gallery
1,129,000 (28%) visited a craft or object art gallery
480,000 (12%) attended Māori visual arts e.g. weaving, animation, sculpture
372,000 (9%) attended Pacific visual arts e.g. painting, weaving, carving, tapa, tīaevae

Literary art and education

2,388,000 (60%) visited a library
528,000 (13%) took part in a workshop or class to learn about a cultural activity
449,000 (11%) attended a literary event or book reading

Participation changes over time

Participation rates across many activities have been maintained since 2022, such as listening to radio, watching New Zealand-made series, and visiting libraries. Other activities that are typically engaged with in-person have shown increased participation since 2020, such as performing arts, festivals and commemorations, and visiting visual arts galleries.

Key increases in participation in 2023 (vs. 2022), include:

Listening to New Zealand music in the last three months (68% vs. 54%)
Listening to New Zealand-made podcasts in the last three months (29% vs. 25%)
Listening to iwi radio in the last three months (9% vs. 6%)
Attending a musical, dance or theatre performance in the last 12 months (31% vs. 22%)
Attending a live performance of New Zealand music in the last 12 months (23% vs. 18%)
Attending Māori performing arts in the last 12 months (17% vs. 12%)
Attending a Māori cultural festival in the last 12 months (14% vs. 10%)
Attending a Pasifika cultural festival in the last 12 months (14% vs. 10%)
Attending another type of festival or cultural gathering in the last 12 months (20% vs. 16%)
Visiting a visual arts gallery in the last 12 months (35% vs. 31%)
Visiting Pacific visual arts in the last 12 months (9% vs. 7%).

Demographic differences

Participation and attendance with arts, culture and heritage activities differs by some key demographic groups, including age, gender, ethnicity, and income levels.

Younger New Zealanders (those aged 18 to 29 years) are more likely to engage across various cultural activities compared to older age groups (for example, playing New Zealand-made games, attending a live performance of New Zealand music, or cultural festival).
Watching New Zealand movies is more likely to be reported by younger (18-29 years; 55%) and Māori (49%) and Pacific (51%) people (versus 40% of the total respondents).
Women were more likely than men to have read New Zealand literature in the prior three months (30% vs. 23%), however, men were more likely than women to have sourced information from New Zealand archives (26% vs. 19%).
People on higher incomes are more likely than average to engage with a range of visual arts.

Drivers and barriers of participation

Drivers

In 2023, we asked people why they engage with arts, culture and heritage activities. The main reasons people engage are to learn and experience something new (66%), as well as for fun and entertainment (61%).

Half of people (50%) seek social connection or an understanding of others through engagement with arts, culture and heritage. For a quarter of people (27%), engagement is about self-improvement and expression.

Barriers

We also asked what stops people from engaging with arts, culture and heritage activities. The biggest barrier to participation is cost, with 45% of people saying that this is a reason for not engaging.

Thirty-three percent of people are just not personally interested in engaging but 32% of people don’t feel they have enough information about what is available.

Location is a reasonably large barrier for people. 30% don’t have the opportunity to engage near where they live.

Creating art

This year, for the first time, participants were asked about their own creative practice. Almost half of the participants (44%) reported creating their own art in the last 12 months.

One in four New Zealanders (26%) created visual arts and craft over the last 12 months, about one in six (15%) created music and one in ten did creative writing. Dance, Māori traditional arts and theatre were less common:

26% created visual arts and craft e.g. painting, photography, light art, digital art, street art, crafts, woodwork, textiles
15% created music e.g. playing an instrument, singing, mixing, composing, or writing music
10% wrote creatively e.g. a book, blogging, poetry or other literature
6% danced e.g. cultural, classical, contemporary and organised social dance
6% created Māori traditional arts e.g. carving, weaving, kapa haka, whaikōrero (oratory)
5% took part in theatre e.g. acting, circus, or being part of a production.

People who participate in arts, culture and heritage activities are more likely to have created art in the past 12 months.

The percentage of those who create art by engagement with arts, culture and heritage activities:

68% of people who attend visual arts
64% who attend performing arts
62% of those who attend festivals and commemorations
56% who visit heritage and cultural sites
51% of people who engage in literary arts and education.