Music is perhaps the most universal of the performing arts and is found in every society, most often as an integral part of other performing art forms and other domains of intangible cultural heritage including rituals, festive events or oral traditions.

It defines performing arts as ephemeral time-based art forms that involve the artist's presence and occur in real time before an audience. Common performing art forms include theatre, music, dance, and circus skills. Venues can include purpose-built spaces as well as non-traditional public spaces.