Advocates representing diverse Australian artists have called for more funding after a landmark study found that Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (Cald) Australians were more likely than other Australians to create, attend and engage with the arts.
Results from the fifth National Arts Participation survey of 9,396 Australians aged 15 and above, conducted in September and October 2022, were released on Wednesday – the first survey to take place since the Covid pandemic decimated the arts industries.
It found that 87% of Indigenous Australians and 81% of Cald Australians attended arts events and festivals, compared with 68% of all Australians. Meanwhile, 73% of Indigenous Australians and 60% of Cald Australians creatively participated in the arts, compared with 44% of all Australians.
The arts are “embedded in community” for Indigenous Australians, said Georgie McClean from Creative Australia (formerly the Australia Council), who conducted the research.
The arts are “part of [Indigenous] connections to culture and very much embedded in the wellbeing of communities”, McClean said. “It’s how [Indigenous] people engage with their history, their cosmology, their identity: this idea that [the arts] is a discrete and separate part of life is really not true of First Nations communities.”
The survey questioned 558 people who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders, including 150 face-to-face interviews with First Nations people living in remote and regional Katherine, Cairns, Dubbo and Yarrabah.
Meanwhile 1,741 respondents identified as culturally and linguistically diverse (Cald), with the survey translated into Arabic, Dinka, Mandarin, Spanish, Vietnamese and Urdu to help ensure representation among Cald Australians.
Among both First Nations and Cald respondents, 91% recognised the positive impact of arts and creativity, compared with 84% of all Australians.
The chief executive of Diversity Arts Australia, Lena Nahlous, said the survey showed that for First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse people, arts and culture “is not just about entertainment; it’s about connection, identity and wellbeing”.
“It’s essential that we translate these survey findings into concrete actions,” she said. “This includes increased financial investment for programs and organisations, and greater equity in terms of representation in leadership and other creative roles.
“The stark contrast between participation rates and the level of funding and support allocated to culturally diverse artists, arts workers and creatives is a glaring issue that demands immediate attention.”
The survey found nearly a third of Australians connect with and share their cultural background by attending arts and making art – but Cald respondents were almost twice as likely to attend First Nations arts and cultural activities than non-Cald respondents.
Yet the survey found only 47% of Australians believed First Nations arts were well-represented in Australia, down from 51% in the previous survey in 2019.
Overall, 71% of Australians said engagement with arts and culture helped them understand other perspectives and engage with other cultures.
“That’s a really powerful thing, as a driver of social connection,” McClean said.
Between the 2019 and 2022 surveys, weekly attendance at arts events fell from 5% to 3%, while those attending arts events every two weeks to a month fell from 19% to 17%.
Cost and a lack of access to events in local areas were cited as the main barriers to more regular attendance. Creative Australia’s separate but concurrent Audience Outlook Monitor, updated in August 2023, reported arts audiences were increasingly feeling cost-of-living pressures.
“People are dropping the frequency of attendance because they are making tougher [economic] choices,” McClean said. “In fact, at the end of last year, [cost of living] took over from concerns about the [Covid-19] pandemic as the main barrier to arts attendance.”
As of August 2023, 44% reported cost of living as the main barrier to arts attendance, compared with 9% whose main barrier was concerns about the virus.
Forty-four per cent of Australians were creating art in 2022: chiefly, 24% visual arts, 17% music, 14% writing, 9% dance and 6% theatre.
The study revealed that the older Australians got the less likely they were to create art: 68% of 15 to 24-year-olds, 48% of 25 to 49-years-olds, and 31% of those over 50.
“There are theories about what happens to our creativity as we age: there’s that [1968] George Land study [of 1,600 children] that says all children are born creative geniuses and it declines as you get older because you become increasingly institutionalised,” McClean said.
She said the finding of a decrease in reading for pleasure – falling from 72% in 2019 to 69% in 2022 – was a concern.
Forty-eight per cent of the participation survey respondents reported that creative activities and experiences helped with their mental health or wellbeing during the pandemic – 32% attended arts events specifically for their wellbeing in 2022, up from 25% in 2019.
