Highlights of a study that shows the role that the arts play in the lives of the American people. It is the fifth in-depth national survey on the arts conducted by the Harris organization since 1973. This is the third study to be commissioned by Philip Morris Companies,Inc., who sponsored the studies in 1980 and in 1984. This survey was designed both to update significant substantive trends reported in earlier surveys and to probe important emerging areas of concern to the arts. This study reports the behavior patterns of adult Americans in their attendance of the major disciplines in the arts, as well as their direct participation in the arts. Introduction. Survey was conducted by telephone among a nationwide cross-section of 1,501 adults aged 18 and over. The interviewing was conducted from March 13 through April 6, 1987.

[For the full version of this study, see Americans and the Arts V: Nationwide Survey
 of Public Opinion.]

CONTENTS
The arts are essential, but not elite by Hamish Maxwell.
Executive summary.
Highlights of the survey.
The decline of free time: Life's leisure lost.
Impact on the arts: Holding their own.
Individual participation: Faring better than attendance.
Obstacles to attendance: You can't get there from here.
New distribution channels: The arts on broadcast television.
The explosive potential of VCRs: A $2 billion arts market.
Arts in the schools: Educating the educators.
Caring for individual artists: Growing support for grants.
Live art: Hard to live without.
Financing the arts: a willingness to pay more.

Highlights of a study that shows the role that the arts play in the lives of the American people. It is the fifth in-depth national survey on the arts conducted by the Harris organization since 1973. This study reports the behavior patterns of adult Americans in their attendance of the major disciplines in the arts, as well as their direct participation in the arts.