Supporting Statement A - AABS1820-2.27.19-FINAL

Supporting Statement A: Arts Basic Survey
Introduction
This request is for clearance to conduct the 2018 and 2020 Arts Basic Survey (ABS) (formally
titled Annual Arts Benchmarking Survey, and Annual Arts Basic Survey). This survey will be
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau as a supplement to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current
Population Survey. The ABS will be conducted in February 2018 and February 2020 and is
expected to be conducted again in 2025, which corresponds to once between each National
Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), starting with
the 2022 SPPA. To date, the ABS has been conducted annually from 2013 to 2016, with the
exception of 2017, when the SPPA was administered. One of the strengths of the ABS is that it
will 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 activities, and is conducted approximately every five years. The ABS is much shorter
than the SPPA, consisting of 12 to 14 questions per module that will be used to track arts
participation over time.
As with the SPPA, the ABS 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 1 or NEA-designated websites. The ABS will
provide 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 2014-2018 Strategic Plan. 2
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 U.S. Census
Bureau to conduct the Arts Basic Survey (ABS). The U.S. Census Bureau is authorized to collect
data under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182 (see Attachment A).
As a national survey, the ABS will serve as a sound basis on which to make regular estimates of
participation rates in the various art forms asked on the survey. National data from the ABS, with
the SPPA, has appeared regularly in the Social Indicators chapter of the Analytical Perspectives,
Budget of the United States Government. The ABS data will also provide information on the
characteristics of the population participating in the arts. In addition, the ABS gathers information
on the characteristics of adults who do not participate in the arts. Given that the ABS will be
collected on a recurring basis, the ABS will provide trend data that will help policymakers and
arts administrators make decisions using reliable and recent information. In addition, these data
will be used by the NEA as an indicator in the NEA’s FY 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.

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https://arts.gov/artistic-fields/research
https://arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEAStrategicPlan2014-2018.pdf

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A.2. Needs and Uses of the Data
The ABS 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 in the arts through performing or creating art, reading,
and visiting historic parks, art museums or galleries. Since access to the arts is a major agency
goal, measuring the wide range of possible ways the American public can participate in the arts is
of critical importance.
The sample design is such that, in addition to the capability of making national estimates, it will
be possible to generate estimates for subregions of the nation and for approximately 32 individual
states and 11 large metropolitan areas. Thus, policymakers and arts administrators at the national,
regional, state, and local levels will be 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 audiences in 2018 and
2020. Publications based on this data will be available to the public on the NEA’s website 3 or
NEA-designated websites, where studies on the SPPA data can also be found.
The ABS is a 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, 2012,
and 2017 SPPA surveys. The first five years of the ABS were conducted in 2013, 2014, 2015,
2016, and 2018, with odd years focusing on arts attendance and arts learning, and even years
focusing on arts creation and performance. These data allow arts administrators to assess how the
demand for the arts changes 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 ABS will improve on the SPPA in two distinct ways. First, by benchmarking key art forms,
the ABS 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
estimates from the ABS 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 ABS questions are designed to obtain the required information while keeping respondent
burden to a minimum. The proposed items and interviewer procedures were developed over years
of consultation with the U.S. 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
Preexisting surveys, such as the General Social Survey (sponsored by the National Science
Foundation), periodically include a handful of arts participation questions. However, there is no
existing nationally representative survey outside of the ABS and SPPA that allows for tracking of
public participation in the arts on a regular basis and for analysis by demographic and geographic
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https://arts.gov/artistic-fields/research

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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 ABS at least once between years that the SPPA is conducted)
in order to enable policymakers and arts administrators to make decisions using reliable and
recent information.
A.7. Special Circumstances
There are no special circumstances that apply to the ABS.
A.8. Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency
A notice was published in the Federal Register (Document #2017-06326) on March 31, 2017, to
solicit comments on the benchmarking survey prior to submission of this OMB clearance request.
(A copy of this notice is in Attachment B.) One comment was received. The second Federal
Register Notice was published on June 2, 2017 (Document #2017-11405). (A copy of this notice
is in Attachment C.)
The ABS questions are essentially from the SPPA questionnaire and were selected by a team
internal to the NEA. The SPPA questionnaire was developed by extensive advisory panels of
academicians and users of national arts data.
The ABS survey instruments are included in the appendix (Attachment D1 and D2). Questions on
arts attendance and arts learning will be conducted in 2018 and 2020, and questions on arts
creation and performance will be conducted in FY 2020. This clearance request includes only FY
2018 and FY 2020 waves.
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 ABS, the U.S. 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 E). 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 F) and Fact Sheet for the Current Population Survey (Attachment G),
which further states the confidentiality assurances associated with this data collection effort and
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the U.S. Census Bureau’s past performance in assuring confidentiality).
All information given by respondents to U.S. Census Bureau employees is held in strict
confidence under Title 13, United States Code, Section 9 (see Attachment A). Every U.S. 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 ABS 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 year (FY) 2018 and 4,800 hours
in total for FY 2020. In FY 2018, all respondents received the module on arts creation, in FY
2020, half of the random sample will be given each module. This is based on an average 4-minute
interview for each of the 18,000 adults ages 18 years and older in the supplement universe each
year. This estimate was based on the time required to answer similar questions in previous ABS
waves.
The actual respondent burden is dependent upon the size of the household and the 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
$250,000 in FY 2018, and $360,000 in FY 2020, which will be borne by the NEA. The CPS
program is anticipated to cost $86 million in FY 2017. Those costs are borne by the U.S. 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 five years of the ABS were conducted in FY 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, and
those questions serve as the basis for the FY 2018 and FY 2020 surveys. The finalized survey
modules and instructions were delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau in August 2017. Main data
collections for the ABS are expected to occur in February of 2018 and 2020, since they will be
supplements to the February 2018 and 2020 CPS. Processing of this supplement will begin
following data collection. The public use files as well as summary reports are expected to be
released in the following year after data collection.
A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date
The NEA does not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection. The
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CPS requires two OMB control numbers and two expiration dates because the survey consists of
two parts: the basic questionnaire and a supplemental questionnaire, which differ from month to
month. The OMB control number and expiration date for conducting the Basic CPS are included
in the survey’s advance letter (Attachment E). To avoid confusion, the expiration date of the
supplemental questionnaire is not included in the letter.
A.18. Exceptions to the Certification
There are no exceptions to the certification.

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