Slash your wrists ...

... or just move your btm.

The latest promo document from the Australia Council for the Arts, the cultural apparatchiki of Strawberry Hills, announces that 15-24s are "more creative" than their older peers. Whahoo! By the time you get to 40 (there's no life after 50) you are reduced to a feeble hunt for woolly cardies and comfy slippers rather than "engaging" with the internet or having a spirited discussion about St Jack Derrida and Bernard Stiegler?

The Oz Council's More than bums on seats: Australian participation in the arts study was -

conducted for the Research & Strategic Analysis section of the Australia Council by instinct and reason. It paints a comprehensive picture of how Australians participate in the arts today.

This research aims to provide insights into the attitudes and values that influence our creative participation (where we make something ourselves) and our receptive participation (when we attend a live event, an exhibition or read literature).

It's tempting, so tempting, to say ah yes, begone dull empiricism when you can rely on "instinct and reason". Relying on entrail of newt or kaka of bat is so so yesterday! That gibe's unfair: instinct and reason is the name of the research specialist and presumably they're very good at their job. Hats off to them.

Creativity? The Council's summary reports [PDF] that

One in three Australians are already using the internet for the arts - mostly for attendance-related activities (such as researching artists/events or downloading music), but some are using it for creative participation (such as posting works of art, writing blogs or working with others to create art).

The internet is a key tool for the arts

More than half of all 15-24 year olds had used the internet to engage in some form of art during the last year and were more creative online than others. The most widespread online art creations are writing and visual art/film/video, while the most frequent mode of creative participation is being involved in an online community or social network concerned with art in some way.

Creators are more likely to be:

15-24 years
Highly engaged: both participating & attending
Attending Indigenous arts [sic]
High school or tertiary students
Really like the arts

Consumers are more likely to be:

35-64 years
Attending only
Not attending Indigenous arts
In full time paid employment, carring out home duties or retired
Like or neither like or dislike the arts

So, if you're a spotty 16 year old blogger writing deathly prose ("I ate a cheeze sandwich") for an audience that comprises yourself and your cat you are a creator. A keyboard + modem = creativity. David Malouf, eat your heart out.

The 69 page full report suggests that in the yartz it is business as usual. "Australians are more likely to take in someone else's art than to create it themselves". No great revelations there, and perhaps it's a good thing that we're not suffering from a surfeit of wannabe Douanier Rousseaus.

Nine in ten of the Council's population (apparently a 3,000 person sample, with a bit of help from a focus group or two) claimed to have "receptively participated in at least one art form", with four in ten having "creatively participated in the arts" (eg by sewing). Governments should be generous, because "only a small group (7 per cent) were not engaged with the arts in the past 12 months".

Literature is the most popular art form, with 84 per cent reading – mostly novels though one in five read poetry. Creative writing was also popular with 16 per cent engaged, 7 per cent writing a novel or short story and 5 per cent writing poetry.

On a cursory read of the full report and summary it is unclear whether the 5% to 16% is a proportion of all adult Australians, a proportion of 15% of people who read and write or of the 1% who participated in but did not "attend" (presumably because they were on stage) a creative writing event.

Of course the Council's Australians are united in their support for the arts: "Australians' attitudes towards the arts are positive ... They widely believe that the arts should be an important part of every Australians' education, make for a richer and more meaningful life, and that there are plenty of opportunities to get involved."

Young people displayed higher levels of creative participation than the rest of the population. They were more likely to be creatively engaged in visual arts and crafts, theatre and dance, creative writing and music. This was to some degree a reflection of education; with young students more active in creative participation than young workers. Arts participation levels amongst younger people also appeared to be on the rise, with this group more likely to have increased their involvement in the arts in the last year. With a higher concentration of internet users, young people were engaging with the arts in new and evolving ways.

The study adopts the usual funky segmentation: lovers, flirters, un-attached and outsiders ... a 2010 riff on stars, dogs, cows and other quadrant labels from the world of McKinsey.

• The lovers (38%) are highly engaged with the arts and see the arts as an integral part of their lifestyle. They also hold the view that the arts provide them with a more meaningful and richer life as well as help them feel part of their local community.
• The flirters (26%) are more likely to be influenced to attend arts events by their friends than the ‘The lovers’. They like the arts, but are not necessarily convinced that they help them feel part of their local community. However they strongly believe that the arts provide a way of saying important things that need to be said in our society.
• The un-attached (19%) are those who have a neutral attitude towards the arts- many have not actually participated in, or attended any, of the main art forms in the past year, and some have never experienced these art forms at all. While they do not dislike the arts per se they just cannot see the personal relevance of the arts to them.
• The outsiders (17%) believe the arts tend to attract people who are pretentious and elitist. They believe the arts require a reasonable level of understanding to appreciate them fully and therefore the arts are "not for them".