The Pandemic Has STILL Shifted the Types of Cultural Entities People Prefer to Visit

Cultural Institutions Reimagined - Many museums and other cultural institutions have had a rough ride of late. Although their curators and patrons may disagree, so many of them are great examples of Edutainment. What’s more, they’re incredibly well placed to capitialize on Edutainment 3.0. To achieve this two-pronged mission, museums are ... See more

1. Hotel occupancy is 100% back to 2000-2020 avg 2. Manhattan subway ridership isn't even 40% back to 2019 levels. ... putting these stats in my Hot Take File under "travel bounced back to normal, but (especially urban, white-collar) work has changed for good"

That kind of spending is what our current economic model is based on: Americans of all class levels buying things and always wanting to buy more, regardless of their actual means. But when a society-throttling, economy-decimating pandemic comes along, what happens when that ability — and, just importantly, that desire — goes away? In April, retail ... See more

The demand for live experiences is happening across the generational board. Since 1987, the share of consumer spending on live experiences and events relative to total U.S. consumer spending increased 70%. People want to experience more, and businesses are evolving and entering the market to meet that demand

These behavioral shifts are creating rapid changes in our economy. There will be both short-term and long-term impact as consumers and businesses are forced to change their behavior radically for weeks or months.

Interpretation of data In absolute terms, we seem to have generally flat or rising output in both "critically acclaimed art/entertainment" and "science and technology." (The exceptions are film and modern music; I think different people will have different interpretations of the fact that these decline just before TV and video games rise.)

At a time of essential escapism, when people are looking for a visceral reprieve from the permacrisis, the ability to go ‘all in’ on a cultural moment is super compelling.