Creative industries

They draw on Western Australia’s unique identity to produce new artistic, cultural and aesthetic-functional products and services for local, national and international markets.

The department undertook the first mapping of Perth’s creative industries in 2007 in partnership with the City of Perth, and the Departments of Industry and Resources and Premier and Cabinet.

Then in 2013 the department commissioned a further update with the 2011 Census employment data and published the Creative Industries Statistical Analysis for Western Australia report.

The report provides invaluable information for the State’s creative industries and peak associations. It maps sector employment numbers and growth between the 2006 and 2011 Census. The artforms areas included are music, visual and performing arts, film, TV and radio, advertising and marketing, software and digital content, publishing, and architecture and design, which includes designer fashion.

An updated report is now available below.

The department has also engaged in two Australia Research Council (ARC) projects:

• Making Music Work: Sustainable Portfolio Careers for Australian Musicians (2016-2019) — The Australia-wide study explored the conditions and strategies needed for musicians to sustain successful portfolio careers. The vast majority of Australian musicians’ careers encompass a variety of concurrent and often impermanent roles. Funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage grant and led by Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre (QCRC). The department is an industry partner along with the Australian Council for the Arts, Create NSW, Creative Victoria, and the Music Trust, and institutional partner Curtin University.  Report documents are available on our research hub and on the Making Music Work website. 
• Australian cultural & creative activity: A population & hotspot analysis  — The aim of the research project is to investigate factors producing local and regional creative ‘hotspots’, which have well above average creative and innovative growth and potential. Led by the Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. The department is a partner organisation, along with Arts Queensland, Creative Victoria, Arts NSW, and Arts SA.