Arts Minister Tony Burke has released the latest data showing the Arts sector’s strong contribution to the economy. Photo: Tony Burke Facebook.
Arts, culture and creative activities add far more to the national economy than most Australians realise, a point the Federal Government is making with the release of new economic data.
Updated figures highlighting the sector’s significant contribution have been released in the Cultural and Creative Activity in Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24 report.
The research found that the cultural and creative sector added $67.4 billion to Australia’s economy in 2023–24, comparable to the rental, hiring and real estate services industry.
The sector contributed 2.5 per cent to Australia’s economy in 2023–24, representing a 6.6 per cent increase from 2022–23, with Australia’s overall nominal GDP growing at 4.1 per cent.
Cultural and creative activity refers to the economic activity generated from the production and support of goods and services created by cultural and artistic means.
It is recognised as an important part of knowledge-based economies, making a valuable contribution to Australia’s economic and social well-being.
The most significant contributors were advertising and promotion, print media and publishing, film and television and architecture services.
This research is a key action of Revive, Australia’s National Cultural Policy, and will assist the government with future targeted investment.
Arts Minister Tony Burke said it was encouraging to see the cultural and creative sector performing so strongly.
“These results demonstrate the positive impact of a strong arts and cultural sector on Australia’s economy. This is why we introduced Revive,” he said.
“There’s always room for growth, and our government is continuing to make targeted investments to ensure our creative economy continues to thrive.”
Conducted by the Bureau of Communications, Arts and Regional Research (BCARR), the study follows an updated methodology developed in 2024 to more accurately reflect the contribution of this important activity.
Cultural and creative activity refers to the economic activity generated from the production and support of goods and services created by cultural and artistic means.
This updated release quantifies the economic contribution of cultural and creative activity in Australia from 2014–15 to 2023–24.
However, while the economic contribution from the sector is strong, the overall pace of growth in cultural and creative activity has been slower than that of the Australian economy since 2014-15.
“This largely reflects the continued strength in the mining and healthcare sectors, which fall almost entirely outside of cultural and creative activity,” the report states.
“As a share of GDP, cultural and creative activity declined from 2.9 per cent in 2014–15 to 2.5 per cent in 2023–24.”
The economic value of cultural and creative activity is determined by how it is defined and identified.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics first measured cultural and creative activity in Australia in 2014, and BCARR has been producing annual updates from 2018 to 2022.
The original scope of the sector was broad, including not only the production and creation of cultural and creative services, but also activities related to their manufacture and distribution.
The definition has since been refined to more accurately reflect the sector’s contribution to the economy.
For the purposes of data collection, cultural and creative activities are not a distinct industry division, but rather encompass output produced by many industries across the economy.
Most cultural and creative domains grew in nominal terms over the period from 2014–15 to 2023–24.
Advertising and promotion activity grew strongly over the period, up $7.2 billion, and accounted for 26.9 per cent of cultural and creative activity.
Its growth saw it jump from $10.9 billion in 2014–15 to $18.1 billion in 2023–24.
“People are increasingly consuming content on internet-based platforms, which is bolstering demand for online advertising at the expense of print and broadcast advertising,” the report states.
“Digital games development has experienced the strongest growth from 2014–15 to 2023–24, with an average annual growth rate of 15.9 per cent during the period.
“From its small base of initial activity, cultural and creative GDP in digital games development has increased significantly – from $92 million in 2014–15 to $336 million in 2023–24.”
Print media and publishing activity (excluding the internet) also increased by $5.0 billion over the 10 years.
The increase was mainly driven by software publishing activities, which have experienced strong growth in recent years, but was offset by a decrease in newspaper, magazine, and other periodic publishing activities.
Architecture services grew $1.7 billion, and design and fashion $2.4 billion (in nominal terms) from 2014–15 to 2023–24.
Film and television activities were valued at $7.3 billion, with their share of total cultural and creative activity GDP decreasing from 16.7 per cent to 10.8 per cent over the 10 years.
