A 1980s cost-of-living crisis gave Australia a thriving arts program – could we do it again?

A Railways Union cultural exhibition, September 1985. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy SEARCH Foundation, CC BY

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting the arts hard. Artists struggle to survive on poverty wages and audiences are getting priced out.

This challenge is not unprecedented. In the 1980s, another cost-of-living crisis sparked a bold and imaginative model for embedding artists into the everyday rhythms of working life.