In Britain, research from the Book Trust found that their nation is divided into two camps, those who read daily or weekly, and those that completely eschew reading in favor of DVDs and TV. And as you may remember, on this side of the pond, a quarter of American's read nothing last year. Not a single book. In addition, despite this being the most educated generation to date, our youth reading rates have finally stagnated after years of decline. When looking at income things aren't much better; those making $30K or lower read less than half the number of books than their counterparts in $75K bracket.
But the lack of interest in reading is not the only cause for culture concern; the National Endowment of the Arts found a drop in cultural exhibit attendance across the board in 2012. The economy undoubtedly took its toll on the ability of citizens to engage with the arts, with art and music classes being cut from school districts nationwide, and many Americans limiting their spending on cultural pursuits. However, with the economy stabilizing, the importance for everyone--especially those who are younger or economically disadvantaged---to be intimate with culture is being revisited. The concern for nationwide culture consumption is a valid one; research shows those that read are more satisfied and happy with life, and with culture playing a key role in the economy, it also spurs the creative thinking needed to solve many of our worlds most complex problems, as well as fostering our ability to understand those in our increasingly culturally complex communities.Independent efforts have emerged to fight the lack of access or interest in culture among those who might not have the means; Bank of America, in their own contribution, has given card members free admittance to 150 museums nationwide with their Museums on Us program. The Brazilian government, on a much larger undertaking, is taking the need for culture large scale by providing stipends to their citizens of $25 a month to engage with the arts, however they please. What started as a pilot program in 2007, Canada's Institute for Canadian Citizenship now has a successful nationwide program that gives a Cultural Access Pass for newly immigrated citizens. The pass allows them to discover the nations arts, parks, museums and more, free of charge. Even smaller communities at home are trying their hand at passing culture legislation to make local access to culture easier. Whether or not these programs will significantly change the course of culture in different micro and macro communities remains to be seen, but attendance, participation, and hope is high.
However, it should be noted that while we're seeing drops in traditional attendance to ballets, theatre, art exhibits and reading, we are seeing more engagement with culture in different formats, such as online videos, photography sites, ebooks, and tunes on our iPods. The concern, however, is the breadth of exposure and type that is being engaged with; are we using our eReaders for Candy Crush or Dickens, for example. The solve to this cultural vacuum may be changing the format of many traditional cultural pursuits to be more accessible. If an audience does not have money for a museum, but does have the means to interact online, how do we reach them? Another consideration, of course, is that culture also moves forward; while ballet may be down, learning to create mobile apps with code is up. While some experiences cannot be replaced digitally, culture may have to adapt with technology to help fill the void, as well as consider how technology can be another facet of the culture experience.
An original Peeled Back article by Rind.
