Cultural and Creative activity

Cultural and creative activity refers to activities involving human creativity as a major input. While there is no universally accepted definition, the terms 'cultural' and 'creative' describe activities connected with the arts, media, heritage, design, fashion, and information technology.

Cultural and creative activity is increasingly recognised as an important component of economic growth and the updated publication quantifies the economic contribution of cultural and creative activity in Australia from 2010–11 to 2019–20. It has the potential to continue to increase as the economy transforms through the growing use of advanced technologies and the rise of automation.

The Bureau of Communications Arts and Regional Research (BCARR) monitors, gathers and publishes information on the cultural and creative sectors regularly. Research projects on cultural and creative activity provide granular information on the economic contribution of cultural and creative industries to inform policy makers about how such industries contribute to economic outcomes.

Key findings

Cultural and creative activity plays an important role in Australia's economy, growing to $122.3 billion in 2019–20, an increase of $26.0 billion (27.1 per cent) over the last 10 years.

Overall, growth in cultural and creative activity has been slower than the pace of growth for the Australian economy. As a share of GDP, cultural and creative activity declined by 0.6 percentage points, from 6.8 per cent in 2010–11 to 6.2 per cent in 2019–20.

Cultural and creative activity is dominated by design, fashion, literature and broadcasting.

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