A common misconception among many citizens is that Europeans are more ardent patrons of cultural institutions than are Americans. To explore this hypothesis, I collected data to compare the cultural audiences of Baltimore, an American city, and Hamburg, a German city, two metropolitan areas roughly equivalent in size and industry base. I analyzed the data to examine how the different sociodemographic characteristics of the populations, differing cultural opportunities, and differing government policies for the arts are reflected in the sizes and structures of the arts audience.

CONTENTS
Models of cultural consumption.
Segmenting cultural consumption: four taste cultures.
The demographics of Baltimore and Hamburg.
Comparing cultural core audiences of the two cities.
The core audience for the high performing arts.
The core audience for the visual arts.
The core audience of the popular performing arts.
The core audience for entertainment.
Explaining differences in core audiences.
Socioeconomic structures of the different populations.
Different opportunities.
Arts policy differences between Baltimore and Hamburg.
Conclusion.