Judith H. Balfe, a sociologist at the City University of New York, begins this series of essays with a multi-faceted examination of the giving and attendance patterns of the baby-boom generation, in which she presents a number of provocative challenges to conventional wisdom. She asks us to rethink entrenched assumptions about arts participation, particularly its interrelationship with educational level. The baby-boom generation has had more direct arts socialization than their elders, yet their actual arts participation rates are lower than the national average for many art forms, including classical concerts and opera. In attempting to explain this apparent anomaly, Balfe points to inconsistent early arts education experiences, to the decline of the liberal arts components in higher education - which weakened the historical relationship between educational level and arts participation - and to the effect of the sheer size of the cohort coupled with technological developments in the mass media which have legitimized alternative aesthetic interests.

Balfe explores the possible effects of both the baby-boomers' formative experiences and the present socio-economic condition upon their apparent lack of institutional identification and loyalty to arts organizations. As the first television and stereo generation, baby boomers have grown to maturity with access to the best in the professional arts, with the apparent consequence that they exhibit less support for amateur and/or regional arts activities they may regard as something less than the best.Similarly, Balfe draws our attention to the fact - and its possible ramifications - that while the arts audience may have increased and broadened in recent decades, many baby boomers relate to the arts as consumers rather than as patrons.

CONTENTS
Changes in social context: time and money.
Baby-boomers as arts patrons.
Baby-boomers as arts audience.
Baby-boomers as arts administrators.
Conclusion: what is to be done?
Notes.