This publication contains information on employment in culture, time spent on cultural activities, attendances at cultural venues and events, expenditure on culture, and imports and exports of cultural goods and services. It also provides profiles of the cultural sectors, grouped according to the Australian Culture and Leisure Industry Classification. The information is drawn from a...

Telling our own stories through the arts is obviously a good thing, writes Andrew Ford in Inside Story, but what does it mean in practice?

Highlights developments in arts and cultural heritage and sports and recreation statistics and provides relevant information for researchers, policy makers, service providers and others with an interest in this field. This compendium was created by the National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics, a unit within the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Total government funding for cultural activities was $6,658.1m in 2009-10. This was an increase of 2% on 2008-09 ($6,525.1m) which was in turn an increase of 7% on total cultural funding for 2007-08 ($6,081.2m).

This discussion paper is a step towards the development of a new Australian national cultural policy. Consultation began on a National Cultural Policy in 2009, and has involved the arts and culture sector, creative industries, the public at large and government. This has informed the development of this discussion paper, which outlines goals and strategies...