The performing arts community has never really recovered from the pandemic, a new study points out. Attendance observed in 2023, all disciplines combined, is 19% below the 2018 level. The proportion of Quebecers who say they do not attend any shows is also on the rise.
According to a survey conducted by the Working Group on Performing Arts Attendance (GTFAS), 43% of Quebecers over the age of 16 say they have not attended any shows in the past year. That’s 8 percentage points more than five years ago.
And among the small majority of Quebecers who say they have seen at least one show, the number of tickets purchased in the year tends to decline. In 2018, Quebec spectators attended an average of nearly five shows in the year. In 2023, the first real year of post-pandemic recovery, the annual average was estimated at 4.36 performances per person.
“The return to normal is moving further away for the performing arts sector, both in terms of frequency and consumption habits. Indeed, while the cyclical effects of the pandemic are dissipating, other, more profound changes are beginning to reveal their full influence on the way audiences attend the performing arts,” estimates the GTFAS report.
The group mainly attributes the difficult situation in which the entertainment industry finds itself to the economic situation that has prevailed since the end of the pandemic. Purchasing power is diminishing and this is inevitably reflected in ticket sales. Moreover, the average price that people are willing to pay for a show is practically the same as it was five years ago. However, during this period, inflation has jumped by 20%, it is noted.
“The year 2023 was marked by a particularly difficult economic situation in Quebec. For the year as a whole, Quebec’s real GDP at current prices was practically at the same level as in 2022. This is a significant slowdown, which is notably attributable to the decline in household consumption, battered by persistent high inflation that is eroding the purchasing power of Quebecers,” emphasizes the GTFAS.
Decrease in almost all disciplines
The GTFAS brings together most of the associations that represent the various performing arts communities in Quebec. These include the Conseil québécois du théâtre, the Conseil québécois de la musique, ADISQ and the Association des professionnels de l’industrie de l’humour.
Comedy remains the discipline that generates the most admissions. However, theaters are filling up much less well than before the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2023, comedians lost almost a quarter of their audience in theaters.
During the same period, ticket sales dropped by 17% for classical music and by 14% for French-language songs. Although this is the category where tickets are the most expensive, English-language songs fared much better, limiting their drop in attendance to 7%. Dance (-30%) and theatre (-27%) are the two disciplines that are suffering the most from the desertion of performance halls.
The circus world is a real exception in the current context: it is the only one that has gained in attendance. In 2023, attendance in venues was up 5% compared to 2018.
Young men are deserting the halls
The Task Force on Performing Arts Attendance also points out in its report that inflation is hitting younger Quebecers hard. With rising rent and grocery bills, it’s no surprise that they’re now thinking twice before buying a ticket to a show.
Surprisingly, however, it is mainly young men who are avoiding concert halls. Just 57% of men aged 16 to 24 attended at least one show last year, a substantial drop of 12 percentage points compared to 2018.
The gap with women in the same age group has widened considerably in the last five years. Among 16-24 year-olds, seven out of ten women saw at least one show in 2023, almost the same number as five years ago. This is the only age group in which there is such a big difference between men and women.
In its report, the GTFAS puts forward several hypotheses to explain this “statistical anomaly”. Among other things, it points to the popularity of video games and the existence of gender stereotypes that would mean that “certain cultural and artistic activities are sometimes perceived as less masculine”. The possibility of dropping out of school is also raised.
“The study demonstrates again that the level of education is one of the strongest predictors to explain the level of attendance of a person. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that the decline among young men could be correlated with a decline in the level of education, or even with a higher dropout rate among young men, and that the pandemic has accentuated,” it can be read.