THE OMNIVORES: DILEMMA

posted by James Reel

What's killing attendance at cultural events? The latest theory: The decline of cultural omnivores. This article reports on a new NEA study that suggests that the population of omnivores--people who regularly participate in a broad range of cultural activities--is shrinking and becoming less active. That's bad news because omnivores seem to be the core of the cultural audience; the only greater predictor of cultural participation seems to be education level.

My personal experience--and I realize that personal experience is always a poor way to judge things beyond one's own experience--calls some of this into question. Twenty years ago, I was struck by how musically omnivorous people in their 20s were; they'd give just about anything a try, from Tuvan throat singers through grunge rock to classical. They didn't necessarily have a deep knowledge of any particular style, but they had a broad tolerance and curiosity. I have no reason to believe that these people, or the succeeding generation, have constricted their tastes since then.

So what's the real problem? I think the key word is "participation." Obviously, fewer people are going out to concerts and plays and exhibitions. But participation is not the same as consumption. Think about those millions of music downloads, the popularity of YouTube and Hulu, the success of Netflix and our own Casa Video, the ability to look at all sorts of images (and not just pornography) on the Internet. Surely, cultural consumption is steady if not increasing if we take into account all those people just sitting at home rather than going out and buying a ticket. This is not a new idea, but cultural institutions will be able to thrive if they figure out how to reach people in their natural habitat, and how to find the money that allows them to deliver culture using evolving technology. The omnivores are out there; we just have to take culture to them, rather than wring our hands when they fail to come to us.