4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/12/2011   
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Contents >> Performing Arts >> Employment

EMPLOYMENT

Survey of Performing Arts Industries

Putting together a production requires more than just performers. Technicians, producers, directors, stage managers, those involved in marketing and sales, ticket collectors and a variety of others all contribute. According to the 2006-07 ABS Survey of Performing Arts, there were 6,569 people employed in the performing arts operation industry in June 2007.

Of these, 49% were performing artists, 23% were in managerial, administrative or clerical roles and 6% provided artistic support (e.g. choreographers, composers and musical directors). The industry employed roughly equal numbers of males and females (51% and 49% respectively). The survey also found that there were 6,582 people working as volunteers in the industry during the month of June 2007.

At the end of June 2007, there were 5,876 people employed in the performing arts venue operation industry. Women represented 55% of these employees. In addition to paid employees, there were 1,935 volunteers during the month of June 2007.

Organisations involved in running performing arts festivals of more than 2-days duration during 2002-03 reported employing a total of 1,272 people. While the festivals were on, they received assistance from 15,728 volunteers working an average of 25 hours each.


Census of Population and Housing

The performing arts surveys do not give information on the occupations in which people work, therefore it is necessary to analyse data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing for such detail. According to the Census, there were 14,481 people whose main job was in the creative arts, musicians, writers and performers industry in August 2006. Musician was the largest occupation category in this industry with 2,345 people (16%). There were also 412 people who indicated that they worked as singers and 397 as actors in this industry. However, this does not represent all the singers and actors in Australia, with many people reporting having these occupations whilst being employed in other industries.

For example, there were a total of 1,258 people who described their main job as 'actor' in August 2006, but were not within the performing arts industry. The largest concentrations of actors outside of the performing arts industries were in the free-to-air television broadcasting (130 people), the motion picture and video production (67 people) and the advertising services industries (67 people). There were an additional 66 people who described their main job as 'actor' in 2006, however their industry was inadequately described or not stated.

For many performing arts occupations, there are opportunities for employment in a number of different industries. In a statistical overview publication it is not possible to detail in which industries all performing arts workers are employed, however, such detail is available in Employment in Culture, Australia, 2006 (cat. no. 6273.0).

12.10 PERSONS EMPLOYED IN SELECTED PERFORMING ARTS INDUSTRIES(a)(b), By occupation - 2006

Number
%

Performing arts operation
Musician
864
20.0
Singer
206
4.8
Dancer or choreographer
202
4.7
Media producer
185
4.3
Actor
150
3.5
Entertainer or variety artist
133
3.1
Other cultural occupations
1 028
23.8
Total cultural occupations
2 768
64.1
Other occupations
1 552
35.9
Total occupations
4 320
100.0
Creative artists, musicians, writers and performers
Musician
2 345
16.2
Painter
1 508
10.4
Author
1 143
7.9
Print journalist
605
4.2
Singer
412
2.8
Actor
397
2.7
Other cultural occupations
5 513
38.1
Total cultural occupations
11 923
82.3
Other occupations
2 558
17.7
Total occupations
14 481
100.0
Performing arts venues
Light technician
100
3.7
Cinema or theatre manager
78
2.9
Sound technician
60
2.2
Arts administrator or manager
59
2.2
Actor
52
1.9
Media producer
44
1.6
Other cultural occupations
326
12.2
Total cultural occupations
719
26.9
Other occupations
1 956
73.1
Total occupations
2 675
100.0

(a) Cells in this table have been randomly adjusted to avoid the release of confidential data.
(b) In their main job in the week before Census Night.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2006.



Work Survey

According to the 2007 survey of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, there were 249,700 people who had performed music in front of an audience in the 12-months before interview. Around 36% of these people received payment for at least one of their performances. The same survey found that there were 277,600 people who performed as actors, dancers or in other performing arts roles before an audience. Approximately 14% of these were paid for at least one of their performances.

12.11 PERSONS INVOLVED IN MUSIC AND THE PERFORMING ARTS, By payment status - 12 months ending April 2007

Some paid
involvement
Unpaid
involvement
only
Total(a)

NUMBER ('000)

Music
As a live performer
90.6
159.1
249.7
No involvement as a live performer
28.3
50.8
79.1
Total(b)
118.8
209.9
328.8
Performing arts
As a performer
38.9
238.7
277.6
No involvement as a performer
37.9
183.4
221.3
Total
76.8
422.1
499.0

PERCENT (%)

Music
As a live performer
36.3
63.7
100.0
No involvement as a live performer
35.8
64.2
100.0
Total
36.1
63.8
100.0
Performing arts
As a performer
14.0
86.0
100.0
No involvement as a performer
17.1
82.9
100.0
Total
15.4
84.6
100.0

(a) Includes some people for whom payment details are not known.
(b) Total includes some persons for whom details are unavailable.
Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, 2007.






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