• Deborah Mills, and others
• Australia Council for the Arts

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09 August 2010The visual arts, craft and design sector makes an important contribution to Australian society and its economy.

A 2000 Australia Council research study, Arts Economy 1968-1998: Three Decades of Growth in Australia, revealed that although the Australian arts economy had blossomed and consolidated during this time, visual arts and craft workers had the largest decrease in median income of all individuals in the arts industry.

The same year, a Planning for the Future forum in Adelaide called for an inquiry into the visual arts craft sector. This call came from a range of visual arts and craft organisations and was supported by the Australia Council’s Visual Arts/Craft Fund.

In 2001, the Commonwealth Government announced an independent inquiry into the contemporary visual arts and craft sector. This was the first-ever Australia-wide examination of the sector. When Rupert Myer presented his Report of the Contemporary Visual Arts and Crafts Inquiry in 2002, it effected changes that have inspired the sector to be ambitious, innovative and to engage with the wider community. The recommendations from the report led to an agreement by federal, state and territory governments to introduce the jointly-funded Visual Arts and Craft Strategy (VACS).

In 2009, the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board commissioned a report that aimed to evaluate and record the achievements of the VACS-funded organisations and individual artists funded through the Visual Arts Board.

The Visual Arts Board is pleased to provide the following report on the achievements of these organisations against the key aims of the Visual Arts and Crafts Strategy 2004-2009.