In 1998, the Australia Council commissioned a consultancy to establish the extent to which the general public valued ‘the arts’. This was part of a broader strategy to map the characteristics of the Australian cultural environment in which they hoped the arts would flourish in the future. Saatchi and Saatchi (through Sandra Yates and Paul Costantoura) conducted the research.
The research found that some sectors of the public hold misconceptions about what constitutes ‘the arts’ as well as misconceptions within parts of the arts sector about who constitutes the Australian public. The report concludes that both misconceptions need to be addressed if art and culture are to become more important to Australian life.
The main findings can be summarised as follows:
While the arts have become part of Australian society, the majority enjoy art and culture associated with everyday life as a form of entertainment and a forum for social opportunities with friends and family.
Many Australians do not feel welcome to enjoy the arts due to a perceived sense of exclusion, a lack of access, lack of relevant information and education about the arts, and negative connotations about the social environment of the arts.
There is a relatively high level of disinclination towards or disengagement from the arts arising from a belief that they are irrelevant to people’s lives.
The arts sector does not communicate well with the general public outside specific markets.
Some within the arts sector have inaccurate perceptions of the ‘average Australian’.
There is a lack of organisational skills, communication mechanisms, commercial and community foci, and marketing-cum-branding expertise within the arts sector.
The future of the arts will require securing new supporters and markets from those Australians who currently largely ignore the arts.
Australians are split into thirds in estimating the personal and national value of the arts: a third placing a high value on the arts; a third a low or fairly low value; and the rest in-between.
Those who value the arts highly are likely to be: female, with university education, living capital city centres, without children, older and in households with high incomes.
Those who place a low value on the arts find them irrelevant to their lives and feel excluded from them, finding them elitist and inaccessible.
Familiarity with and knowledge of the arts from childhood is positively related to positive attitudes and likelihood of artistic participation.
Few could name more than three components of ‘the arts’ spontaneously (the big ‘A’ arts) and wanted to include a broader array of little ‘a’ arts (e.g. fashion design, graphic design, popular music, television shows, and children’s art and drama).
Australians possess a much broader idea of creativity than is encompassed by ‘the arts’.