If you’ve recently streamed a show, read a book or downloaded a song, you’ve supported the arts industry. Yet very few people recognise how connected they are to Australia’s vibrant arts scene, and just how vital it is to everyday life.
Organisers of a new national day of action are hoping to change that.
Thursday October 23 is Australia’s inaugural AusArt Day, a day to celebrate, support and donate to our diverse and vital arts industry.
“Art is a spectrum, from elite forms of well-trained talents on our stages, screens and galleries to books, libraries, your local ballet school,” says celebrated playwright and artistic director Wesley Enoch.
“It’s around us all the time, it’s like the air we breathe. So how do you make the implicit explicit? That for me is what AusArt Day is.”
(Image: Perth Symphony Orchestra).
An initiative of Creative Australia, the government’s federal arts funding body chaired by Wesley, AusArt Day has this year attracted more than 330 artists and arts organisations from around Australia who are taking part in the inaugural event.
From grassroots community organisations to individual artists and more established companies, participants are hoping this one-day event will raise not only important funds but awareness of the richness of our creative industries and the important contributions they make to our communities and national identity.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2023 our creative industries contributed more than $20 billion to Australia’s GDP, yet only $204 million was donated to cultural organisations in 2021. This is despite 97 per cent of Australians saying they engage in the arts in one form or another, with 84 per cent of people recognising the positive impact of doing so.
Wesley says individual support from everyday Australians can make a difference: “The era where government is the only supporter of the arts isn’t a growth strategy, we need to build a partnership of all three: state government, philanthropy and [individual] support.”
Inscape – Patient collaborating with artist Bec Stevens during Inscape Tasmania’s artist-in-residence program at the Roy Fagan Centre, a specialised facility supporting older adults with mental illness and dementia. (Photo by Bec Stevens).
Not only do the creative industries play a critical role in Australia’s identity, social cohesion and economic prosperity, they also contribute to positive mental health.
“Participating in or being part of arts actually assists your mental health and helps you connect to community. I love going to a concert and just being transported by the music, that’s healing in itself, but I also love sharing oxygen, that shared experience,” says Wesley, a proud Quandamooka man, who was the Sydney Festival Director for five years and artistic director of Queensland Theatre Company before that.
Creative Australia is hoping AusArt Day will inspire a shift in thinking around Australians’ perceptions of both what constitutes the arts industry and the broad impact a small donation can make.
To kickstart the movement, Creative Australia has pledged $500,000 towards microgrants, workshops, publicity and support to artists and organisations that don’t have the experience, knowledge or capacity to fundraise themselves.
Booktober – Three students sit in front of a colourful library display reading their class anthologies. (Credit: Michael Campbell).
Open to all Australian artists and organisations no matter how big or small, registration for AusArt Day is free and participants can choose their preferred fundraising platform, including the Australian Cultural Fund, enabling tax deductible donations.
Wesley is volunteering as an AusArt Day ambassador as are a number of other practicing artists including singer Kate Miller-Heidke, actor Rob Collins, Hollywood star Angourie Rice and Collingwood AFL captain Darcy Moore, each of them lending their support to the campaign.
For Wesley, they’re not empty words. While he has opted to donate 10 per cent of his income since he began working, he says any level of support is more than welcome.
“If you’ve been affected by something, read an amazing Australian book and want to support local authors, give $10, give $100, give $1000, whatever the right amount is. I buy tickets, I buy (too much) art! Set yourself what’s possible and go for it.
Giving makes you feel good, after all the definition of philanthropy is ‘love of humanity’. It’s all about the society you want to live in.”
(Feature Image: Karul Project Dance Theatre – Four dancers leap mid-air under a dramatic spotlight, their shadows cast across the stage floor. The movement is powerful and dynamic, capturing the energy and strength of the First Nations contemporary dance performed by Karul Projects Dance Theatre. Photo: Tiffany Garvie).
