The background statistical paper, Private sector support for the arts in Australia, highlights the essential role of philanthropy and corporate sponsorship in the sustainability of the creative sector.
The analysis provides the first estimate of private sector support to the arts in Australia since 2009–10, which is estimated to have increased from $221.1 million in 2009–10 to between $268.5 million and $279.8 million in 2015–16.
These estimates cover a diverse range of arts organisations from small volunteer-run groups to considerably larger organisations, such as Australia’s 28 major performing arts companies.
While like-for-like comparison between countries is not possible, Australia appears to compare well internationally. Broadly, the paper estimates that Australia’s per‑capita private sector support for the arts is higher than in Canada and similar to England, though lower than in the United States.