Time. We don't have enough of it these days. That's what the Arts Council reminded us of yesterday, when presenting the findings of The Public and the Arts 2006, a report commissioned to provide information on the attitudes of Irish people towards the arts.
While there are many more arts centres and theatres throughout the State than a decade ago, and there is more money floating around to fund tickets to events, the fact is that people are short on time. It is now the main obstacle the public face in attending arts-based events.
Twelve years ago, the Arts Council published a report of the same title, asking the same questions of the public about their patterns of accessing arts events. They used a similar sample of 1,200 people across urban and rural Ireland.
The key finding at that time was that 73 per cent of those surveyed experienced difficulties in attending or taking part in arts activities that interested them.
The reverse was true of the findings for 2006. Some 83 per cent of those surveyed said they did not experience any difficulty in this area. This reflects the development of urban and rural arts centres such as Draíocht in Blanchardstown, the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, Glór in Ennis and the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise. These venues, and several others, have been built since the 1994 report.
Increased car-ownership was also cited as a reason for better access.
However, while there are now more locally-based arts venues, long commuting times to work was seen as a key reason for people having less time for leisure activities such as attending arts events.
Other findings were that four out of five people feel the arts should be as important as science in school education; film, theatre and music are the most popular arts forms; after the cinema, the second-most popular venue in which to attend an arts event is a pub or hotel; and three out of four people believe as much importance should be given to providing arts amenities as sports amenities.
