4172.0 - Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 2014  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 10/07/2014  Final
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VISUAL ARTS, CRAFTS AND DESIGN


Arts and crafts take many forms but are generally accepted to include such items as paintings, drawings, cartoons, prints, photographs, digital works of art, art installations, sculpture, ceramics, pottery, jewellery, woven or printed textile art, carvings, furniture, glass, metal and leather craft. While many of these items can be mass produced, for the purpose of this publication the focus is on one-off or limited series visual arts and crafts produced in either traditional or contemporary styles.

The design industry is comprised of those businesses and organisations whose main activity is the creative, artistic and aesthetic design of objects, environments and services. From a cultural perspective this includes the following distinct areas of design:

  • Architecture - includes the design of buildings, town planning and landscape architecture
  • Advertising - includes the planning, creation and production of advertising campaigns
  • Graphic design - includes the design of visual or graphic material such as packaging designs, corporate logos and sign writing.
  • Other design - includes exhibition and display design, fashion and interior design.

For information refer to the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications (ACLC), 2008 (Second Edition) (cat. no. 4902.0) available via the ABS website.


ORGANISATIONS

It is difficult to accurately determine the number of businesses involved in the production and sale of art and craft items. Data sources usually used to count the number of businesses in an industry, such as the Australian Business Register, do not separately identify art and craft producers - they are generally combined with other businesses in the creative arts industry such as self-employed composers, songwriters and writers.

As art and craft producers generally work independently and are often not part of any formal network, developing a list of organisations (including people working for themselves) who are representative of the industry is problematic. Consequently, the ABS has not undertaken surveys of art and craft producers in the past.

Collecting information on the activities of those who sell art and craft items is also difficult. Those involved in the sale of arts and crafts are generally counted with retailers of a range of other items in any business listings. Sales also regularly by-pass formal retail channels with producers selling directly, or selling through markets or fairs.

Conversely, it is possible to get a very broad estimate of the number of businesses involved in the provision of design services from the ABS publication series Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (cat. no. 8165.0)

There were 2.1 million actively trading businesses in Australia at the end of June 2012. Of these, 13,934 were classified as being predominantly involved in architectural services and 11,138 predominantly involved in advertising services. A further 14,442 businesses were involved in other specialist design services with this industry class including fashion, graphic, interior and jewellery design businesses as well as signwriting, textile design, ticket writing and commercial art services.

COUNTS OF AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES(a), Selected design industries(b), June 2012

Architectural services
Advertising services
Other specialised design services
no.
no.
no.

New South Wales
4 475
4 586
5 527
Victoria
4 043
2 934
4 157
Queensland
2 442
2 013
2 230
South Australia
777
555
841
Western Australia
1 666
780
1 166
Tasmania
235
110
179
Northern Territory
84
33
70
Australian Capital Territory
209
118
169
Total(c)
13 934
11 138
14 442

(a) After accounting for entries and exits from register.
(b) All businesses registered and active for GST and operating in one state or territory (i.e. it excludes entities with operations in more than one state or territory).
(c) Includes businesses for which state or territory is not recorded.
Source: Counts of Australian Businesses, Including Entries and Exits, Jun 2008 to Jun 2012 (cat. no. 8165.0)




The majority (59%) of design businesses actively trading in June 2012 were non-employing which is similar to the national proportion (61%). Of the businesses that did have employees, 94% employed less than 20 people.

COUNTS OF AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES(a), Selected design industries(b) by employment size and type, June 2012

Architectural services
Advertising services
Other specialised design services
no.
no.
no.

Employment size
1-19 employees
6 342
4 046
4 598
20-199 employees
301
432
214
200 employees or more
8
50
7
Type of employer
Employing
6 651
4 528
4 819
Non-employing
7 283
6 610
9 523
Total(c)
13 934
11 138
14 442

(a) After accounting for entries and exits from register.
(b) All businesses registered and active for GST and operating in one state or territory (i.e. it excludes entities with operations in more than one state or territory).
(c) Includes businesses for which state or territory is not recorded.
Source: Counts of Australian Businesses, Including Entries and Exits, Jun 2008 to Jun 2012 (cat. no. 8165.0)


BUYING ART AND CRAFT

The 2009-10 Household Expenditure Survey found that total annual expenditure on visual arts and crafts was $1,042m. This was equivalent to an average household expenditure of $2.38 per week. Total annual expenditure on paintings, carvings and sculptures was $547m, while $245m was spent on studio and other professional photography and $250m on art and craft materials. More information about expenditure on culture by households can be found in the Household Expenditure data cube found under the downloads tab for this publication. Additional information about the household expenditure survey and results for other sectors is available in Household Expenditure Survey: Summary of Results, 2009-10 (cat. no. 6530.0).


EMPLOYMENT

As discussed earlier in this section it is not possible to separately identify a Visual Arts and Crafts industry, rather it is a subset of the broader Creative Arts industry which includes painters, sculptors, writers, composers and a variety of occupations which rely on creative expression. Aggregating data for specific occupations provides an indication of the numbers of people working as visual arts and crafts professionals in the week before the Census.

