Using data taken from the National Endowment for the Arts' Surveys of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) which were conducted in 1982 and 1992, this report looks at the effect of age on adult arts participation in seven benchmark or core art forms: classical music, opera, ballet, musicals, jazz, plays, and art museums. The report examines the participation of different cohorts between 1982 and 1992, with a special look at the baby boomer generation. Analysis results indicate that baby boomers and their successors, Generation X, tend to participate in most of the seven core art forms at lower rates than their elders. It is suggested that many baby boomers are participating in the core art forms, and especially music, through popular culture or in other ways that are not accounted for in these data. On that assumption, it is no accident that their rates of participation are highest in jazz - the art form closest to popular music - and in art museums, with which popular music competes least. It is recommended that the nature and location of that "other" participation be determined and that art organizations develop strategies to lure non-participants away from their present activities to those (traditional core art forms) that might be considered more enriching for adults. (MM)