The Arts in Canada: Access and Availability

October 17, 200517 October 2005

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This Decima Research survey asked 2,603 Canadians 15 or older a series of questions about attendance at literary or poetry readings, something that has not been asked by other arts participation surveys in Canada. Overall, the statistics in this report show that 17% of Canadians attended at least one literary or poetry reading during the year preceding the survey. Tables in the report show that attendance at literary or poetry readings is highest for the youngest Canadians, with 33% of those between 15 and 20 and 28% of those between 21 and 24 attending, compared with about 15% of Canadians 25 or older. This is fairly consistent with the findings of the Reading Canada survey, which showed that the overall reading rate also decreases somewhat with age.

Consistent with all arts participation reports, the Decima survey found that attendance at literary or poetry readings increased with the education level of respondents. The survey also found that francophone respondents had the highest rates of attendance at literary or poetry readings. This does not appear to agree with the Reading Canada finding that book reading rates are fairly low in Quebec, which has the largest component of francophone Canadians.