Predictors and Impact of Arts Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analyses of Data From 19,384 Adults in the COVID-19 Social Study

Abstract

ObjectivesThe global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 heavily affected the arts and creative industries due to the instigation of lockdown measures in the United Kingdom and closure of venues. However, it also provided new opportunities for arts and cultural engagement through virtual activities and streamed performances. Yet it remains unclear (i) who was likely to engage with the arts at home during lockdown, (ii) how this engagement differed from patterns of arts engagement prior to COVID-19, and (iii) whether home-based arts engagement was related to people’s ability to cope with their emotions during lockdown. This study was therefore designed to address these questions.MethodsWe used data collected in late May from the United Kingdom COVID-19 Social Study run by University College London. Multivariate regressions were used for the analysis (N = 19,384). Identified factors included demographic factors, socio-economic position, psychosocial wellbeing and health conditions, adverse events/worries, and coping styles.ResultsFour types of home-based arts engagement were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic: digital arts and writing, musical activities, crafts, and reading for pleasure. Our results show that the strongest predictors of the engagement were age, education attainment, social support, and emotion-focused or supportive coping styles. In particular, younger adults (aged 18–29), non-keyworkers, people with greater social support, people who had lost work, those who were worried about catching the virus, and those with an emotion-focused, problem-focused or supportive coping style were more likely to have increased arts engagement during lockdown. Arts activities were used as approach and avoidance strategies to help cope with emotions, as well as to help improve self-development.ConclusionOverall, our study suggests that while some people who engaged in the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic were those who typically engage under normal circumstances, the pandemic has also created new incentives and opportunities for others to engage virtually. Additionally, this study highlights the value of the arts as coping tools during stressful situations.

How did people cope during the COVID-19 pandemic? A Structural Topic Modelling Analysis of Free-Text Data from 11,000 UK Adults

“…The association between creative activities and more enjoyable lockdown experiences is consistent with findings that creative activities are beneficial for a range of mental, social, physical, and wellbeing outcomes (Fancourt et al, 2019). The results are also consistent with a recent analysis of the COVID-19 Social Study suggesting that individual's used arts activities during lockdown as a way to regulate their emotions (Mak et al, 2021). It is possible that those who were able to engage in creative activities had other advantages, such as higher incomes, larger houses, or fewer caring responsibilities.…”

“…However, we found no associations with education (a marker of socio-economic status). Further, some of the typical barriers to engagement in the arts changed during lockdown as some activities shifted to a virtual platform (e.g., physical attendance, cost effective) (Mak et al, 2021), which may mean that some people had an enjoyable lockdown experience as they were able to participate in activities they would have otherwise been unable to.…”

Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation

“…Fink et al's (2021) large-scale survey, for example, showed that "is enjoyable," "puts me in a good mood," "helps me relax," "energizes me," and "reduces stress/anxiety" were the functions of music listening that increased the most during lockdown. Mak et al (2021), moreover, found that music was primarily used as approach and avoidance strategies to cope with emotions whereas digital arts, crafts, and reading were more important in improving participant's self-development. This does, however, not seriously threaten the strong prominence of additional eudaimonic motivations (Table 1).…”

“…Many saw themselves with extra time on their hands-either because they were unable to work from home or because they were freed from lengthy commuting times and commitments outside their homes. Mak et al (2021) demonstrated how people engaged in multifarious leisure activities falling into four overall categories: digital arts and writing, crafts, reading for pleasure, and musical activities. Individuals who were young, highly educated, worried about infection, used emotion-or problem-focused coping strategies, or experienced social support were overall more likely to increase their arts engagement during lockdown.…”

Latent Cultural Bias in Soundtracks of Western News Coverage From Early COVID-19 Epicenters

“…For COVID-19 audiovisual media, researchers have constructed substantial datasets of news items from newspapers (AlAfnan, 2020 ), social media (Radwan and Radwan, 2020 ; Tayal and Bharathi, 2021 ), and television and broadcast media including streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube (Behluli, 2020 ; Khatri et al, 2020 ; Olson et al, 2020 ). With regard to pandemic music, the Research Topic “Social Convergence in Times of Spatial Distancing” has generated the database CORONAMUSIC (Hansen et al, 2021 ), which features links to news reports and videos of online music-making and -sharing, and other contributions to the Topic document the benefits of these activities (Mak et al, 2021 ; Sarasso et al, 2021 ).…”