Australia's Arts Spending Trails OECD Average by 37% as New Research Initiative Launches

RISING has partnered with economic consultancy Mandala to launch a new research initiative examining how Australia measures, values and invests in arts and culture. 

The Economist in Residence Platform, supported by a significant pro bono contribution from Mandala, will deliver a series of research papers exploring the sector's broader economic and social impact, with the aim of informing future investment and policy decisions. 

The initiative comes as arts participation in Australia reaches record levels, despite government spending on cultural services remaining below international benchmarks. 

According to Creative Australia's National Arts Participation Survey 2026, 74 per cent of Australians — approximately 15.4 million people — attended a live arts event in the past year. It marks the highest participation rate recorded since tracking began in 2009.

The survey also found that 47 per cent of the attendees identified socialising as a key motivation for attending arts events, while 36 per cent said they attended to better understand other perspectives and cultures. 

However, despite growing participation, Australia continues to lag behind the OECD average for government spending on cultural services per capita by 37 per cent, according to 2026 OECD figures. 

While think tanks and government departments have introduced frameworks over the past five years to better measure the contribution of arts and culture, Australia has yet to establish a unified national approach. 

RISING Artistic Director and CEO Hannah Fox said the initiative would help demonstrate the sector's contribution beyond traditional economic measures. 

“I can't think of anything more urgent right now than addressing social isolation and creating more opportunities for empathy and critical thinking,” she said. 

“The arts already provide this for audiences, but traditional economic metrics exclude this part of the story. Our hope is that this series of research papers will empower artists and cultural organisations with tangible data around the true impact of their work, while reframing the national conversation to show how deeply embedded culture is in our daily lives, our wellbeing, and our economy.”

Conventional economic models typically measure the arts sector through direct economic output, employment, community benefits, and return on investment. The new research platform will seek to expand those measures to account for the sector's contribution to broader national economic and social objectives. 

Mandala Managing Partner and RISING's Economist in Residence, Armit Singh, said existing approaches risk understating the sector's wider contribution. 

“Currently, we measure the value of the arts by looking at the activity generated by the sector itself,” Singh said. “This is important, but it understates its true value as an enabling feature of an economy. Rather than asking what the sector is worth, we should ask how it enables us to reach important national and societal goals.

“Our work seeks to broaden the scope of how we value the arts and uncover a more holistic picture that recognises arts activity as a cultural good, economic sector and a strategic asset. We hope this will make the case for greater and more sustained public, commercial and philathropic investment.”

The research series will examine three areas of the arts sector's contribution to Australia's national priorities:

1. Art as an Economic Sector: Examining direct economic contribution, employment, exports, tourism, adjacent industries and Australia's international trade position. 

2. Art as a Cultural Good: Measuring contributions to national identity, heritage, belonging, shared meaning, social cohesion and wellbeing.

3. Art as a Strategic Asset: Assessing the sector's broader influence on democracy, sovereign capabilities and Australia's international soft power. 

The first paper, Reimagining the Value of the Arts: An Introduction to the Economist in Residence Platform, is available here.