Supporting Statement A - AABS1516

Supporting Statement A: Annual Arts Benchmarking Survey
Introduction
This request is for clearance to conduct the 2015 and 2016 Annual Arts Benchmarking
Surveys (AABS). These surveys will be conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau as a
supplement to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current Population Survey. The AABS will
be conducted in February 2015 and February 2016 and are expected to conducted
annually thereafter in years that the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Survey of
Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) is not conducted. One of the strengths of the
AABS surveys is that they will both complement and supplement the information
collected in the SPPA. The SPPA is the field’s premiere repeated cross-sectional survey
of individual attendance and involvement in arts and cultural activity, and is conducted
approximately every five years. The AABS questionnaires are much shorter than the
SPPA, consisting of 10 to 12 questions that will be used to track arts participation over
time. As with the SPPA, the AABS data will be circulated to interested researchers and
will be the basis for a range of NEA reports and independent research publications.
Reports on these data will be made publicly available on the NEA’s website. The AABS
will provide annual primary knowledge on the extent and nature of participation in the
arts in the United States. These data will also be used by the NEA as a contextual
measure for one of the strategic goals identified in its FY 2014 – FY 2018 strategic plan.
1

A. Justification
A.1.

Necessity of Information Collection

The NEA, pursuant to its mandate “to support projects and productions that will
encourage public knowledge, education, understanding and appreciation of the arts”
(USC2O, Section 954 (5)) and “to develop and implement a practical system of national
information and data collection and public dissemination on the arts and their audiences,
including trends in audience participation” (USC 20, Section 954 (q)), has entered into an
interagency agreement with the Census Bureau to conduct the Annual Arts
Benchmarking Survey (AABS). The Census Bureau is authorized to collect data under
Title 13, United States Code, Section 182 (see Attachment A).
As a national survey, the AABS will serve as a sound basis on which to make annual
estimates of participation rates in the various art forms asked on the survey. National data
from the AABS will supplement SPPA data, which appear regularly in the Statistical
Abstract of the United States. The AABS data will also provide information on the
characteristics of the population participating in the arts. In addition, the AABS gathers
information on the characteristics of adults who do not participate in the arts. Given that
the AABS will be collected on an annual basis, the AABS will provide trend data that
will help policymakers and arts administrators make decisions using more reliable and
1

http://arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEAStrategicPlan2014-2018.pdf

1

recent information. In addition, these data will be used by the NEA as a contextual
measure under its strategic goal to "Foster Public Engagement with Diverse and
Excellent Art” as described in the NEA’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.

A.2.

Needs and Uses of the Data

The AABS will provide measures of participation in the arts from a nationally
representative sample of adults ages 18 and older. The information to be collected from
adults include attendance at live arts events, participation through performing or creating
art, reading, and visiting historic park, art museums or galleries. Since fostering access to
the arts is a major agency goal, measuring the depth and frequency of arts participation is
of critical importance.
The sample design is such that, in addition to the capability of making national estimates,
it will also be possible to generate estimates for sub-regions of the nation and for
individual states and large metropolitan areas. Thus, policymakers and arts administrators
at the national, regional, state, and local levels are able to study the patterns of
participation across various population subgroups and to look for correlates of
participation in artistic and other cultural activities. The data from this study will better
enable arts administrators to make essential policy decisions based on such things as the
size and characteristics of current and potential arts audiences in 2015 and 2016.
Publications based on this data will be available to the public on the NEA website 2 ,
where studies on the SPPA data can also be found.
The AABS is an annual study that complements the ongoing assessment of the arts
leisure-time activities that began with the 1982 SPPA and was followed with the 1985,
1992, 1997, 2002, 2008, and 2012 SPPA surveys. The first two years of the AABS were
conducted in 2013 and 2014. The SPPA will be conducted again in 2017. These data
allow arts administrators to assess how the demand for the arts is changing over time, and
how the nature of adults’ participation in the arts changes over time. Data from previous
SPPA surveys have been widely used by policymakers and scholars because of their
unique scope and statistical precision. The AABS will help improve on the SPPA in two
distinct ways. First, by benchmarking key art forms, the AABS will free the SPPA from
this task, providing more flexibility in measuring new or redefined art forms and thereby
addressing a recurring criticism of the SPPA. Second, the annual estimates from the
AABS will help users of SPPA data assess whether changes in the SPPA participation
estimates are more likely a short-term phenomenon (based, for instance, on the economy
or a major current event) or a long-term shift in participation.

