What Does the Audience Get? Valuing the Arts in Kamloops and Beyond

Abstract

This article, reprinted from It’s Your Cue: The Audience Show, a catalogue for an exhibition of photographs of regular attendees at Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops, outlines the general beneficial social and economic aspects of various forms of culture to both the individual and the community by drawing on a variety of extensive studies, such as those by Francie Ostrower, Hill Strategies, and Richard Florida, and providing examples primarily from the Interior of British Columbia. Narrowing the focus to live performance, the article then concentrates on audience demographics and the perceived benefits to attendees.