Student Participation at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center Events John Roberson, Lacey Beno, Courtney Terry, Stephen Kelly, Laura Hancock, and Grace Halbert Auburn University
RUNNING HEADER: Student Arts Participation
Abstract
Student Arts Participation
The Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center was built in 1999 to better aid the artistic needs of the Auburn area and to provide the community with access to exhibitions, musical concerts, lectures, art classes and special events throughout the year for people of all ages. The Arts Center currently provides artists, dancers, and actors the opportunity to attend programs and instructional classes. The Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center holds a variety of programs, including Community Theatre, Ballroom Dancing, Featured Regional Artists and Traveling Exhibitions. The Arts Center is part of the Auburn Parks and Recreation department and is sponsored by the Auburn Arts Association. The hypothesis infers students being surveyed are unaware that the community arts center exists and do not know that classes are available to them. Further, the hypothesis states students will have a high interest in participating in the classes if they had more information on them. The sample size was 139 students from various majors and class rankings. The focus group that was administered consisted of 12 people, eight males and four females. The scales used in the survey ranged from Likert Type Scale to ranking in order of preference. Also, closed ended and open ended multiple choice questions were included in all surveys. Results showed the hypothesis was correct. The students surveyed are interested in participating, but are unaware of the program, think it costs too much or do not have enough free time to attend.
Student Arts Participation
Student Participation at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center Events The Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center wants to increase its awareness and
involvement of the center and its programs to Auburn University students. The research group found that most students had never heard of the Arts Center so it is important to make students aware of the center and its programs. Also, students often avoid city sponsored events because of their lack of association with community membership versus being transient members. Classes offered by the arts center are also expensive for student budgets. Students with other time commitments such as Greek life, sporting events, working out, school, work and other activities hinder student participation in these classes. The last problem is that currently there is very little involvement from students with the arts center which deters students from further participation. The research, aimed at helping to increase participation of Auburn University students at events held by the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center, attempts to study the causal relationship between interest in programs offered and what prevents students from participation. The research assumes that if students are interested in a particular program, they are not currently participating for some other reason. Most students who participated in the survey and focus group were not even aware of the community arts center and the programs it offers. The survey given to students asks question designed to determine what exactly prevents their participation. It asks questions about deterrents, incentives, time and monetary constraints, and the best way to publicize events. Through the answers to these questions, a link between what prevents students from participating and their interest in the programs should be discovered. At the beginning of this project, each individual in the group had the same assumptions about why students were not in attendance at the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center. First, each individual of the group agreed that there was lack of advertisement. Second,
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each individual of the group knew word of mouth was ineffective. Third, incentives can be
effective. Fourth, as college students, the group knew pricing would be an issue. Fifth, school and other activities take up the majority of time for most college students. Finally, the last agreed assumption was lack of communication. The constructs of this project were straightforward. Through speaking with Sara Hand and Liz Traylor and conducting a focus group, the group was able to compile information to where each individual agreed upon the same issues. Sara Hand, director of the center, said she wanted more students to be involved, but was unsure of how to begin to increase membership. She said that this project would help provide her with ideas of where to start. After speaking with Sara, the group had questions and assumptions that were theoretically composed in our minds. The group then asked those questions to the attendees of the focus group. Through actions and observations, the group was able to relate our theoretical constructs to what was actually observed. One of our first assumptions was that students were unaware the art center. In reality, it was true. There were two individuals who mentioned that they had attended a swing-dancing event at a place located across from the post office. Little did he know, that was the art center. Most others at the focus group had not heard of the center. There were two out of 12 that had. None other had attended any classes. The group made self-conclusions that a lack of advertisement caused the lack of participation. The assumptions at first were that students would likely not care even if there were advertisements but, attendees said they would be interested in what the center has to offer if they knew more about it. They suggested demonstrations on campus that would display what happens at the center. An example would be swing dancing or an artist painting on the concourse. That way, students could see in what events they could be involved. Another issue with advertisement
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is the booklet containing information about the art center. A male attendee noticed in the pictures children and families. Seeing that the pictures were only of children and families, he assumed
classes were not for college students. A resolution to this problem would be adding more pictures of students participating in activities. Attendees agreed that personal visits, by an art center representative, to sorority chapter meetings or other organizational meetings would be beneficial. At these events, the representative could leave fliers advertising events. Word of mouth was also a problem as to why more students were not participating in classes at the arts center. When attendees became aware of the types of classes offered through the center, they said they had not heard of such classes. They said the best way to hear about such things would be on campus. The only one that had been heard of was the swing dancing event. Instead of expressing interest in any of the offered classes, they mentioned classes that they would like to see offered—ones that appealed more to their interests. Classes they suggested were photography and a how-to class instead of “prior experience classes.” Also, it was mentioned that a more advanced photography class—a continuation from what was taught in high school. Another mentioned harmonica and art lessons at beginner levels. Based on the constructs, the group didn’t think outside of the box on this instance. It was assumed that attendees would take what was offered instead of adding suggestions. Alcohol can always be an incentive to attend an event. Compared with Sips ‘n’ Strokes, another art venue in Auburn that allows alcoholic beverages during activities, attendees said that alcohol does not have to be involved. They just want to have a good time with their friends. Most students say they would prefer Sips ‘n’ Strokes over the art center. A likely reason could be because of better awareness.
