NPR’s Planet Money describes a recent Ipsos/Reuters poll that suggests consumer confidence worldwide is nudging upwards after an 18-month decline (see the Ipsos/Reuters release here). The poll surveyed 23,000 people in 23 countries.
Among the interesting statistics were the categories of cutbacks made, on average, by consumers during these tough economic times. As you might expect, entertainment, vacations, and luxury items topped the list for cutbacks, with education, cable television, and mobile phones at the bottom.
While the statistics make sense on their face, Richard Florida notes a bit of a disconnect in the findings:
…if we’re going to someday build a new kind of economy based less on
durable goods — the old housing-auto, fordist industrial complex so to
speak — and more around experiences, personal development, new
technology-based and creative industries, the massive slashing of
entertainment spending does not bode well for the longer-run.
…and for a lot of people, the arts are Entertainment.
What’s actually fascinating for me here is that people have cut back on groceries more than they’ve cut back on cellphones and cable TV.
I would suggest, then, that cellphones and cable TV are providing the entertainment that previously had been purchased elsewhere.
What’s also missing is online entertainment, much of which has no cost at all, and so wouldn’t show up, I would think, in a poll on cutting costs.
So, what’s the lesson for the arts? Find ways to move closer to your audiences, rather than the other way around. Or, take a lesson from Theatre Bay Area and figure out how to give a little now to get more later: [article] http://tr.im/o2Bg.