Sector insights and research
Publications, reports and research that provide insights into the local, national and international arts and cultural sector.
General resources
Arts data: Summary and highlights of research on arts, culture and creativity in Queensland collated by Arts Queensland.
Electorate Profiles: Australia Council resource to explore information on arts and culture by federal electorate.
Arts Nation Research Library: Research published by Australia Council.
Cultural and creative activity
Australian cultural and creative activity: A population and hotspot analysis: An Australian Research Council Linkage project exploring the commonalities and differences between the regions to identify aspects that characterise “creative hotspots”. The project was undertaken by QUT and the University of Newcastle, in partnership with Arts Queensland, Create NSW, Creative Victoria, Arts South Australia and the Western Australian Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries.
Queensland reports include: Central West Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Cairns and Gold Coast.
Creating Our Future: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey (2019): This is the fourth study in the Australia Council’s research series that explores Australians’ engagement with and attitudes towards the arts. Summary of Qld data is available at Arts data.
Attendance, Participation and Employment data: Australian Bureau of Statistics attendance and participation by Adults and children and young people.
Live Performance Australia Reports: Comprehensive information on annual ticket sales for Australian live performance events.
Arts and the economy
Australia’s cultural and creative economy: a 21st century guide (2020): A New Approach provides an overview of our cultural and creative economy and highlights opportunities for Australia to adopt a 21st century approach in this industry sector. It outlines the scope, scale and trends within the cultural and creative economy pre Covid-19, and highlights opportunities that respond to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) urging nations to ‘build back better’.
Cultural and creative activity in Australia 2008-09 to 2016-17 (2018); This paper reports a times series on the economic contribution of cultural and creative activity in Australia from 2008-09 to 2016-17. The definition is based on the ABS’s Australian National Accounts:
Cultural and Creative Activity Satellite Accounts (Satellite Accounts).
The Creative Economy in Australia (2016): This factsheet presents an economic overview of cultural and creative activity in Australia, drawing on custom tables from the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s Census collection. Published by QUT Digital Media Research Centre.
Creative skills for the future (2019): The Bureau of Communications Arts and Regional Research, research paper Creative skills for the future economy analyses the skills and qualifications of people working in creative fields and how these may be used in the future.
Creative sector
Towards Equity: A research overview of diversity in Australia’s arts and cultural sector (2021) An Australia Council for the Arts report bringing together published and unpublished data and research on representation within the arts and cultural sector in Australia.
Impact and value of arts and culture
Transformative: Impacts of Culture and Creativity (2019): A New Approach report providing a snapshot of current research and findings about the positive impacts of artistic, creative and cultural activity in seven different parts of our lives.
Measuring the economic value of cultural and creative industries (2018): This paper examines the reports to date, compares their varying scoping and methodologies and makes recommendations for the consideration of the Meeting and Cultural Ministers Officials by the Statistics Working Group.
Cultural Tourism
Domestic Arts Tourism: Connecting the country (2020): The report highlights the value of arts and culture to Australia’s tourism strategies and the importance of a vibrant, creative landscape for tourism, the broader visitor economy and society as a whole. The report contains a summary by state.
International Arts Tourism: Connecting cultures (2018): Australia Council research bringing together data from Tourism Research Australia (TRA) with additional resources to gain insights into international arts tourism in Australia. Interactive website also for Queensland specific data.
Investment in the arts
The Big Picture: Public Expenditure on Artistic, Cultural and Creative Activity in Australia (2019): A New Approach report providing insight into more than a decade of expenditure on arts and culture by the three tiers of government in Australia (2007-08 to 2017-18).
Cultural Funding by Government (2018): Comprehensive data of government funding at Australian, State and local government level.
Private sector support for the arts in Australia (2017): Background statistical paper, Private sector support for the arts in Australia, highlights the essential role philanthropy and corporate sponsorship plays in the sustainability of the Australia’s creative sector.
Arts Queensland programs
Sustainability of small to medium sized arts and cultural organisations in Queensland (PPTX) (1.27 MB) – AQ commissioned research by Deloitte Private to identify key challenges and opportunities of small to medium sized organisations.
Arts Queensland Funding Snapshots: A range of documents that detail the outcomes from various Arts Queensland funding programs.
Working Together for Safe and Inclusive Arts Industry
National Association for the Visual Arts – Clear Expectations: Guidelines for institutions, galleries and curators working with trans, non-binary and gender diverse artists (2019) (PDF) (2.4MB)
Live Performance Australia – Code of Practice to Prevent Workplace Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Bullying (2018)