Petition to the Australian Government by the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE)

Addressed to:

The Hon Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education and The Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for the Arts

Context:

Australia is facing a significant and ongoing decline in Arts education across both schools and universities. Enrolments in senior secondary Arts subjects have significantly fallen nationally, and many tertiary creative arts courses have been reduced or discontinued. 

These trends are narrowing educational opportunities for young Australians and weakening Australia’s cultural, creative, and educational future.

Arts education plays a vital role in student engagement, wellbeing, creativity, cultural understanding, and academic success. It contributes to a balanced and humanising education and develops essential capabilities for the future, including communication, collaboration, and creative thinking. Yet Arts education continues to receive unequal recognition and investment compared with other learning areas.

Without urgent national action, Australia risks further decline in access to quality Arts education for students, communities, and the future workforce.

Request:

We call on the Australian Government, through Minister Clare and Minister Burke in their Education and Arts portfolios, to urgently initiate a national parliamentary inquiry into Arts education and training in Australia.

In addition, the Australian Government must:

• Take urgent action to address declining participation in school and tertiary Arts education
• Examine and address the impact of the Job-ready Graduates (JRG) scheme on creative arts participation and workforce supply
• Ensure equitable recognition and investment for Arts education alongside STEM across schools, universities, and Initial Teacher Education
• Work with the arts and arts education sectors to develop a coordinated national plan to secure the future of Arts education in Australia.

This petition is led by the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE). For more information, visit www.naae.org.au  

📣 Update: An Official Australian Parliament Petition is Now Open

Thank you to the almost 4,000 people who have supported this petition calling for action on arts education in Australia.

We’re pleased to share that NAAE has now successfully initiated and received approval for an official Australian Parliament e-petition on arts education.

This petition goes directly to the Commonwealth Parliament, which means signatures can have a stronger impact on national policy discussions.

If you have already signed this Change.org petition, we strongly encourage you to also sign the official Parliamentary petition and share it with your networks.

We have until 1 April to gather as many signatures as possible.

Sign the Parliamentary petition here:
https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN9412

Thank you again for supporting arts education in Australia.

— National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE)