Victoria passes Creative Victoria Act, but delivers industry nearly $50m less in state budget

Image: National Gallery Of Victoria (source)

The Victorian Parliament has passed the Creative Victoria Act 2016, signalling what it called “a new era for the creative industries in our state”, but delivered significantly less for those industries in the state budget than it did last year.

Following an intense consultation process with the creative sector, the Act provides a legislative foundation for its vision for the arts. 

It recognises that:

• The arts have an intrinsic value that contributes to the cultural depth, diversity and life of Victoria; 

• The arts and creative industries contribute significantly to Victoria’s wealth and prosperity;

• The arts and creative industries are means to improve the quality of life for all individuals in Victoria and improve the community of Victoria as a whole; 

• All individuals in Victoria are equally entitled to access opportunities and participate in and contribute to the arts and creative industries in Victoria; and

• All individuals should be free to express their ideas and opinions through the arts and creative industries.

It explicitly recognises the contribution and importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts/cultural practice, and includes a specific objective to support and promote it.

The Act also acknowledges the economic value of the creative industries, which currently contribute $23 billion a year to the state and provide around 220,000 jobs.

In January 2015, Creative Victoria replaced Arts Victoria as a more integrated approach to the creative industries, to also include the screen and design industries as well.

Over 10,000 people contributed to the Act’s consultation process, including individual practitioners, peak bodies, education institutions, government bodies, creative businesses and arts and cultural organisations. 

It involved 20 industry-specific, cross-sector and public workshops, formal submissions and an online forum.

See the full legislation here. 

On Tuesday night, the Victorian Budget delivered $106.6 million to the creative sector. Despite the spin, it was actually less than the 2016/7 Budget which provided $152 million. 

For the contemporary music industry, there was $250,000 for the 2018 Music Cities Convention and a further $10 million to the Australian Music Vault at Arts Centre Melbourne, which is a hall-of-fame-type exhibition celebrating Australian music history. 

Other measures included $40 million to upgrade Arts Centre Melbourne; $10.7 million for film festivals; $28.7 million for the National Gallery of Victoria’s summer program; and $300,000 seed money to set up a podcasting hub at The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.