Contents
- Community event attendance statistics: participation at local arts and cultural events
- Community event attendance statistics: regional and demographic attendance patterns
- community event attendance statistics: Festival attendance and event types in community event statistics
- Barriers and access in community event attendance statistics
- community event attendance: Motivations, belonging and community connection at events
- community event attendance: Local event attendance examples and changes over time
- Sources
Community event attendance statistics: participation at local arts and cultural events
Attendance figures depend on what counts as an event, who is asked and the period covered. The measures here cover arts and cultural performances, events, places and activities, alongside a few particular local events. They should be read within those definitions rather than as a single universal rate for every kind of community gathering.
In Scotland, 76% of adults had attended a cultural event or place of culture in the preceding 12 months in 2023. That measure includes cinema. When cinema is excluded, the share is 69%. Cinema itself accounted for 50% of adults attending at least once during the same period. These are overlapping measures: the cinema-excluded figure describes a broader cultural category with cinema removed, while the cinema figure records that one activity. The Scottish report says the overall figure was 74% in 2022 and the cinema-excluded figure was 65% in 2022. Those comparisons are historical changes in the report’s measures, not current-year estimates. Source: Scottish Household Survey findings, “Attendance at cultural events or places (2023)”
| Scotland, 2023; adults attending in preceding 12 months | Share |
|---|---|
| Any cultural event or place, including cinema | 76% |
| Cultural event or place, excluding cinema | 69% |
| Cinema | 50% |
Source: Scottish Household Survey findings
The distinction matters when comparing communities or years: a broad total that includes a common venue type can be higher than a measure that leaves it out. Neither number describes the frequency of visits, the number of events attended, or attendance at community-run events alone. The survey asks whether adults attended during the preceding year.
Community event attendance statistics: regional and demographic attendance patterns
Canada’s Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey 2025–26 reports that 60% of respondents aged 16 and over attended at least one arts or culture performance or event in person in the preceding 12 months. Its regional table shows variation around that national figure. The regional results below retain the survey’s attendance definition; they are not counts of total visits or a ranking of community-event participation across all event types.
| Canadian survey region | Attended at least 1 in-person arts or culture performance or event in preceding 12 months |
|---|---|
| Atlantic Canada | 51% |
| Quebec | 68% |
| Ontario | 58% |
| Manitoba | 56% |
| Saskatchewan | 54% |
| Alberta | 57% |
| British Columbia | 60% |
| Territories | 62% |
| Canada | 60% |
The survey was fielded from December 16, 2025, to January 14, 2026. Its methods note that the telephone survey included 150 participants from the territories, a useful detail when interpreting that regional result. The percentages describe respondents who attended at least once, not how often they went. Source: Canada Council for the Arts, Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey 2025–26
The same Canadian survey reports attendance rates for selected respondent groups. The categories below are those named in the source; they do not establish why participation differs, and some characteristics may overlap. A person could, for example, be represented in more than one group. The table should therefore be read as a set of group-specific reported rates, not as mutually exclusive population segments.
| Canadian respondent group | Attendance rate in preceding 12 months |
|---|---|
| Annual income over $150,000 | 73% |
| Francophones | 72% |
| University graduates | 71% |
| 2SLGBTQI+ respondents | 71% |
| Residents of a small community | 51% |
| Individuals living with a disability | 51% |
| Elementary or high school education | 50% |
| Rural residents | 49% |
| Annual income under $40,000 | 45% |
The rates range from 45% among respondents with annual income under $40,000 to 73% among those with annual income over $150,000. The source also lists 71% for university graduates and 50% for respondents with elementary or high school education; 51% for residents of a small community and 49% for rural respondents; and 51% for respondents living with a disability. These are descriptive differences in the survey, not evidence that any one characteristic caused attendance. The source’s labels and categories are reproduced here without inferring a mechanism. Source: Canada Council for the Arts, survey participation and respondent-group tables
community event attendance statistics: Festival attendance and event types in community event statistics
The event-type percentages in the Canadian survey use a narrower denominator than the overall participation rate: they refer only to respondents who attended at least 1 event in the preceding 12 months. Within that group, 79% attended a performing arts event and 52% attended a local art or cultural festival. A further 40% attended a visual arts exhibit, 35% attended a festival outside their community, and 18% attended a First Nations, Inuit or Métis arts event.
| Event type among Canadian respondents who attended at least 1 event | Share of attendees |
|---|---|
| Performing arts event | 79% |
| Local art or cultural festival | 52% |
| Visual arts exhibit | 40% |
| Festival outside their community | 35% |
| First Nations, Inuit or Métis arts event | 18% |
These percentages are not shares of all Canadian respondents. They describe participation among people who had already attended at least 1 event, and event categories can overlap: a respondent may have gone to several types. The 52% festival figure therefore cannot be directly compared with the 60% overall Canadian attendance rate as if both had the same denominator. Source: Canada Council for the Arts, survey outcomes and event-type findings
Scotland’s 2023 cultural attendance results offer another view of event and place types, this time among all adults in the preceding 12 months. Live music attendance was 36%; historic places, 33%; museums, 30%; and theatres, 30%. At the lower end of the listed types, 2% attended opera and 1% attended archive or record offices. These categories are not all festivals or community events, but they show how participation varies across the cultural offer measured by the survey.
| Cultural event or place in Scotland | Adults attending in preceding 12 months, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Live music events | 36% |
| Historic places | 33% |
| Museums | 30% |
| Theatres | 30% |
| Opera | 2% |
| Archive or record offices | 1% |
Source: Scottish Household Survey findings, Figure 3 and attendance narrative
Barriers and access in community event attendance statistics
The surveys identify practical obstacles, but ask about them in different ways. In Scotland in 2023, 14% of adults cited lack of time as a factor limiting or preventing attendance at cultural events and places, while 12% cited ticket cost. These responses concern reported limiting factors among all adults, not only people who stayed away from a particular event.
