Eighty-five percent of those surveyed view the arts as important and relevant to their daily lives. This is up five percent since 2009 and 14% since the surveys began in 1999. Virtually all Australians engage in the arts, in some way, each year—by attending performances or exhibitions, contributing time or money to arts organisations or...

Australia's federal, state and local governments spent just over $7 billion on cultural activities during 2012-13, according to these estimates of funding for arts and cultural activities by the three levels of government.

Tables and technical details from an independent study commissioned by the Australia Council, which provides insight into how Australians participate in the arts today. It provides a comparison of shifting attitudes and behaviours by benchmarking the findings in 2013 against those from the original study in 2009. The outcomes of this study paint a positive...

Beliefs are one component of culture. Data from the World Values Survey is available on a subset of beliefs concerning (broadly) meritocracy and poverty that appear relevant for economics. We document how they vary as well as their distribution across countries. We then correlate these measures of beliefs with economic growth and compare them with...

What is body-based art? Surgically grafting an ear onto an arm? Exploring human rights or gender identity through performance? Contemporary dance interwoven with light and sound? Challenging preconceived notions about sexuality? In all of these cases, the body is a powerful site – and instrument – for art. In this discussion, performance artists take to...