The article analyses surveys of cultural participation and discusses how they convey certain concepts of users and culture. The article aims to develop a more nuanced and contemporary picture of cultural participation and notions of the non-user. The article shows a shift in how the user is constructed through the surveys from 1964 until today. This movement spans from a citizen to a customer perspective. Furthermore the article addresses the problem that the new concept of participatory culture does not necessarily take place within the institutions which is measured in surveys on cultural participation. The concept of participation conveys different meanings, therefore culturally active and contributing citizens may count as non-users in the surveys. The article concludes that it might be worth considering measuring leisure time activities as it was done in the 1960s and 1970s instead of the focus on attendance which is measured today.