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Dystopeka Survey — Breakdown Summary

Dystopeka: What Topeka's Music Scene Survey Really Found


Topic: Topeka’s live music scene, venues, safety, and city support

This is a quick run-down of what they survey said. We plan to go back over it and comb through the data more extensively later. But my first thought was “This doesnt seem so bad, I think theres something here to work with (In the city)” Other things did not surprise me as much. I have done several surveys over the past couple of decades focusing on these same issues.
And one thing I think we really need to disect and clarify is exactly what people mean by “The City”. Is “The city” this amorphus massive crowd of people who live in Topeka? Or are we talking about “The city” as in the centralized government that controls how this city is run? People use these interchangeably, and I think it gives confusing implications.

The survey is still on and active and collecting responses. I think I will just let it run for a while longer after this next news cycle and see how the answers change, if at all.

1. Who Answered

• Age skews older: 61% are 50+ (36 in 50–64, 12 in 65+), only 9 respondents are under 30.
• Gender: 64% women, 34% men, small numbers nonbinary/trans.
• Orientation/race: 85% straight, 75% white; multiracial (6), Black (4), and white/Hispanic or Native mixes make up most of the rest.
• Roots run deep: 75% have lived locally 15+ years or their whole life — this is a longtime-resident sample, not newcomers.
• Education/income: Well-educated (56% bachelor’s+ or some college/associates), income spread fairly evenly, biggest cluster $50–74k.
• Employment: 49% full-time, 23% retired — a working/retired mix, few students.
• 12 respondents (15%) reported a disability.

Takeaway: This is largely a middle-aged-to-older, longtime-local, white, well-educated crowd — likely to be plugged into the scene’s history but not necessarily representative of younger nightlife-goers.

2. Music Tastes & Local Scene Engagement

Top genres: classic rock (56), country/pop (38 each), indie-alt (36), jazz (35), americana-folk (32), punk-hardcore (31) — an eclectic, genre-agnostic audience.

Venues actually visited: Evergy Plaza (41), TPAC (27), Celtic Fox (22), Happy Basset (22), Stormont Vail Events Center (20). Notably, 16 people said “none.”

How often people go out to shows in Topeka: Mostly infrequent — “a few times a year” (26) and “rarely” (21) dominate; only 5 go weekly, 7 never go at all.

Local vs. touring acts: Fairly split — even mix (25), mostly touring (21), whatever fits (15), mostly local (14). No strong bias toward “just wanting local,” but plenty want more variety.

Musicianship: Most respondents don’t perform (69 “no” to performing publicly), but a sizable minority play casually or used to (16 “yes-casual,” 21 “used to”). Musicians who commented cite gatekeeping, promoters booking “the same three bands,” lack of pay, and apathy as barriers to a stronger local scene.

3. Why People Leave Town for Music

The core complaint isn’t “Topeka has no scene” — it’s “Topeka doesn’t book acts good/varied enough to keep people from driving to KC or Lawrence.”

4. Barriers to Going Out (multi-select, out of 80)

Cost and poor event awareness are the two biggest frictions — bigger than safety or distance. This lines up with the discovery question: most rate finding out about shows as a 2/5 (hard), with word-of-mouth and social media as the main channels people rely on. There’s a real appetite for a central events calendar.

What draws people out when they do go (motivators): love of live music (63), supporting friends (39), atmosphere (37), discovering new music (22) — the appeal is real, it’s the logistics that get in the way.

5. Safety Perceptions (1=unsafe, 5=very safe)

Topeka feels notably less safe after dark than during the day, and walking alone is the lowest-rated scenario overall. Comfort at venues hinges most on who they’re with (42), crowd size (35), lighting (32), and how drunk the crowd is (30) — venue design and crowd control matter as much as raw location. A number of open comments cite poor lighting, lack of visible security, and reports of fights/shootings as reasons to avoid specific venues.

6. Alcohol/Substance Context

• Alcohol use at shows: “usually” (20) and “sometimes” (18) are most common; 12 say “never.”
• Views on venues’ harm-reduction efforts are mixed: 30 say “mixed,” 20 “yes” (satisfied), 14 unsure, 10 “no.”

7. Overall Sentiment on Topeka (1=low, 5=high)

• Recommend Topeka to others: “Depends” (39) >> “No” (26) > “Yes” (10) — lukewarm, conditional endorsement is the dominant stance.
• City support for the arts/music scene: 53% say “no,” 33% “somewhat” — most feel unsupported by the city.
• Plan to move away: Split — “probably not”/”no” (36 combined) vs. “unsure”/”probably”/”yes-definitely” (38 combined) — roughly half are flight-risks or fence-sitters.
• Importance of having a local scene: Strongly valued — 78% rate it 4 or 5/5, and 85% say it’s important for the city to support one.

The gap is the story: people care a lot about having a scene (high importance scores) but feel the city isn’t delivering (low support/satisfaction scores) — a classic unmet-demand pattern.

8. What Comes Up Again and Again in Open-Ended Comments

• “Boring” / “nothing to do” — the single most repeated word across “topeka_reputation” and “final_comments.”
• Everything closes too early (10pm cited repeatedly); “the only late-night option is IHOP.”
• City invests in imported acts for big downtown events (e.g., Evergy Plaza) but doesn’t promote or pay local bands/crews.
• Infrastructure gripes: bad roads, weak bus system, downtown parking.
• Safety concerns: homelessness, shootings/fights, feeling unsafe walking downtown.
• A vocal minority is genuinely positive — citing affordability, small-town familiarity, and “good hard-working people” — but they’re outnumbered by frustration.
• 69% (55/80) opted in for follow-up contact — a strong signal of engagement if you want to run focus groups or interviews next.

Bottom Line

This reads as a “we love live music and we want to support Topeka, but the city keeps making it hard” survey. The three biggest, most fixable levers based on the data:

1. A real, centralized events calendar — discovery is rated one of the worst experiences (avg ~2/5).
2. City investment in and promotion of local acts, not just touring headliners at showcase events.
3. Better lighting/security and later hours at venues to address both the safety gap and the “everything closes too early” complaint.

Cost, not safety, is the #1 individual barrier — but safety perceptions (especially after dark) are dragging overall satisfaction down even among people who do go out.

About Post Author

Chrome Tuna

bobscutler@gmail.com

https://chrometuna.com

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