Culture and Related Industries Industry Reference Committee
Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design
Overview
This page provides high level information on the Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design industry, which comprises the following sectors:
- Dance and Musical Theatre
- Live Production Services
- Music
- Screen and Media
- Visual Arts, Craft and Design.
For more information on any of the above sectors, please visit the respective sector page.
The Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design industry includes a broad range of individuals and organisations, producing artistic and creative works for both commercial and social outcomes. The diverse nature of the industry makes it difficult to define and measure. In addition to other benefits, artists in this industry can attract international tourism to Australia for culture events and products. Creative skills are also increasingly in demand in other industries, with training from this industry one way of offering this.
In 2016-17, it was estimated that cultural and creative activity contributed $111.7 billion to Australia’s economy which equates to over 6% of GDP. In addition, at the end of 2016-17 there were close to 12,000 businesses operating as Creative Artists, Musicians, Writers and Performers, over 500 Performing Arts Venue Operation businesses and a further 10,000 businesses of various sizes operating across Motion Picture and Video Production, Museum Operation and Performing Arts Operation.
Nationally recognised training for this sector is delivered under the CUA – Creative Arts and Culture Training Package.
Information sourced from the Culture and Related Industries IRC’s 2019 Forecast.
All data sources are available at the end of the page.
IRC and Skills Forecasts
IRC and Skills Forecasts
Industry cluster snapshot
Industry cluster snapshot
Employment and training snapshot
The employment level in the Creative and Performing Arts industry rose between 2000 and 2019, to a high of approximately 51,400. Although this industry does not include all possible workers in the Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design cluster, it is a good indicator of the general trends affecting the cluster. Despite a dip in 2016, employment in this industry is expected to grow between 2019 and 2024 to around 57,100.
The most common VET-related occupations in this industry are: Music Professionals; Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals; and Actors, Dancers and Other Entertainers. Employment for Music Professionals is expected to increase very slightly between 2019 and 2024 by less than 1%. Visual Arts and Crafts Professional and Actors, Dancers and Other Entertainers are expected to see growth of approximately 10% and 9% respectively over the same period.
Program enrolments were consistent in 2015 and 2016 but have since trended down from roughly 71,790 in 2016 to approximately 63,310 in 2018. Similarly, completions have slowly declined from 26,150 in 2015 to approximately 23,030 in 2018. Subject-only enrolments in the Creative Arts and Culture Training Package peaked at around 2,970 in 2016, then gradually declined to 1,990 in 2018.
Arts administrative and cultural services
Arts administrative and culture services are a small sub-set of the Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design industry cluster, with only 165 enrolments and 40 program completions in this area in 2018. This prevents detailed analysis on trends within this field, but some high-level training information is shown here.
There have been small fluctuations for program enrolments in arts administrative and cultural services, with a slight decrease between 2015 and 2016 (154 and 145 respectively), followed by a small increase in 2017, then a slight drop in 2018. Program completions gradually increased from 32 in 2015 to 59 in 2017, then dropped back to 40 in 2018. Qualifications at the certificate IV level were slightly more popular (41%), with the remainder of enrolments evenly split between the certificate II (29%) and III (29%) levels. The largest proportion of enrolments in 2018 were in Arts Administration (70%).
Industry insights on skill needs
Industry insights on skill needs
The Culture and Related Industries IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast identifies four top priority skills for the industry, including:
- Health and safety
- Customer service, teamwork and communication
- Self-promotion and marketing
- Critical and creative problem solving
According to the Culture and Related Industries IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast the top key generic skills in Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Design are:
- Communication/Collaboration including virtual collaboration/Social intelligence
- Design mindset/Thinking critically/System thinking/Solving problems
- Entrepreneurial
- Learning agility/Information literacy/Intellectual autonomy and self-management (adaptability)
- Technology use and application
- Customer service/Marketing
The Culture and Related Industries IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast identified three key opportunities and challenges for employers and learners in the sector; these include creative skills for all sectors, keeping pace with the changing nature of work in the sector and keeping up with technological advances which are changing how creative workers produce art and services.
Although changes and advancements in technology are having widespread impacts across all industries, it’s anticipated that the demand for creative skills in all sectors will continue to grow as these types of skills are generally resistant to changing technologies. The ability to present information creatively, think critically and solve problems in new and novel ways is expected to be in high demand across sectors. This presents an opportunity for the CUA Training Package to expand and develop core creative skills in a way that they can be used and accessed by VET learners from different industries.
The rise of the gig economy is expected to further impact an industry that has already high levels of sole trader or portfolio-based professions. Ensuring workers can keep pace with this changing nature of work in the sector could be addressed through changes to the CUA Training Package. These changes could include preparing learners with the skills required to make the most of the opportunities presented in this sector, such as accessing crowd funding and participating in emerging and established digital-only platforms for art and creativity.
Technology is changing how creative workers produce art and services through advancements like 3D printing, augmented reality and virtual reality. These advancements present artists with new ways to create art, however, technical skills are needed in order to keep pace with these opportunities. As a result, there are opportunities for the CUA Training Package to adapt and expose learners to new technologies and prepare them with the associated skills.