A.3. Use of Information Technology
The benchmarking questions are designed to obtain the required information while
2

http://arts.gov/artistic-fields/research

2

keeping respondent burden to a minimum. The proposed items and interviewer
procedures were developed over years of consultation with the Census Bureau, the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and other government agencies. The use of
computer-assisted personal and telephone interviewing is deemed the most appropriate
collection methodology.

A.4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

A couple of surveys have some questions regarding participation in the arts, such as the
General Social Survey (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), which
periodically includes a handful of arts participation questions in its survey. However,
there is no existing survey that allows for tracking arts participation over time and
analysis by demographic and geographic subgroups.

A.5. Minimizing Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities
Not applicable. The collection of public participation in the arts information does not
involve small businesses or other small entities.

A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
The goal of NEA is to conduct the AABS on an annual basis in order to enable
policymakers and arts administrators make decisions using more reliable and recent
information.

A.7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances that apply to the AABS.

A.8. Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency
A notice was published in the Federal Register (Vol. 79, No. 66, p. 19127) on April 7,
2014, to solicit comments on the benchmarking survey prior to submission of this OMB
clearance request. (A copy of this notice is in Attachment B.) No public comments were
received in response to this notice. The second Federal Register Notice was published on
June 12, 2014 (Vol. 79, No. 113, p. 33787). (A copy of this notice is in Attachment C.)
The AABS questions are essentially from the SPPA questionnaire and were selected by a
team internal to the NEA. The SPPA questionnaire was developed by an extensive
advisory panel of academicians and users of national arts data.

3

The AABS survey instruments are included in the appendix (Attachments D and E). The
surveys will be conducted on a rotating basis: the survey with questions on arts
attendance and arts learning will be conducted in FY 2015 and FY 2018. The survey
with questions on arts creation and performance will be conducted in FY 2016.

A.9. Paying Respondents
The Census does not make any payments or provide any gifts to individuals participating
in the CPS.

A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality
During the actual AABS, the Census Bureau will collect the supplement data in
compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the OMB Circular A-130. Each sample
household receives an advance letter approximately one week before the start of the
initial CPS interview (see Attachment F). The letter includes the information required by
the Privacy Act of 1974, explains the voluntary nature of the survey, and states the
estimated time required for participating in the survey. Interviewers must ask if the
respondent received the letter and, if not, provide a copy and allow the respondent
sufficient time to read the contents. Also, interviewers provide households with the
pamphlet The U.S. Census Bureau Respects Your Privacy and Protects Your Personal
Information (Attachment G) and Fact Sheet for the Current Population Survey
(Attachment H), which further states the confidentiality assurances associated with this
data collection effort and the Census Bureau’s past performance in assuring
confidentiality).
All information given by respondents to Census Bureau employees is held in strict
confidence under Title 13, United States Code, Section 9 (see Attachment A). Every
Census Bureau employee has taken an oath to that effect and is subject to a jail penalty
and/or substantial fine if they disclose any information given to them.
A.11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature
The AABS does not include any questions of a sensitive nature.
A.12. Estimate of Hour Burden
The estimated respondent burden is 2,400 hours in total for fiscal years (FY) 2015 and
2016. This is based on an average 4-minute interview for each of the 18,000 persons age
18 years and older in the supplement universe each year. This estimate was based on the
time required to answer similar questions in past Public Participation in the Arts
Supplements.
The actual respondent burden is dependent upon the size of the household and the
4

characteristics of its occupants. In some households, two supplement questionnaires will
be asked.

A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden
There are no costs to respondents other than that of their time to respond.

A.14. Cost to Federal Government
The estimated cost to the government of the supplement on public participation in the arts
is $225,000, which will be borne by the NEA. The CPS program is anticipated to cost
$88 million in FY 2015. Those costs are borne by the Census Bureau, the BLS, and other
government agencies.

A. 15

Reasons for Program Changes

This information collection does not represent any program change.

A.16.

Project Schedule

The first two years of the AABS were conducted in FY 2013 and FY 2014, and those
questions serve the basis for the FY 2015 and FY 2016 surveys. The finalized instrument
and instructions will be delivered to the Census Bureau in July 2014. Main data
collections for the AABS are expected to occur in February of 2015 and 2016, since they
will be supplements to the February 2015 and 2016 CPS. Processing of this supplement
will commence in July 2014. The public use files will be released in the fall of each year
following data collection, and summary reports from NEA will be available in January
the following year after data collection.

A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date
This does not apply.

A.18. Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification.

5