In relation to the growing study of arts audiences, our report has two aims. First, we have gathered research on the composition, attitudes and preferences of arts audiences and have put together a description of important features of the American arts public. In doing so, we drew upon reports, questionnaires, and other materials from more than 250 research projects. The second aim has been to assess the quality and utility of the arts audience research. This report represents the first evaluation of research in this area; and it is one of the first to study explicitly both how well research has been carried out by social-scientific standards and how useful it has been to the organizations on whose behalf it was undertaken.

We began to gather our information in the following manner. First, an exhaustive library search was conducted for published audience studies and an inquiry form was mailed to over 1,200 museums, performing arts organizations, arts councils and other organizations concerned with the arts. The form requested information on, and copies of, any audience research with which the recipient had been involved or was acquainted. This search eventually yielded materials on 270 studies.

Second, a longer survey form was sent to the directors of each of more than 100 studies that we had obtained by January 1, 1977. The survey, based on a review of relevant methodological materials and on more than two dozen unstructured interviews with arts administrators and researchers, requested information on the study director, conducting organization research budget and funding, research methodology, and policy applications. Eighty-six directors responded within the allotted time of approximately three months.

Finally, structured interviews with forty-two directors and users of twenty-five audience studies were conducted in order to better understand the purposes of audience research and the reasons why some studies yielded more useful findings than others. The research project selected for case study represented a cross section of art forms and study types.

Our findings and methodology are reported in three chapters. Chapter One presents a synthesis of data on audience composition reported by the studies in our possession. We have analyzed information on gender, age, educational attainment, occupation, income and race of arts attenders for various art forms. In addition, Chapter One presents information on changes in audience composition over time, differences between frequent and infrequent attenders, and the findings of studies of the economic impact of the arts and of public attitudes toward government financing of the arts. Chapter Two, based on the survey of study directors described above, analyzes the determinants of the technical quality and the effects of quality on the use of audience studies in policy decisions. Chapter Three draws on the case study interviews and describes the reasons audience studies are undertaken, the uses they serve, the ways they enter the decision-making process, and the factors influencing their use. Finally, Chapter Four presents an agenda for further research.

CONTENTS
Summary.
Introduction.

Chapter 1. The nature of the arts public: 
                      The studies.
                      Basic demographics.
                      Gender.
                      Age.
                      Education.
                      Occupation. 
                      Income.
                      Race and ethnicity.
                      Summary of demographics.
                      Additional issues in audience research. 
                      The arts audience over time.
                      Audience structure. 
                      Economic and political impact.

Chapter 2. Quality and impact of arts audience studies:
                      The arts audience survey. 
                      Predicting quality in arts audience studies.
                      Factors predicting research quality.
                      The correlates of quality.
                      Predicting the utility of arts audience studies.

Chapter 3. Organizational factors affecting research utility: 
                      The purposes of audience research. 
                      Political factors. 
                      Opportunity. 
                      General concerns. 
                      The impact of audience studies. 
                      Instrumental applications. 
                      Political applications. 
                      The role of audience research findings in arts management. 
                      Factors promoting research utility. 
                      Study attributes. 
                      Personal commitment. 
                      External factors. 
                      Factors preventing research utility. 
                      Staff turnover and lack of resources. 
                      Hostility and lack of interest. 
                      Research planning. 
                      Communication and follow-through. 
                      Report content. 
                      Study execution. 
                      Technical quality. 
                      Conclusion and recommendations.

Chapter 4. An agenda for arts audience research.

Appendix:
     1. Bibliography.
     2. List of 265 audience studies.

In relation to the growing study of arts audiences, our report has two aims. First, we have gathered research on the composition, attitudes and preferences of arts audiences and have put together a description of important features of the American arts public. In doing so, we drew upon reports, questionnaires, and other materials from more than 250 research projects.