An additional factor affecting the industry is the availability of income which can be both a challenge and opportunity, as artists and workers often rely on multiple sources of income. Income for creative workers also tends to reflect current economic conditions, with more available income during strong economic times. Figures from 2016 indicate that applications for financial assistance were made by 55% of artists (with 37% receiving funding as a result of their applications). Due to the uncertain nature of government funding, it’s becoming increasingly important for creative workers to engage philanthropy and corporate sponsorship, requiring a new set of entrepreneurial skills. Concerns have been raised about the impact this will have to the socioeconomic diversity of the industry, therefore government policies have been developed in order to expand employment opportunities and ensure socioeconomic diversity within the industry.
The Creative Skills for the Future Economy by the Department of Communication and Arts also outlines that as the trend towards automation of goods and services continues, the demand for creative skills will increase, particularly as the associated roles and occupations are harder to automate. Creative skills expand beyond the traditional ‘creative’ fields, with it estimated that close to 10% of the Australian workforce in 2016 held a ‘creative’ qualification as their highest level of qualification.
In addition, a report by the South Australian Training and Skills Commission supports findings that the industry is being shaped and impacted by changing and emerging technology, but also highlights concerns surrounding the current training system’s ability to keep pace with these new skill requirements. The findings of this report outline the need for training in rapidly emerging technologies such as augmented reality and 3D printing will be needed in the coming years.
Links and resources
Links and resources
Industry associations and advisory bodies
Association of Music Educators (Vic) Inc.
Australasian Lighting Industry Association
Australasian Music Publishers Association
Australasian Performing Right Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society
Australia Council for the Arts
Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts
Australian Commercial & Entertainment Technologies Association
Australian Graphic Design Association Inc.
Australian Independent Record Labels Association
Australian Major Performing Arts Group
Australian Music Examinations Board
Australian Music Industry Network
Australian Network for Art and Technology
Australian Photographic Society
Australian Publishers Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
Independent Theatre Association
National Association for the Visual Arts
Printing Industries Association of Australia
The Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies
World Crafts Council Australia
Employee associations
Australian Artists Association
Australian Guild of Screen Composers
Australian Songwriters Association
Australian Sound Recordings Association
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
Relevant research
Crafting Self: Promoting and Making Self in the Creative Micro-Economy – Susan Luckman, Jane Andrew and Tracy Crisp for the School of Creative Industries, University of South Australia
Creative Skills for the Future Economy – Department of Communications and Arts, Bureau of Communications and Arts Research
Information, Media, and Telecommunications: South Australia’s Industry Priority Qualifications 2018 – South Australian Training and Skills Commission (TASC)
Data sources and notes
Data sources and notes
Department of Employment 2019, Employment Projections, available from the Labour Market Information Portal.
- by ANZSIC 3 digit Creative and Performing Arts Industry, employment projections to May 2024
- by ANZSCO, selected occupations , employment projections to May 2024
- Actors, Dancers and Other Entertainers
- Artistic Directors, and Media Producers and Presenters
- Arts Professionals nfd
- Film, Television, Radio and Stage Directors
- Music Professionals
- Performing Arts Technicians
- Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2019, Employed persons by industry group of main job (ANZSIC), Sex, State and Territory, November 1984 onwards, 6291.0.55.003 - EQ06, viewed 16 December 2019 https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202019?OpenDocument.
- Employed total by ANZSIC 3 digit Creative and Performing Arts Industry, 2000 to 2019, May Quarter.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017, 2016 Census – employment, income and unpaid work, TableBuilder. Findings based on use of ABS TableBuilder data.
- Employment level by 3 digit Creative and Performing Arts Industry, and 4 digit level occupations to identify the relevant VET-related occupations in the industry as a proportion of the total workforce.
Priority skills data has been extracted from the Culture and Related Industries IRC’s 2019 Skills Forecast. Each IRC has prioritised and ranked the generic skills, which have been given a score according to their ranking.
Training data has been extracted from the National VET Provider Collection and Total VET Students and Courses by CUE Creative Arts and Culture, CUV Arts and Culture, CUF Screen and Media and CUE Entertainment Training Packages. This includes superseded qualifications and training packages.
Data covers a range of selected student and training characteristics in the following categories and years:
- 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 program enrolments
- 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 subject enrolments
- 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 program completions.
Arts Administrative and Cultural Services:
- Arts Administration
- CUA30615 - Certificate III in Arts Administration
- CUA40815 - Certificate IV in Arts Administration
- CUV30403 - Certificate III in Arts Administration
- CUV30411 - Certificate III in Arts Administration
- CUV40503 - Certificate IV in Arts Administration
- CUV40511 - Certificate IV in Arts Administration
- Information and Community Cultural Services
- CUA20515 - Certificate II in Information and Cultural Services
- CUA40213 - Certificate IV in Community Culture
- CUA40311 - Certificate IV in Community Culture
- Visual Arts Industry Work (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)
- CUA20315 - Certificate II in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Industry Work
- CUA50615 - Diploma of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Industry Work
- CUV20313 - Certificate II in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Industry Work.
Total VET students and courses data is reported for the calendar year. Program enrolments are the qualifications, courses and skill-sets in which students are enrolled in a given period. For students enrolled in multiple programs, all programs are counted. Program completion indicates that a student has completed a structured and integrated program of education or training. Location data uses student residence. Subject enrolment is the registration of a student at a training delivery location for the purpose of undertaking a module, unit of competency or subject. For more information on the terms and definitions please refer to the Total VET students and courses: terms and definitions document.
Low counts (less than five) are not reported to protect client confidentiality.
Updated: 16 Mar 2020