Young People in Out-of-School Arts Education: The Influence of the Proximity of the Provision on Their Participation Decision

In this article we explore the influence of the geographical proximity of out-of-school arts education provision on the individual decisions of children and youngsters to enroll in an arts education course. The distance between the homes of the Belgian students in compulsory education and the nearest offering of out-of-school arts education (a network called Part-Time Arts Education [PTAE]) is calculated using population-wide administrative data. The results show a negative and nonlinear relation between distance and enrollment that affects young children in particular. Students with low socioeconomic status (SES) are not affected more by this factor than are other students. While students with a low SES live proportionally more in big cities, which are areas with a greater density of arts education provision, our analysis shows they still participate less in such programs than other students. When students with a low SES do participate, it is not in a course significantly nearer to their area of residence. As the distance to a specific PTAE course increases, only a small percentage of students are willing to substitute another course of study that is spatially closer. Therefore, distance is a barrier that is hard to overcome and often closes off the opportunity to participate in arts education. These findings have implications for policy decisions on the establishment of new educational facilities for arts education and on incentives to tackle the costs linked with traveling to art courses.