This paper discussed the management implications of the findings of two research studies pertaining to the relationships among biological sex, gender identity, and attendance levels at the performing arts. The finding that both 'nature' and 'nuture' explanations of adult art attendance are significant has two main implications for arts managers: (1) that it is important to attract boys and their parents to arts experiences and lessons, and (2) that is may be profitable to segment current adult markets on the basis of sex and position the arts product on the basis of associated gender identities. (Conclusion, p. 250)

In North America, at least, there is a tendency to think of live entertainment products as gendered - sports being associated with masculinity, for example, while the performing arts are associated with femininity. Although some art forms are considered to be more feminine than others (ballet, for example, as opposed to theatre), popular culture frequently attributes a feminine image to all of the performing arts.

In general arts managers not only consider these popular perceptions to be the result of ignorance, but tend to underestimate the importance of the gendered image of the arts to marketing the performing arts. Yet there is empirical evidence that gender and consumer behavior toward the performing arts in North America are connected, because far more women than men attend the performing arts, and they attend more often. For example, a major study of U. S. arts-attenders undertaken in the mid-1980s documents that women dominate attendance at performances of dance, music and theatre - in short, at all the major types of live arts events (Mitchell 1984). Earlier, Andreasen and Belk (1980) found similar results in a study of the general population in the southeastern . Recently a large-scale study of Canadian arts consumers found the same pattern, namely that women are much more likely to be heavy or frequent arts attenders (Canadian Arts Consumer Profile 1992).

CONTENTS
The benefits of arts attendance.
The relationship between gender and arts attendance.
The behavioral approach.
The personality trait approach.
Implications for arts marketing.
Conclusion.
Includes references.

This paper discussed the management implications of the findings of two research studies pertaining to the relationships among biological sex, gender identity, and attendance levels at the performing arts. The finding that both 'nature' and 'nuture' explanations of adult art attendance are significant has two main implications for arts managers: (1) that it is important to attract boys and their parents to arts experiences and lessons, and (2) that is may be profitable to segment current adult markets on the basis of sex and position the arts product on the basis of associated gender identities.