Culture more important than sport - survey

Culture is increasingly contributing to New Zealand's economy, according to a survey by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

The report, Cultural Indicators Report for New Zealand 2009, was released today.

It also showed culture topped both sport and the economy in importance to New Zealand's sense of national identity.

The report's authors said the survey "allows a degree of cautious optimism about New Zealanders' involvement with cultural activity".

People believed culture was more important to our sense of national identity than either sport or the economy, said Ministry for Culture and Heritage chief executive Lewis Holden.

Three quarters of those surveyed thought culture and cultural activities were very, extremely or critically important to our sense of national identity. Landscape and environment scored most highly.

"But perhaps more important is the contribution of the cultural sector to the economy," Mr Holden said.

"The arts and cultural sector is a significant part of the workforce with more than 126,000 people now employed in the cultural workforce," said Mr Holden.

The overall percentage of people employed in cultural occupations has increased from 6 percent in the 2006 report to almost 7 percent in the 2009 report.

"Evidence that employment in the cultural sector is growing is especially heartening as it dispels age old myths that pursuing study or work in the arts is a fruitless task.

"The arts and cultural sector provides work not only for artists, curators, designers, screenwriters and musicians but also for builders, accountants, printers and many more," said Mr Holden.

"The sector also provides real economic benefits to New Zealand's economy in terms of the income and value added to the economy. The cultural indicators suggest that cultural and creative industries have grown at least at pace with the rest of the economy."

The next report in three years would indicate to what extent the economic downturn has impacted on the cultural sector, Mr Holden said.

The Cultural Indicators report is made up of 19 indicators and five themes: engagement, cultural identity, diversity, social cohesion and economic development.

The study also found:

* Median incomes for those in creative occupations ($36,800) remain slightly above the national median for all occupations ($33,700).

* New Zealand households spent $2.84 billion on cultural items in 2006-07, a slight decline from 2003-04. This was 3.6 percent of all household expenditure.

* Hours of local content on television have increased substantially in the last five years, though this is the result of additional new channels being available, and the proportion (26 percent) is the same as five years ago.

* The income of the cultural industries has remained largely stable at just above $12 billion.