Creating for the future – Submission to South Australia’s new cultural policy consultation

A New Approach (ANA) welcomes this opportunity to assist South Australia (SA) with its long-term vision for the arts, culture and creativity. ANA is Australia’s leading think tank focused on arts and culture. Through credible and independent public leadership, ANA helps build an ambitious and innovative policy and investment environment for arts, culture and creativity. We work to ensure Australia can be a great place for creators and audiences, whoever they are and wherever they live.

The current focus on arts and culture across Australian jurisdictions helps SA work more closely with governments and embed policy concerning arts, culture and creativity across portfoliosANA anticipates new cultural policies from SA, Western Australia and Northern Territory, and a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into cultural and creative industries, in 2024. This complements the 2023 release of the National Cultural Policy and NSW Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy.. In addition, the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for SA (like all Australian states and territories) to build cultural ties within and beyond Australia, attract cultural tourism and develop cultural exports. As her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of SA (and former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) puts it:

‘Successful cultural diplomacy enables us to engage with others, drawing on our soft power, to build awareness of who we are and what we stand for and how we can work together, whether in the arts, or more broadly.’Frances Adamson, “Transcript of Don Dunstan Lecture” (Government House South Australia, November 28, 2023), https://www.governor.sa.gov.au/vice-regal/speeches/don-dunstan-lecture.

Drawing on our published research with middle Australians aged 18 to 75, we welcome the Discussion Paper’s use of the phrase ‘arts and culture’ as an inclusive and accessible phrasing and inclusion of creative industries to form a connected, contemporary policy approach.

To assist SA, we are pleased to share relevant ANA resources, including a transcript of our Chair’s recent National Press Club Address. See details on the following page. In our role as a philanthropically funded, independent think tank, ANA is ready to provide further information about the response in this submission and would welcome the opportunity to discuss.

Warm regards,

Kate Fielding, CEO, A New Approach (ANA)

ANA resources to assist SA

• A transcript of our Chair, Rupert Myer AO’s recent Address to the National Press Club where he shared his vision for Australia to become a global cultural powerhouseRupert Myer, “National Press Club Address – Becoming a Cultural Powerhouse” (A New Approach, November 15, 2023), https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Rupert-Myer-AO-National-Press-Club-Address-2023.pdf.. He urged the members of National Cabinet to commit to closer collaboration. Specifically, he called for the elevation of the existing meeting of Cultural Ministers to a formalised Ministerial Council reporting annually to National Cabinet.
• ANA’s submission to the federal National Cultural Policy consultation, which highlights ways for Australia to reach its potential as a cultural powerhouseA New Approach, “Becoming a Cultural Powerhouse – Submission to National Cultural Policy Consultation 2022,” August 2022, https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ANA_National-Cultural-Policy-Submission_Aug2022.pdf..
• ANA’s recently published Insight Report ‘Accelerate: Reframing culture’s role in productivity’Kate Fielding, Angela Vivian, and Sari Rossi, “Accelerate: Reframing Culture’s Role in Productivity” (A New Approach (ANA), November 29, 2023), https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ANA-Accelerate_-Productivity-Insight-Report-2023.pdf.. Productivity is critical to our quality of life but Australia’s measured productivity is growing at its lowest rate in 60 years. This Insight Report shows how arts, culture and creativity can contribute towards solving this problem. Australia has an opportunity to accelerate productivity growth using a cultural and creative lens, delivering value and returns to investors, businesses, workers, and all Australians.
• ANA’s Insight Report ‘To Scale: Mapping financial inflows in Australian arts, culture and creativity’Kate Fielding, Angela Vivian, and Sari Rossi, “To Scale: Mapping Financial Inflows in Australian Arts, Culture and Creativity,” Insight Report (Canberra: A New Approach, 2023), https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ANA-64088-To-Scale-Report_Combined_AW.pdf.. This report dispels the myth that Australian cultural and creative industries are predominantly financed through government assistance. In fact, the largest proportion of income in the cultural and creative industries was from ‘sales and services’ in 2020-21. These industries earned 87% of income from sales and services, which included things like ticket sales for art and cultural events and royalties from intellectual property to cultural exports and computer software consulting fees.
• ANA’s Insight Report ‘Transformative: Impacts of Culture and Creativity’Kate Fielding, Iva Glisic, and Jodie-Lee Trembath, “Transformative: Impacts of Culture and Creativity,” Insight Series (Canberra: A New Approach and The Australian Academy of Humanities, November 2019), https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2-ANA-InsightReportTwo-FullReport.pdf.. This provides a snapshot of current research and findings about the positive impacts of artistic, creative and cultural activity on seven different parts of our lives: society and place; economy; innovation; health and wellbeing, education and learning; international engagement; and culture.