Nearly a third of Canberra audiences have returned to cultural venues and events, while 74 per cent are engaged with online events, higher than the national average, a recent study has found.
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The July 2020 Audience Outlook Monitor, prepared by arts consultancy Patternmakers with support from ACT government agency artsACT, tracked audience sentiment between May and June and found 94 per cent of Canberra audiences, who live in and around the ACT, were comfortable visiting a museum or gallery.
Exactly half of Canberra audiences said a digital, live-streamed program was their most preferred type of cultural event. The largest proportion of audiences (47 per cent) said they were making firm plans to attend cultural events in the future, but 41 per cent of people were buying tickets with less than a month before the event.
More than a third of Canberra audiences said they had paid for an online cultural experience, while 43 per cent of people who live in the ACT said the same, growing from 35 per cent in May.
About 85 per cent of people living in the ACT were again comfortable dining out, with more than half (54 per cent) reporting they felt comfortable attending seated venues.
"These findings suggest an increasingly strong market for online arts and culture, especially for ACT audiences who are demonstrating greater caution towards attending live events," the report said.
But in the same period 14 per cent of audiences who attend events in the ACT and 12 per cent of respondents who live in the ACT said they could not see themselves going out until there was no risk of COVID-19 transmission.
In the ACT, 66 per cent of respondents said they would go out when the risk of viral transmission was minimal, with 22 per cent saying they would go out to events as soon as they were allowed.
About half the survey's ACT respondents said they were again comfortable using public transport.
However, 23 per cent of ACT audiences said they expected to attend fewer events than before the pandemic, up from 17 per cent who said the same in May.
Survey respondents said limited event capacity had helped with social distancing. "Social distancing with seating and there were very few people in the foyer waiting, scheduling of films helped with this. Also, online ticket purchase worked well," a respondent said.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