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Following, it was assumed that school, work, money and other activities would keep
students from attending. Since the group members are students themselves, this assumption was correct when they asked other students if the same was true for them. Incentives are always a reason to participate in something. It was thought that incentives such as free food, other friends attending or other objects of influence would attract students. The assumptions were partially true. Food and other snacks “would be appealing.” Men said that they thought it would only be women attending, which one said that would be an incentive to go. Others agreed that attending these events would be a good way to meet others. Attending with friends was also a must for attendees of the group. The next question was pricing. As college students, too high of a price isn’t appealing. When students were asked how much they would pay to attend a semester of classes, they say they would pay $20 per class. Other suggestions were a trial class, first class free, being able to see options of what activity will be done for a certain day (what will be painted) and student discounts. If student discounts were offered, they would be more likely to attend. Also, members said they would only want to take one class per semester because of school. Finally, better communication was a big topic. Tied in with advertising, it was thought that lack of communicating information would be a cause of unawareness. The assumptions were true, and the attendees had more suggestions. They said that staying connected with them would be effective. Depending on how something was advertised would be a determining factor to whether they attend. E-mail would be the best method of communication. Lastly, “The Big Event” would be effective. This would be an activity with friends as well as food. This could be in comparison to the Part-Time Job Fair hosted by the university at the beginning of the fall
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semester. If the art center used this idea, they could display each of their events/activities and have students sign-up for more information.
Stern, Mark J. and Seifert, Susan C. (October 1994). Individual Participation and Community Arts Groups: A Quantitative Analysis of Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work.
Stern and Seifert discuss the role of community arts and culture in urban communities, and the different factors that contribute to its growth. This publication answers the question of what can be gained from arts and having opportunities to practice it in a community setting. Variables in predicting precipitation include income and education. Data was collected from Philadelphia and cultural groups were considered. Specifically, the research was concentrated on the role of community context on arts behavior. Data came from a local public survey and a telephone survey of the metropolitan survey of Philadelphia. The survey included questions on the participants attendance at cultural and art activities, listening or watching programs and opinion questions on the desirability of arts activities. Results for the survey showed that participants who were members of one or more arts groups attended plays, ballets and operas more often than those who were not. Communities sampled across the city were well represented and diverse. Those with incomes above $40,000 a year attended a greater average number of performances than the average income. Similarly, those with a higher education attended more museums, ballets and operas than the rest of the population.
Student Arts Participation
After going over the variables, which were averaged and entered in the place of missing values in demographic variables, the publication described the multiple classification analysis. This confirms the importance of education, income and race when classifying categories.
The research from the surveys found that people with higher income and education were more likely to attend concerts, plays and museums. However, one startling result was that those in a cultural group in a community attended more art and cultural events than those not in one. This shows the relation to location and membership to interactive groups within a local community. The greater number of groups leads to greater involvement and people with similar taste. More research would be needed in order to construct a relevant theory on cultural groups in Philadelphia. Community structure links with different economic groups to form the culture of activities for ordinary citizens. This relates to the Jan Dempsey Arts Center research survey because it is a community center offering art and activity classes. A better understanding of the groups in Auburn that would participate and support art and cultural activities would be beneficial to the Jan Dempsey Arts Center when advertising and constructing more classes in the future.
Walker, Chris; Fleming, Cory and Sherwood, Kay. (2002) The Urban Institute. Washington , DC.