In Western Australia’s 2026 Arts and Culture Monitor, cost was the main barrier to attending and participating in arts and cultural activities for 58% of respondents. The wording and scope differ from Scotland’s question, so the percentages should not be treated as a direct comparison of the severity of cost across the two places. Sources: Scottish Household Survey findings; Western Australia Arts and Culture Monitor
A Queenstown Lakes District Council survey in 2025 asked respondents which barriers they had experienced when attending an event in the district during the preceding 12 months. Among 1,000 respondents, 32% cited cost and 31% cited parking. Another 27% said they were unaware the event was happening. That last response points to awareness as a reported barrier in this local survey; the result does not identify which information channels respondents did or did not encounter.
| Queenstown Lakes District event barrier | Respondents reporting barrier, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cost | 32% |
| Parking | 31% |
| Unaware the event was happening | 27% |
The three sets of findings capture distinct access questions: limited time and ticket cost in Scotland, a named main barrier in Western Australia, and experienced barriers in the Queenstown Lakes District. They support attention to affordability, practical access and event awareness as separate dimensions. They do not show that the same barriers affect every community or event equally.
community event attendance: Motivations, belonging and community connection at events
Attendance is one way to describe participation; surveys also ask how people view arts and culture’s place in community life. In the Canadian survey, 71% of respondents said arts and culture make communities better places to live. A further 48% said arts and culture help them feel part of their local community, and 70% agreed that they help bring together people from different languages and cultures. These are reported attitudes, not measures of attendance or proof that attending a particular event produced the stated feeling. Source: Canada Council for the Arts, Arts and Heritage Access and Availability Survey 2025–26, outcomes
Western Australia’s 2026 monitor found that 73% agreed attending or participating in arts, cultural and creative activities improves their sense of belonging and connection with others. The wording links the activity with perceived belonging, while the Canadian questions describe broader views of arts and culture. Taken together, the figures provide context for why local cultural events may matter to residents, but they are not interchangeable measures. Source: Western Australia Arts and Culture Monitor, 2026 key findings
A single-event evaluation can add detail about why visitors came. At the University of Manchester Community Festival on June 25, 2022, “explore the University and its campus” was the most common main reason among interviewed visitors, at 34%. This finding concerns visitors to that festival and the reason they selected; it should not be generalized to other events or treated as a measure of the wider public’s motivation. Source: University of Manchester, Community Festival Evaluation Report 2022, page 7
community event attendance: Local event attendance examples and changes over time
The Manchester evaluation estimated attendance at over 2,600 visitors on June 25, 2022. The report explains that its estimate drew on wristbands and free bags distributed, stallholder observations and individual counting methods. That is an event-level estimate based on several sources of counting information, rather than a survey percentage. The report also states that 60% of visitors came from a Manchester postcode, with 23% from targeted areas. Source: University of Manchester, Community Festival Evaluation Report 2022, pages 1–2
Interview results describe a subset of attendees. Of 103 visitors interviewed, 77% said they came in family groups. Separately, 34% of interviewed visitors reported no personal connection to the University. For the question about prior visits, 71% said they had not been to the Community Festival before that year, 26% said they had, and 3% did not know. These results help characterize the people interviewed, but the denominators differ from the estimated total visitor count and should not be read as exact characteristics of all 2,600-plus visitors. Source: University of Manchester, Community Festival Evaluation Report 2022, pages 2–4
Two local survey results show broader event involvement, with different definitions. In the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s 2025 survey, 66% of respondents said they had participated in, performed at or attended an event in the district during the preceding 12 months; the question had 1,000 respondents. This combines attendance with performance and participation, so it is broader than an attendance-only measure. Source: Queenstown Lakes District Council, Quality of Life Survey 2025, page 50
Western Australia’s 2026 monitor also reports 2 related but distinct results. In the overall question, 73% reported attending or participating in arts and cultural activities in the preceding 12 months, 1 percentage point lower than in 2025. When respondents were prompted about specific event types, 86% mentioned attending at least 1 arts, cultural or creative event in that period. The difference between 73% and 86% sits alongside the change in question format and scope: one is the overall attendance or participation measure; the other follows prompts naming event types. They should not be collapsed into a single trend or interpreted as evidence of a specific cause. Source: Western Australia Arts and Culture Monitor, 2026 key findings
Across the examples, the evidence spans self-reported annual attendance, event-type participation, stated barriers, attitudes and one festival’s estimated crowd and interviews. Dates and definitions shape each statistic: Scotland’s figures refer to 2023, the Canadian survey to 2025–26 fieldwork and the preceding 12 months, and the local examples to their stated 2022 or 2025–26 periods. These distinctions allow the measures to describe their own settings without suggesting a single rate for all community events.