Colin Jackson, a good friend and an ‘artful manager’ from Calgary, forwarded a link to this Swedish study that concludes:
Attendance at cultural events may have a positive influence on survival.
For the visually-inclined, the report also includes this handy chart (suitable for framing) of the estimated survival of people attending cultural events often, occasionally, or rarely. Even though this is an old study, this may become my favorite chart of the year.
Thanks to the good work of researchers Lars Olov Bygren, Boinkum Benson Konlaan, and Sven-Erik Johansson (what fabulous names), we may have found a new marketing angle for our subscription sales pushes: “Subscribe…if you want to live.” Which actually doesn’t sound that bad.