Cultural and Creative 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.

Cultural and creative activity is recognised as an important part of knowledge-based economies, and it makes a valuable contribution to Australia's economic and social wellbeing.

The Bureau of Communications, Arts and Regional Research regularly publishes research on Australia's cultural and creative sectors.

Key findings

Cultural and creative activity contributed $63.7 billion to Australia's economy in 2022–23, up from $39.4 billion in 2008–09. To put this into context, cultural and creative activity is comparable in size to Australia's Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry.

The latest statistical working paper was developed using an updated methodology for measuring cultural and creative activity to more accurately reflect the contribution of this important activity.

Activities contributing the most to the economy were advertising and promotion ($17.2 billion), print media and publishing (excl. internet) ($14.9 billion), film and television activity ($6.8 billion), and architecture services ($6.2 billion) in 2022–23.

A companion report, Analysis of the Cultural and Creative sector—Revive: Sectoral analysis, found that businesses within the cultural and creative industries accounted for 3.7% of all businesses in Australia in 2022–23 (at over 95,700 businesses). In 2021, employees within these industries comprised approximately 2.4% of total employment (at approximately 282,000 workers).

Overall, cultural and creative activities posted a recovery in employment, business counts and economic activity between 2021 and 2023, supported by the unwinding of COVID-related restrictions. However, attendance at cultural venues and events is still lower than before COVID.

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