As an arts marketer the release of each edition of the National Arts Participation Survey is akin to Christmas and I am very keen to dig into the 200+ page report on how Australians participate in and view the arts. Creative Transformations is the latest edition. There is a lot to get across but I have shared some of what I learned from the release webinar today.
Speaking of Creative Australia, it looks like antisemitic guidelines tied to federal arts funding will be coming soon. The move is tied to the Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism which adopts the controversial International Holocaust Rememberance Alliance (IHRA) working definition which raises questions about who will be deciding when arts and cultural expression is or isn’t antisemetic.
Submissions to the next National Cultural Policy closed 10 days ago. While we wait for all the submissions to be published I have taken a look some of the responses that are already public. Find out what Live Performance Australia, A New Approach (ANA), BlakDance, Diversity Arts Australia (DARTS) and National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) are calling for in the next policy.
On tech, the vulnerability of undersea internet infrastructure is currently in the spotlight, the Australian Government has appointed a General Manager of the new AI Safety Institute and Malaysia’s social media minimum age legislation came into effect this week.
Plus a court has put an end to Donald Trump’s name being addied to the name of the Kennedy Centre and the Wikimedia Foundation has responded to claims their recent layoffs of the Community Tech team and restructuring of where the Community Wishlist sits was motivated by union activity by Foundation staff.
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Rapid-fire
A short list of other things:
- Creative Australia has released the results of the most recent National Arts Participation Survey titled Creative Transformations. Shoot through
- A new Australian publication called The Fourth Wall quietly started in early May with a focus on theatre, live music and performing arts. It will include reviews, announcements and profiles of talent. Shoot through
- Nominations for the Asia Pacific Arts Awards 2027 are open now and close at 3 pm AEST on Tuesday 23 June 2026. Shoot through
WTF’s been going on?
Here's WTF happened this week:
Creative Australia released the results of the most recent arts participation survey today
The very new results to the most recent National Arts Participation Survey show Australian arts participation and positive attitudes towards the arts remain high and cost of attendance has grown while remaining the biggest barrier.
Today I attended Creative Australia’s webinar launching the latest edition of the results of the National Arts Participation Survey: Creative Transformations: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey ⟨ I haven’t read it yet and at 200+ pages it will take me a bit of time to get a briefing of the report out! So this summary is based on the overview and what was shared in the webinar. ⟩ The sixth edition – based on a nationally representative online survey undertaken between June and September last year and other research inputs – shows that arts participation and positive attitudes towards the arts remain high in Australia even as audiences feel ongoing financial pressure.
