A New Survey Finds a Drop in Arts Attendance You might not know it from the sold-out crowds at Broadway's big-budget musicals like "The Book of Mormon" or "Wicked," but theater is the artistic discipline in America that is losing audience share at the fastest rate in recent years. According to a survey on public participation scheduled to be released on Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts, one out of every three Americans, or about 78 million people, visited an art exhibition or attended a performing arts event in 2012. That figure represents a drop across the board since the last survey in 2008, but the slide was steepest for musicals and plays. For musicals, the 9 percent drop in the attendance rate between 2008 and 2012 was the first statistically significant change in that category in more than 25 years. Straight plays fared even worse, with a 12 percent drop over the same period, a figure that has contributed to a whopping 33 percent rate of decline over the past decade. Art museums and galleries are also having trouble competing with other attractions. Ten years ago more than one in four Americans passed through their doors; now the figure is closer to one in five. Researchers for the agency's latest Survey of Public Participation in the Arts said they could not offer reasons for the results; they may be attributed to significant shifts in behavior or, perhaps, simply to the scope of activities that were counted. "At the end of the day, I'm not troubled by it," said Heather A. Hitchens, executive director of the American Theater Wing. I believe that all this technology is fantastic, but nothing is going to replace the live experience. Other arts advocates said interest in the arts over all remained strong and cautioned that there was not necessarily cause for alarm. Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit organization in Washington, said that shifting rates reflected, in part, an expanded definition of the arts and a wider variety of ways to participate. Ethnic music was once ignored, he said. "There is a lot more that is happening now," Mr. Lynch said. Among the good news is that a larger proportion of African-Americans and Hispanics are attending arts performances than ever before. Older Americans are also reading books at a higher rate, and a greater proportion of younger Americans are attending outdoor performing arts festivals. And every age and ethnic group found more of its members going to movies. Classical musical supporters, perhaps the most prevalent Cassandras in the arts, will learn that their fan base has remained somewhat steady since 2008. Jazz showed some gains. This latest endowment study, conducted with the United States Census Bureau, interviewed more than 37,000 people. It is heralded by the agency as "the nation's largest and most reliable survey" of how American adults engage with the arts. Hoping to capture the widest possible range of arts activity, researchers asked respondents about their reading, Internet use and participation in pottery classes, among other things. Danced at a wedding? Crocheted a sweater for your niece? Posted a photograph on Facebook? Then you participated in "art making" or "art sharing," according to the survey. Listened to music on an iPod or a radio? Then you're among the 71 percent of Americans who consumed the arts through electronic media, by far the most popular activity recorded. Sunil Iyengar, the endowment's director of research and analysis, was quick to acknowledge that the survey is dotted with question marks. "We don't have the ready-made answer to say why this is going on," he said. Changing demographics, such as a growing Hispanic population, as well as the advent of new technologies, undoubtedly play a role, he said. Supply can also affect demand. A rise in the number of salsa and Latin musical offerings, for example, might account for the increasing proportion of Hispanics participating in the arts. Another report, due in January, will focus on attitudes and the reasons behind participation or indifference, he said. Until then, people shouldn't draw snap conclusions, he warned. Although one might assume that electronic media has to some degree replaced live performance, Mr. Iyengar said research shows that viewers who watch a theatrical performance online or on TV are actually twice as likely to attend a live show. Randy Cohen, vice president for research and policy at Americans for the Arts, said people "are not walking away from the arts so much, but walking away from the traditional delivery mechanisms." He noted, for example, that while financial troubles forced the Washington National Opera to merge with the Kennedy Center in 2011, an opera simulcast at the Nationals Park, the capital's baseball stadium, drew about 20,000 people. "A lot of what we're seeing is people engaging in the arts differently," he said.