German Beer Company Conducts Study of American Art Attitudes

As “a major supporter of the arts for the past 25 years,” Beck’s Beer has been presenting the Beck’s Art Labels project (reported here this summer because Austin artist William Hundley was one of six artists for this year’s labels); now they are presenting the results of their inaugural “Beck’s State of the Arts Study.” The study, conducted online by Harris Interactive, was meant to examine American attitudes toward art and the manner by which it is consumed.

Here are some results of their study:

• 82 percent of young, adult Americans (aged 21-29) agree that art is a valuable cultural institution.
• Young, adult Americans appreciate graffiti/street art more than their older peers; 70 percent of young, adult Americans believe that graffiti and street art should be hanging in art museums and galleries. Less than half of Americans age 30 or older agree.
• For 33 percent of young, adult Americans, it has been at least one year since their last museum or gallery visit, and a full 19 percent have never visited an art museum or gallery in their lifetime.
• Americans aged 21-29 tend to consume art via the Internet (52 percent through the internet, non-mobile device, 51 percent on their smartphone/tablet), while Americans aged 30 or older are more likely to consume art with a visit to a gallery or museum than via smartphone or tablet.
• 50 percent of Americans aged 21-29 regularly consume art organically, on the street or by walking around, whereas only one-third of older Americans say the same.
• Those who have not seen at least one of these famous works of art in person were asked to choose which they would most want to see in person. The results, in order of preference:
  Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (34 percent)
  Michelangelo’s “David” (27 percent)
  Monet’s “Water Lilies” (15 percent)
  Banksy’s “Balloon Girl” (6 percent)
  JR’s “Inside Out Project” (4 percent)
  Basquiat’s “LNAPRK” (2 percent)
• Preferred art medium:
  Painting (30 percent)
  Sculpture (8 percent)
  Drawings (5 percent)
  Graffiti/Street art (3 percent)
  Video (3 percent)
  Graphic design (2 percent)
  Other medium (1 percent)
  No preferred medium (32 percent)