Are the Arts Irrelevant to the Next Generation? - Miller-McCune
Are you concerned about the future of the fine arts? New research from Norway suggests you have every right to fret.
A study just published in the journal Poetics suggests art forms such as literature and classical music “are becoming increasingly more irrelevant for most students’ cultural lives.” This points to “an increasingly precarious position for traditional highbrow culture,” according to a trio of researchers led by the University of Bergen’s Jostein Gripsrud.
Gripsrud and his colleagues conducted two surveys of students enrolled at the major institutions of higher learning in the Norwegian city of Bergen: the University of Bergen, the Norwegian School of Business Administration, Bergen University College, and the National College of Art, Bergen. The first survey, conducted in late 1998 and early 1999, produced responses from 1,113 students.
The second — designed to closely replicate the first, with some added questions regarding use of digital media — was conducted exactly 10 years later, in late 2008 and early 2009. In addition to the four schools from 1998, the Norwegian School of Business Management was included. A total of 1,223 students responded.
The surveys were lengthy and detailed (93 questions in the first, 97 in the second). Both featured a mix of yes-or-no questions (“Have you heard of violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter?”) and open-ended ones (“Name some authors or books you think are very good.”).
The researchers found “a marked decline in interest and use of almost every form of culture that is identified with traditional legitimate taste.” They note that “the most marked drops in popularity were often in the oldest and supposedly most legitimate genres, including classical music, opera, and literature.”
“The proportion of students who have visited an art gallery in the last 12 months; or say they are interested in classical or avant-garde theatre; or have been at a performance of one of these art forms; or claim interest in the culture sections in the newspaper … are all decreasing,” they add.