The publication for the Urban Institute focuses on why and how people participate in arts and culture and what would make them more likely to engage in other activities that support
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community life. Walker, Fleming and Sherwood argue that an increase in participation leads to better political and economic support of arts and cultural institutions.
Results were taken from the Urban Institute’s Cultural Participation Survey. Residents of five communities were surveyed to find out about their attendance at theatre performances, visual art exhibitions and what other arts they participated in. Responses help understand the bridge arts and community participation. Concerns about the decline of participation in civic affairs have attracted media attention in America. Promoting community activities can help strengthen communities and help preserve the cultural institutions that support the arts. The 20 minute random-sample survey, which was conducted in the fall of 1998, produced 2,406 responses. Main topics included methods, motivations and venues for participation, including participant’s background. The five communities were the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, Humboldt County, California; Mayfair, San Jose, California; Milpitas, California and Gilroy, California. Walker, Fleming and Sherwood broke down the types of Arts and Cultural Participation into four categories: attendance at live programs or events, amateur art- making, socialization of children and support for artists or arts organizations. (p.4) Then they described the contributions to arts and culture as well as to community life associated with each category. Programs and events encourage people to participate in arts and culture. These vary depending on levels of commitment of money, time or skill. (p. 5) Those who attended events also tended to engage in amateur art –making, involving their children in arts and supporting the arts through financial contributions.
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The publication then breaks down the groups of participants and shows the relationship of those who participate in programs and those whose children participate by percentages.
Arts participation begins with personal commitment including time and money. Adults are more likely to participate in art –making privately versus publically initially. ( p.12) The strongest commitment is volunteering and performing in public. People already active in arts and cultural programs are more likely to increase participation and support in similar groups. Participation also increases their children’s exposure to arts and culture which builds audiences later. The conclusion discusses the important link between participation in arts and the quality of life within a community. ( p.20)
Dirks, Arthur L. (1999). Arts participation in America. Published on-line by author (http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/papers/artspart.htm). Bridgewater, MA.
Dirks discusses the results from a series of surveys conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts on the value of those who participate in arts to the community. Again, this survey found that predictors for participation included income, education and in some cases, age. People with a higher level of communication were more likely to participate in community based art, music and dance programs. These results also showed an overall decline in adult arts participation following World War II, due mostly to the baby-boomers difference in income. Also, those with multiple children in the household have more time constraints and are less likely to participate in as many programs. Men spend less time creating and performing art than women.
Student Arts Participation
Dirks addresses the importance of college facilities to an arts scene. However, a frequent
problem of having college and community facilities can be a lack of staffing and operation of the community facilities because resources are focused on the college one. Higher education supports a high amount of arts and art education, making colleges and universities some of the best patrons. The hypothesis infers students being surveyed are unaware that the community arts center exists and do not know that classes are available to them. Further, the hypothesis states students will have a high interest in participating in the classes if they had more information on them. The hypothesis also states students will want to be contacted about the classes by mail or by Web site. Students who are interested in art are hypothesized to pay more money to attend the classes than students who are not interested in art. The students are most likely going to be interested in tribal fusion bellydance, dance at your wedding crash course, learning to draw and calligraphy. Lastly, it is hypothesized that students will be discouraged from attending classes and events due to Greek life, sports, working out and their school work load. Methods The population of interest for this study is the students at Auburn University. The sampling frame is the undergraduate student body at Auburn University because every student had potential to be surveyed. All the participating students can be found in the Auburn University Campus Directory. The population that is accessible to this study is measured through multi-stage sampling by combining simple random sampling and cluster random sampling. Cluster sampling of students in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library applied because it is most cost effective and can be used in face-to-face surveying. A non-probability convenience sampling of friends and connections held by group members willing to volunteer and fill out a
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survey or participate in the focus group is used to conduct the sampling. A probability sample of
students was collected Nov. 16-19, 2009 in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library, a study resource available to all students of the university. The sample population chosen was Auburn University students. It was important to target students of all different majors and ages. The problems with contacting and measuring this population is finding a location where we could get a variety of students and also finding students who would be willing to sit down and fill out the 20 question survey. Many survey locations targeted included the university library, the concourse, the Student Center and the Tiger Transit Bus Stop. The sample was limited to the students in these locations at the time the surveys were conducted. It was important to target students of all different majors and ages to insure a wide range of knowledge and opinions about the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center. The group used social connections as a resource for locating students to survey and volunteers for the focus group. The focus group on Nov. 3, 2009 was made up of friends of group members. Each member chose two to three peers to be involved in the feedback session. The majors of the focus group participants ranged from communication, polymer fiber engineering, human development and family studies, industrial design and public administration. Problems faced for the focus group session included scheduling conflicts and lack of willing participants. The sample, although small, should be generalizable to the larger population of Auburn University students. The total enrolment of Auburn University undergraduates for 2008-2009 was 20,037. The university houses 13 separate colleges such as the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Business. Steps were taken in selecting a respondent pool to ensure that any member of the student body could have been surveyed.
