Ardington School of Crafts Wellbeing Study 2023

We are very pleased to present the results of our 2023 Wellbeing Study, which was undertaken in April 2023 with 442 responses. Thank you so much if you found time to provide your input.

This is our 5th study on this topic since 2018 and you can read all the results of previous studies here (scroll down through our archives). We asked you a number of questions to gauge how important Arts & Crafts are to your overall sense of wellbeing. As per our findings in previous years, there is an overwhelming sense of support that being involved in Arts & Crafts helps not only with wellbeing, but also with our sense of purpose, social connectedness, concentration levels, and our good health and activity levels. The majority, (96.8%), of respondents are aged 45+, and over 94% are women.

Survey results: How important is doing Arts & Crafts to....

0 = not important     10 = essential

The average rating for sense of wellbeing was 8.8 out of 10.  The majority, 49%, rated this at 10, 'Doing Arts & Crafts is essential to my wellbeing'.

The average rating for sense of purpose was 8.1 out of 10.  The majority, 36%, rated this as 10, 'Doing Arts & Crafts is essential to my sense of purpose'.

The average score for social connectedness was 7 out of 10.  The majority, 20%, rated this as 10, 'Doing Arts & Crafts is essential to my sense of social connectedness'.

The average score for concentration levels was 7.8 out of 10.  The majority, 28%, rated this as 'Doing Arts & Crafts is essential to maintaining my concentration levels'.

The average score was 7.8 out of 10.  The majority, 29%, rated this as 10, 'Doing Arts & Crafts is essential to maintaining my good health and activity levels'.

On average, each participant engages in 3.46 Arts & Crafts types, with the top five favourites being:

1. Textiles and stitch
2. Painting, drawing and illustration
3. Papercraft and mixed media
4. Calligraphy and lettering
5. Printmaking

Learning preferences continue to change

Learning preferences continue to change too.  Our survey results showed that 87% of participants engage with in person (onsite) learning, and now 66% engage with online learning. These numbers add up to more than 100% because many people engage in both kinds of learning Arts & Crafts, but it shows a strong increase in online learning since our 2022 study when only 25% reported that they engaged in online learning.  The main reasons given for this increase include:

• accessibility for those who cannot travel due to illness or injury
• to fit in with increasingly busy lifestyles and work / caring commitments
• broadens the pool of people to learn with, including fellow enthusiasts from outside the UK
• more friendly environmental reasons, such as reduced fuel and resource consumption
• cheaper workshop fees
• better technology and easy availability of video playback facilities to recap the lesson content

We hope you find these results interesting and continue to enjoy the overall wellbeing benefits of Arts & Crafts learning with us at Ardington!