Arts consumption and wellbeing: Preliminary results from an ongoing survey

This paper presents early findings from the Sunshine City Happiness Survey, a longitudinal study which assesses the wellbeing of working-age people in St. Petersburg, Florida. Specifically, we examine the degree to which people consume the arts--as measured by whether they attend museums, theatrical, or musical performances--affects their overall wellbeing. As the survey is repeated weekly, we will be able to discern whether arts consumption has positive, negative, or no effect on wellbeing, and will compare the effects of arts consumption to other activities such as exercising, attending sporting events, or eating out at restaurants.