What should Australian governments be doing now to build an arts and culture system that delivers for all Australians? This policy action brief turns insights into the workings of Australia’s arts, culture and creativity system – and governments' critical role beyond direct funding – into roadmaps for action. 

Governments are best placed to act on opportunities when they can identify a clear point of leverage and the right tool or enabling action to create change. Getting this right matters. Arts and culture positively impact Australians’ creativity, enjoyment of life and sense of belonging, and benefit Australia’s prosperity, cohesion, health, security and sustainability.

A broad range of enabling actions, in addition to direct funding, are available to governments to strengthen cultural access and foster robust cultural industries. Eight types of enabling actions have been found to facilitate financial inflows, facilitate operations and increase engagement opportunities across the arts and culture system – many of which are no- or low-cost. The brief provides a summary of enabling actions across six priority areas.

In making use of these enabling actions, governments should:

• prioritise opportunities and actions where they are uniquely equipped to act and where they will have the greatest beneficial impact
• use systems thinking to look beyond their most-used levers (legislation, funding, tax) and utilise the full suite of powers and enabling actions available to them
• use everyday settings like schools, the home and online as entry points for generating cultural and creative skills across Australia’s population.