Canadian Provincial Cultural Activities

The Ontario Library Association blog alerts me to a new report from Statistics Canada and Hill Strategie called Provincial Profiles of Cultural and Heritage Activities in 2005
“Based on Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey, this report provides provincial information about cultural and heritage activities in 1992 and 2005. This report provides insights into the number and percentage of provincial residents 15 or older who:
Attended live performances;
Visited art galleries and other museums;
Visited historic sites and other heritage organizations;
Read a newspaper, magazine or book;
Watched movies or videos; or
Listened to recorded music.
Some of the report’s key findings include:
For example some ontario details are:
“Other Ontario results showed that the most popular cultural and heritage activities were:
* Reading newspapers 88%
* Listening to music on CDs, etc. 83%
* Watching a video 80%
* Reading a magazine 80%
* Reading a book 69%
* Going to a movie theatre 59%”
It looks like library supported cultural activities do quite well!
“In most provinces, as in Canada as a whole, most cultural and heritage activities attracted about the same percentage of the population in 2005 as in 1992. Provinces in this situation include Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Given the strong population growth in most provinces between 1992 and 2005, almost all cultural and heritage activities saw an increase in the absolute number of provincial residents attending, visiting, reading, watching or listening.
Reading, music and movies are among the most popular cultural and heritage activities in all provinces.
British Columbia and Ontario are the only provinces where a heritage activity – visiting a conservation area or nature park – attracted at least half of the population in 2005.
Contrary to the national trend, many cultural and heritage activities attracted a smaller percentage of British Columbians in 2005 than in 1992.
In Ontario, many cultural and heritage activities attracted a larger percentage of residents in 2005 than in 1992, including cultural/heritage performances (such as Aboriginal dance, Chinese opera, or Ukrainian dance), museums, public art galleries, historic sites, book reading, movies and videos.
In Quebec, as in Ontario, many cultural and heritage activities attracted a larger percentage of residents in 2005 than in 1992, including cultural/heritage performances (such as Aboriginal dance, Chinese opera, or Ukrainian dance), museums, public art galleries, historic sites, conservation areas or nature parks, movies, videos and music on CD or other pre-recorded formats.
Movie-going is particularly popular in Quebec. In fact, Quebec is the only province where more people go to movies than read books. In addition, Quebec is the only province where movie-going is within 10 percentage points of video-watching.”
The full report contains much more information and detailed tables regarding cultural and heritage activities in all 10 provinces in 1992 and 2005. You can find links to it and the provincial details here.
Stephen