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Creating our future – Queensland Highlights

Creating Our Future: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey released in 2020, is the fourth study in the Australia Council’s research series that explores Australians’ engagement with and attitudes towards the arts.

Australia Council has released highlights of the research for each Australian state.

 

Summary

Queenslanders believe the arts have big impactsInfographic - Text:  Queenslanders believe the arts have big impacts. Six in 10 Queenslanders believe arts impact on: their ability to express themselves, stimulating their minds and child development.

Queenslanders believe the arts have a ‘big’ or ‘very big’ impact on: 

  • their ability to express themselves (64%)
  • stimulating their minds (62%)
  • child development (62%)
  • their ability to think creatively and develop new ideas (60%)
  • their understanding of other people and cultures (60%).

 

Queenslanders’ attitudes about the arts are positive

Queenslanders agree that:

  • artists make an important contribution to Australian society (71%)
  • the arts should be an important part of education (70%)
  • the arts help to understand different perspectives (69%)
  • the arts make for a richer and more meaningful life (66%)
  • the arts allow usto connect with others (54%).


Access is a key factor for Queenslanders in prioritising investment in arts and creativity

The top three priorities for Queensland residents regarding investment in arts and creativity include: 

  • ensuring children and young people have access to art and creative experiences to support learning and development (75% ranked this in their top three priorities); 
  • ensuring free or low-cost events are available (72% ranked this in their top three priorities) and 
  • ensuring art and creative experiences are available to support people’s health and wellbeing (53% ranked this in their top three priorities).

 

Arts attendance was high prior to COVID-19Infographic: Almost all Queenslanders engage in the arts. Ways Queenslanders like to engage: Creative Participation, live attendance and online engagment.

Prior to COVID-19, live attendance at arts events was thriving in 2019. Almost 7 in 10 Queensland residents had attend a live arts event (68%).Almost half attend music (47%), around a third attend visual arts and craft (35%) and theatre (32%), 29% attend dance and 20% attend literary events.

Four in 10 Queenslanders attended festivals including music festivals (7%), multi-art form festivals (7%), visual art festivals or fairs (6%) and performing arts festivals (6%).  

 

Queenslanders are making and creating art

More than 4 in 10 Queensland residents create, produce or collaborate in the making of art (42%). Visual arts and craft remains the most popular art form in which Queenslanders actively participate (23%) followed by community arts (15%), creative writing (14%), music (13%), dance (7%) and theatre (4%).

 

 

 

 

 

Interest and attendance in First Nations arts is strongInfographic. Text: Interest and attendance in First Nations arts is strong. 1 in 3 Queenslanders attend First Nations arts. 4 in 10 Queenslanders are interested in First Nations arts.

More than 3 in 10 Queensland residents were attending First Nations arts (32%, up from 25% in 2016) and 4 in 10 were interested in First Nations arts (40%) prior to COVID-19.

Queensland residents agree First Nations arts are an important part of Australia’s culture (74%). However, just over half of those from Queensland believe First Nations arts are well represented (53%), showing there is still work to be done to build the representation and profile of First Nations arts.

 

Arts support Queenslanders to connect with their cultural background

A third of Queensland residents connect with, and share, their cultural background through arts and creativity (33%), including by attending arts events (28%).

Almost half of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) residents of Queensland attend arts events focused on their cultural background or community (49%).

 

Listening to recorded music and reading are popular

More than 9 in 10 Queensland residents listen to recorded music (92%). Almost 7 in 10 listen to music on radio or tv. Over half stream music online for free (e.g. YouTube) (56%) and 37% stream music through a paid subscription (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music).

Seven in 10 Queensland residents read for pleasure (69%). The most popular types of reading material are novels or short stories (46%), instructional non-fiction such as guidebooks or cookbooks (34%) and creative non-fiction such as biography or history (29%).

Print books remain the most popular format, read by two thirds of Queensland residents (67%). Over a third read e-books (37%) and over a quarter listen to audiobooks (27%).

 

Most Queenslanders are engaging with the arts online.

8 in 10 Queenslanders are engaging with the arts online, up from 77% in 2016. Listening to streamed music remains the most popular way to engage with arts online. (67%).

Almost 3 in 10 Queensland residents express themselves creatively on digital platforms (29%), including through image galleries like Instagram (9%), memes (8%) and music or songs (7%). 

More than 6 in 10 Queensland residents use digital platforms to engage with the arts (62%), including Facebook (38%), YouTube (37%) and Instagram (24%). 

 

 

Download reports and data

Queensland factsheet (PDF) (270.56 KB)

Queensland factsheet (DOCX) (20.68 KB)

Queensland data tables (XLSX) (134.75 KB)


About this research

Creating Our Future: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey is the fourth study in the Australia Council’s research series that explores Australians’ engagement with and attitudes towards the arts.

The 2019 National Arts Participation Survey was conducted from September to November 2019 with the survey sample of 8,928 Australians aged 15 years and over weighted to be nationally representative based on age, gender and location (by states and territories and metropolitan/regional Australia). The survey sample included 1,439 Queensland residents.

Evolving with the times, the survey went online in 2019 after being conducted through a mix of telephone and online surveys in 2016. Due to this change, the results that are most comparable for showing trends over time are the results from the surveys conducted online in 2016. Given the changes made to the National Arts Participation Survey, the previously published results in the Connecting Australians report are different to the 2016 data used for trend analysis in the Creating Our Future report.

 

Previous reports

2016 report- Connecting Australians: Results of the 2016 National Arts Participation Survey 

2013 report - Arts in Daily Life: Queenslanders and the arts

2009 report - More than bums on seats: Queenslanders and the arts