2.2. Cultural engagement and local variations

Understanding the current measures, how they work, and what gaps they leave will be vital areas for arts organisations to work in so as to gather and share more accurate understanding of cultural engagement is really happening.

• 88% of Bradford residents say they engage with culture often or occasionally and culture is highly valued in their lives.²⁹  
• Despite this, official national metrics claim arts and culture engagement by residents in Bradford is considerably lower than the regional and national averages. 
• Audience Spectrum data shows low levels of cultural engagement compared to other cities, with 53% of the district’s population in what they classify as the ‘least engaged Culture Segments’.³⁰
• However, a series of recent evaluations and research projects challenge this picture, showing that Bradfordians are highly engaged in activities not measured by traditional measures.³¹ 
• This suggests traditional measures of arts and culture engagement do not work for Bradford as they fail to reflect its lively cultural scene and community engagement in

National research on Bradford’s levels of cultural engagement has tended to paint a rather negative picture, suggesting that engagement in arts and culture is lower than the regional and national averages.

This data, compiled in the Audience Spectrum database, shows that 53% of the district’s population are in the lowest/least engaged Culture Segments compared with 33% for England as a whole. According to this data, Bradford also has less than half the proportion of ‘highly engaged’ people compared with comparable cities.³² 

However, these traditional measures of arts engagement tend to focus on traditionally defined artforms and engagement in subsidised activity. This by its nature significantly underrepresents the wealth of cultural activity which takes place in many of the communities of Bradford, whether in individual homes, or in collective spaces. 

Furthermore, Audience Spectrum data does not capture the reality of cultural engagement in a place like Bradford, which has many smaller cultural organisations who do not contribute their audience data, creating a limited representation of actual cultural participation. The measurement problem is also affected by limited definitions of what counts as ‘arts and culture’ which define narrowly around traditionally Western definitions of the arts; this therefore excludes much of the cultural production and participation in a multi-cultural place like Bradford through a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequality³³. 

Thus, there’s a need to use additional measures such as expressed interest in arts and culture and understanding of everyday creativity.³⁴  

When cultural participation is understood more broadly, the picture is rather different. Culture is highly valued in the lives of Bradford’s residents, with 88% saying they engage with culture often or occasionally.³⁵ When work is put on that is of local relevance, audiences do attend. For example, the Leap CPP’s latest report shows that 54% of their audiences came from those groups who are least likely to engage in culture – according to Audience Spectrum categories.³⁶  

In 2020, Indigo Ltd analysed historic Audience Spectrum data to give a glimpse into the cultural participation in Bradford.³⁷ The data segments the entire English population based on their likelihood to engage in different forms of cultural activity. It is generated by combining geo-demographic profiling (MOSAIC) with survey and booking data from arts organisations.³⁸

There are ten different Audience Spectrum profiles that can be utilised to classify the composition of a specific area in terms of audience engagement. These profiles break down the population by household and post-code levels, enabling comparison between segments in one region or city with those in another, or with the population of England as a whole. This analysis suggests a low level of cultural engagement in certain populations in Bradford.³⁹

Figure 12: Bradford's cultural engagement profile

Source: The Audience Agency.

Table 2: 2016 Audience Spectrum Segments (Adult 15+), November 2020

Source: The Audience Agency.

Figure 13: Percentage of people who have taken part in a cultural activity over the last 12 months

Source: Active Lives Survey, 2018.

Other research challenges this negative picture. For example, the CPP Culture Is Me survey undertaken by Indigo Ltd shows that 88% of respondents in Bradford engage with culture often or occasionally⁴⁰  According to the survey results, culture is highly valued by the residents of Bradford district, receiving a score of 8 out of 10. A vast majority of the residents (94%) believe that culture makes Bradford a better place to live, 88% feel that it enhances their wellbeing and 92% agree that it should be accessible to all children.

The residents of Bradford district are actively involved in cultural activities, with only 12% reporting that they rarely or never participate in cultural events. Two-thirds of the people who responded to the survey volunteer for cultural projects, and 80% engage in cultural activities within the district. However, the cultural activities that they are most involved in are not typically measured or estimated by existing tools. The most popular cultural activities are walking, food, parks/nature and film. It’s noteworthy that this survey was conducted during and right after the Covid-19 lockdowns, implying that a considerable number of individuals had been restricted to visiting parks and walking for an extended period. Additionally, these activities tend to take place in non-traditional cultural establishments such as homes, public spaces, cafes, bars and community centres.

Interestingly, the cultural activities that residents would like to see in Bradford district do not necessarily involve traditional art forms in traditional spaces. The most desired activities include those that bring communities together, utilise heritage buildings, develop talent and offer outdoor events.

Figure 14: Cultural engagement in Bradford

Source: CPP Survey results

Figure 15: Perceived Value of Culture in Bradford

Source: CPP Survey results

Finally, data is available from Audience Finder, operated by The Audience Agency with funding from Arts Council England. This provides a profile of how engaged Bradford residents actually are with ticketed and live events.⁴¹ According to Audience Finder booker data for the 3 years between April 2016 and March 2019 Bradford residents:

• Represented over 63,000 cultural bookers (15% of Bradford population).
• Bought over 600,000 tickets (1.4 tickets per adult head of population).
• Spent over £16m on tickets to cultural events.

Almost half of the tickets purchased were for events happening outside Bradford district and 75% of the cultural visits that happen outside the district are in Leeds.⁴²

Next: Cultural assets and funding