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Since the participants in the survey were chosen randomly in the library, a facility on
campus used by all majors and classifications, any student could have been chosen. The survey included a sample of 139 students majoring in communication, polymer fiber engineering, industrial design, public administration and human development and family studies. Of the respondents, 40 out of 139 hold jobs in addition to attending Auburn University. The sample size was small, only 139 students answered the survey, but since those surveys show a trend, it can be assumed that the answers could be generalized to the larger population of students at Auburn. In addition to respondents from the survey, focus group participants were also instrumental creating the final survey, thus a larger part of the Auburn University student body was used to gather information for the research. Also, since the questions were based on secondary research and research gathered through a focus group, they should be better aimed at gathering insightful information. The questions were designed to be answered quickly and easily and to gather information that would help to parallel answers from this survey to prior finding from other surveys. The answers were narrowed down by answers to a preliminary survey by focus group participants. Since this survey was based on other research, the data gathered from its results should be generalizable. The scales used in the survey ranged from Likert Type Scale to ranking in order of preference. The Likert Type Scale used highly unlikely, somewhat likely, likely, very likely and certain. For ranking in order of preference the respondents ranked their top six favorite class choices using a scale from one to six, one being the most interesting and six being the least interesting to them. Closed ended multiple choice questions were included. For example, the survey asks, “Have you participated in any of the programs or classes offered or listed above at the new Jan
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Dempsey Community Arts Center of East Drake Avenue?” The answer choices are limited to yes or no. Open ended questions including multiple choice answers were included in the survey. In some questions, there were five answer choices and a place labeled “other” to list other answer choices. The purpose was to measure awareness and to measure attitudes about the classes offered at the community center and what types of classes participants would be interested in other than what is already offered. The predicted behavior was that the awareness level about the community center would be low. However, it was also predicted that after taking the survey or participating in the focus group, the participants’ awareness level would rise. This is an example of criterion-related validity because the results were a successful prediction of our behavior. Reliability was not easy for our survey and results. Results differed depending on what major the people were, their sex and their extracurricular activities However; results can be generalized with males and females. The results revealed females were more likely to be interested in cooking, dancing and arts and crafts were. Results for males revealed interest in the dance at your wedding crash course, music, foreign language and outdoor activities. Architecture students’ results revealed a high level of interest in classes involving drawing. The results were compiled by counting each survey one by one. The reliability of our results is great because there really was no room for error. The procedure in which we handed out our surveys was reliable because we went to areas like the transit stop, the library and other places on campus in order to get a good range of answers and majors. Also, in our results you can see construct validity. Like external validity, construct validity is about generalizing. Construct validity measures how well ideas were translated or how
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well theories were translated into actual programs or measures. The concepts were measures
were not black or white, but the concepts are related to one another. For example, people who were not interested in attending the community center at all would not have a response to other classes they think should be offered at the center. The above is also an example of convergent validity. The information gathered showed a correspondence between similar constructs and discrimination between dissimilar constructs. Convergent validity is seen when people answered one way in the survey. For example, if they were interested in the community center, they were more likely to pay a high amount of money for the classes, circled more days they would be open to attend class and were likely to visit the Web site. On the other hand, there was a lack of relationship or discriminate validity in the survey with questions like which kinds of new classes should be offered and what way would you prefer to receive news about the community center. A quasi-experimental design is used to survey student’s attitudes and opinions concerning the arts center. Students were surveyed by an initial list of questions compiled by the group based on research of literature about previous art center program’s membership and attendance studies. After evaluation of this initial survey’s effectiveness a focus group measuring qualitative data on student’s opinions and perceptions was implemented. Focus group volunteers were also surveyed with a revised questionnaire. Results and findings from the focus group were evaluated and used to compile a final questionnaire. The final draft of the survey was administered to a sample of the student body and its results were subsequently measured. In notional form the survey can be depicted as: S O Fs O S O S = Survey is administered to students
O = Measurement and evaluation of results and findings
