The impact of participation in arts and cultural activities on personal wellbeing

Using data from the 2016 and 2021 New Zealand General Social Surveys, this study investigates the impact of arts and cultural (AC) participation on personal wellbeing and quantifies in monetary terms the value of such participation to individuals. While it is not significantly associated with life satisfaction, we find that active AC participation (taking part) is associated with higher eudaimonic wellbeing (specifically, a greater sense of purpose), which may be a contributor to greater long-term wellbeing. We find that passive AC participation (observing or being audience) is associated with higher life satisfaction and higher short-term wellbeing, in the form of greater happiness and mental wellbeing. We show that an important pathway through which passive AC participation affects life satisfaction is via mental health, by increasing how often one feels calm and peaceful and reducing how often one feels downhearted and depressed. Using the Wellbeing Valuation approach, we estimate that on average people value passive AC participation at around 6-20% of their income, which is equivalent to $2,800-$9,300 per person per year at the median income level.