National Participation Rate in Cultural Arts Education at 27.3%, Preference Order: 'Music, Fine Arts, Video'

The most participated types of cultural arts education programs (multiple responses allowed, unit: %)

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Last year, the participation rate of our citizens in cultural and arts education was 27.3%. Among them, the participation rate in the music sector was the highest at 51%.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, together with the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, announced the results of the ‘2020 Cultural and Arts Education Survey.’ This survey is the first nationally approved statistics that reflect the current status of citizens' participation rates and satisfaction in cultural and arts education.

‘Cultural and arts education’ refers to educational courses and activities that experience and learn various cultural arts such as music, fine arts, dance, theater, film, literature, and tradition.

The types of cultural and arts education most participated in by our citizens were ranked as follows: ‘Performing Arts - Music (51%)’, ‘Visual Arts - Fine Arts (46.6%)’, ‘Visual Arts - Video (29.6%)’, and ‘Humanities Arts - Literature (25%)’. The willingness of citizens who have experienced cultural and arts education to continue participating was high at 81%, but only 36.6% of those without participation experience expressed willingness to participate in the future.

Also, the older the age group and the lower the household income, the lower the participation rate in cultural and arts education. In particular, infants and toddlers (45.1%) and children and adolescents (49.1%) showed participation rates close to 50%, whereas from age 19 (29.5%) onward, the participation rate decreased, dropping to 19.4% in late adulthood (ages 50?64).

By household income, the participation rate difference between the highest income group (monthly income of 6 million KRW or more, 32.7%) and the lowest income group (monthly income under 1 million KRW, 25.4%) was 7.3 percentage points. By regional scale, the participation rate gap between small and medium-sized cities (32.3%) and large cities (22.9%) was 9.4 percentage points.

Satisfaction with school cultural and arts education was 88.1%, and satisfaction with ‘social cultural and arts education’ conducted outside of school for all age groups was 89.7%. Satisfaction with online cultural and arts education programs, which surged due to COVID-19, was 86.7%. Reasons for dissatisfaction included ▲number of students and duration/time of education in school cultural and arts education ▲accessibility and cost in social cultural and arts education ▲communication and teaching methods in online cultural and arts education.

Among participants in non-regular and non-major cultural and arts education within school arts education, 99.4% attended free of charge. Among learners in social cultural and arts education outside school, 43.7% responded that they paid fees, with an average monthly education cost of approximately 64,320 KRW.

When asked about what efforts the government should make to revitalize cultural and arts education, citizens cited ▲expansion of cultural and arts education programs tailored to life cycles and participant perspectives ▲strengthening the capabilities of educational personnel to provide quality cultural and arts education ▲establishment of online cultural and arts education websites where people can regularly learn for free or at low cost.

A policy official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "Based on these survey results, we will develop and expand customized cultural and arts education throughout the entire life cycle so that more citizens can enjoy cultural and arts education in their daily lives regardless of age or income."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.