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Fs = Student’s perceptions and opinions are surveyed and measured in a focus group The social threats seen were because of peer pressure and following trends. Students are less likely to attend the art classes if their friends do not attend. Many students are threatened by social trends. If it is not considered trendy to attend art or dance classes, students will not attend. Single group threats were observed with the two surveys we administered. The first survey was a test survey given to the focus group. After calculating results, the group was able to see which questions were worded poorly. The group corrected the survey and made a final draft which was administered to 139 students. The second survey could have been read differently that the first survey because the group narrowed down answer choices. This study was conducted in several steps. The first step was to conduct secondary resources to gather information which could be used to develop questions for the survey and provide a body of knowledge for the group to pull from. Next, the group met with Sara Hand and Elizabeth Traylor to find out what they wanted the survey to focus on, who they wanted to survey, and if they had any resources the group could use to find participants. After deciding to survey students on how to get them to participate, a series of drafts of the survey were created. The first pretest of a survey found that many of the questions on the survey were confusing and needed to be cleaned up. The next draft of the survey was focused on weeding out a majority of open ended questions. After taking out a majority of those questions, a focus group was conducted. The focus group had 12 participants who attend Auburn University and are in varying majors. Participants were given refreshments at the focus group held at Creekside of Auburn, an apartment complex in Auburn. During the focus group a group member, Stephen Kelly, acted as the moderator and
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ask the participants questions which were the group could not form into close ended questions. All group members were present during the focus group and took notes. During the next group
meeting, they discussed their notes and took what the focus group participants said and created multiple choices for the remaining open ended questions. This version of the survey was the final survey that was given out during the week of Nov. 16-19 in the Auburn University Library. Respondents were chosen randomly from those students using library facilities. Group members were all instructed to print 40 copies of the survey and try to get as many responses as possible. After collecting responses, the group met to compile the results. Results According to the college students surveyed at Auburn University, more students were likely to participate in a “Dance at your wedding crash course� than any art, dancing or foreign language course. Having a group of friends attend courses proved to be more desirable than discounts, free food and a free class. Most college students find school the most demanding activity and the most likely to prevent them from attending an event or course. The next constraint was financial responsibilities. Only ten students surveyed had ever participated in a program or class at the arts center. Eight of the ten heard about them through word of mouth. Students were more likely to pay $40 for a semester of classes than $50, $60, or higher, but would like to see cooking and photography classes offered.
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E-mail ranked first in the best way for students to receive news about upcoming events. Classes offered on Tuesdays were more desired than any other day of the week. Afternoon and night are the most desired times to attend a class.
Students surveyed were more involved in Greek Life at Auburn University, followed by volunteering and working. Over half of the surveyed students were somewhat likely to visit the Web site for more information on events. Conclusion The group suggests the arts center advertise on campus in order to target student participation. Places like the concourse, The Plainsman student newspaper and Greek life meetings are places the arts center should target. Demonstrations on campus of the classes offered would also attract students. Better communication and information about the classes should be available on campus or in the library for students. The group thinks the arts center should stay connected to students through Tigermail. Also, they should add links to their Web site through the e-mail. In the brochure, there should be more pictures of college students in order to attract their attention and so they feel like the classes are not only for small children and adults, but for them also. This way, the students will feel like part of the community and will encourage them to participate. As far as classes go, students felt that more classes should be added to the arts center. Classes such as photography, cooking, beginner/how-to classes, outdoor activities and woodshop should be offered at the arts center. According to the focus group, beginner classes for drawing and playing instruments would also attract the students.
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Discounts, free first time visit, free food and other incentives should be given in order to increase student participation. Most students surveyed said they would pay about $40 to attend a semester of classes at the arts center. This is a significant difference between what the actual cost of classes which is around $70.
References
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2009-2010 Auburn University Telephone Directory. (2009). Auburn, AL.
Dirks, Arthur L. (1999). Arts participation in America. Published on-line by author (http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/papers/artspart.htm). Bridgewater, MA.
Stern, Mark J. and Seifert, Susan C. (October 1994). Individual Participation and Community Arts Groups: A Quantitative Analysis of Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. Walker, Chris; Fleming, Cory and Sherwood, Kay. (2002) The Urban Institute. Washington , DC.