In 2011 the Census of Population and Housing recorded 15,360 people whose main job, in the week before Census Night, was a Visual Arts and Crafts professional across all industries. The majority (75%) worked in cultural industries. The most common occupation was Photographer (9,548 persons), followed by Painter (2,330 persons). Additional data on employment is available in Employment in Culture, Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 6273.0) available on the ABS website.

PERSONS EMPLOYED AS VISUAL ARTS AND CRAFTS PROFESSIONALS(a)(b), By industry, 2011

Total Cultural industries
Non-cultural industries
All industries(c)

Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals
Painter (Visual Arts)
1 787
509
2 330
Potter or Ceramic Artist
111
327
459
Sculptor
470
164
648
Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals, nec
627
1 173
1 876
Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals, nfd
363
118
499
Photographer
8 160
1 317
9 548
Total Visual Arts and Crafts Professionals
11 518
3 608
15 360

(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.
(c) Includes not stated and not adequately described.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2011.

Turning to the design industry, the 2011 Census of Population and Housing found that there were 33,836 persons whose main job in the week before Census Night was in the Architectural Services industry. Of these, 37% were employed as Architects and 19% were employed as Architectural Draftspersons.

The Advertising services industry employed 30,454 people, with the majority working in non-cultural occupations (68%). The most common cultural occupation in this industry was Advertising Specialist (3,080 people), followed by Graphic Designer (1,819 people).

There was also a large proportion of employees in the Other Specialised Design Services industry that worked as Graphic Designers (38%).

PERSONS EMPLOYED IN SELECTED DESIGN INDUSTRIES(a)(b), By occupation, 2011

Number
%

Architectural Services
Architect
12 603
37.2
Architectural Draftsperson
6 358
18.8
Landscape Architect
1 712
5.1
Urban and Regional Planner
1 663
4.9
Interior Designer
1,351
4.0
Other cultural occupations
473
1.4
Total Cultural occupations
24 160
71.4
Non-Cultural occupations
9 532
28.2
All occupations(c)
33 836
100.0
Advertising Services
Advertising Specialist
3 080
10.1
Graphic Designer
1 819
6.0
Media Producer (excluding Video)
1 245
4.1
Copywriter
670
2.2
Photographer
331
1.1
Web Developer
272
0.9
Other cultural occupations
1 933
6.3
Total Cultural occupations
9 350
30.7
Non-Cultural occupations
20 757
68.2
All occupations(c)
30 454
100.0
Other Specialised Design Services
Graphic Designer
8 622
38.4
Signwriter
2 582
11.5
Interior Designer
2 314
10.3
Fashion Designer
264
1.2
Web Designer
249
1.1
Media Producer (excluding Video)
228
1.0
Other cultural occupations
1 730
7.7
Total Cultural occupations
15 989
71.2
Non-Cultural occupations
6 352
28.3
All occupations(c)
22 467
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.
(c) Includes not stated and not adequately described.
Source: ABS data available on request, Census of Population and Housing, 2011.

While the Census records details about a persons main job the week before Census Night the ABS survey of Participation in Selected Cultural Activities collects information about the number of selected cultural activities in which people participated, characteristics of selected cultural activities and payments that participants received.

The ABS survey of Participation in Selected Cultural Activities shows that the craft activity with the highest rate of paid participation was Fashion, interior or graphic design (28%) followed by Design of websites, computer games and interactive software (27%). The visual arts activity with the highest rate of paid participation was Printmaking, screen printing and etching (17%). Additional information about participation in cultural activities is available in Participation in selected cultural activities, Australia, 2010-11 (cat. no. 4921.0).


PAID PARTICIPATION IN ARTS AND CRAFTS, By type of activity, 2010-11

Some paid participation
('000)
Unpaid
participation only
('000)
Total
participants
('000)
Percentage with some
paid participation
%

Visual art activities
Sculpting, painting, drawing or cartooning, including digital pieces
99.5
1 181.9
1 281.5
7.8
Printmaking, screen printing or etching
22.2
111.0
133.1
16.7
Photography, film-making or editing, apart from recording personal events
122.0
676.2
798.2
15.3
Craft activities
Textile crafts, jewellery making, paper crafts or wood crafts
84.0
1 553.7
1 637.7
5.1
Glass crafts, pottery, ceramics or mosaics
19.6
199.9
219.5
8.9
Designed websites, computer games or interactive software
136.4
363.4
499.8
27.3
Fashion, interior or graphic design
90.6
231.7
322.3
28.1
Other digital art or craft not already reported
15.0
85.5
100.5
14.9

Source: Participation in Selected Cultural Activities, Australia, 2010-11 (cat. no. 4921.0)



Useful links

Household Expenditure Survey: Summary of Results, 2009-10 (cat. no. 6530.0).
Employment in Culture, Australia, 2011 (cat. no. 6273.0).
Participation in selected cultural activities, Australia, 2010-11 (cat. no. 4921.0).