A major “health check” of all facets of Dundee life has shown a boom in cultural participation over the past year.
In what has been branded the “V&A effect”, as cultural activities become more important to the city, the Dundee Partnership annual report highlighted a growth in visitor numbers to Dundee’s cultural attractions as a major achievement.
Numbers increased from 741,404 in 2014 to 786,859 in 2015,
More adults (73%) took part in a cultural event or visited a place in 2015 than in the previous year (70%).
Stewart Murdoch, director of Leisure and Culture Dundee, said: “I’m delighted at these statistics.
“It is just as important for the people of Dundee to participate in culture as having visitors come to the city to do so.
“The tour of theatre plays was just one of a number of projects to engage people in Dundee.
“The Rep Theatre put on a number of plays in different communities around Dundee, where people may not have previously been to the theatre.”
The Dundee Partnership annual report highlights the achievements between 2014 and 2015.
It studies the economy, education, culture, crime and social mobility.
Dundee has also seen an increase in some aspects of social mobility and the city has made progress in reducing health inequality between deprived and well-off areas, particularly in alcohol-related illnesses.
But it still has some way to go in helping those from disadvantaged backgrounds to access college and university education.
Dundee has also welcomed 10,000 more students, the figure going from 29,273 further and higher education students in 2014 to 39,340 in 2015.
There was rise in the total further or higher education students from deprived areas (3,925 in 2015 compared to 3,321 in 2014).
However, in 2015 students from deprived areas made up just 10% of the whole student population, a slight decrease from 2014 when the proportion was 11%.
There was also a slight rise in people with low or no qualification 14% in 2015 compared to 12% in 2014.
The Dundee Partnership report explained: “The scale of deprivation within central and north Dundee in particular represents a major challenge.
“The increase in the number of adult learners has been a result of the ability to provide additional learning opportunities through external funding from the Scottish Government and DWP.”