The arts in South Australia are in dire straits and we need the government to take action to restore adequate funding.

In the past South Australia was renowned for its support of the arts sector, and its artists and arts organisations, but in recent times the arts have become less important to SA state governments. 

In 2019–20, the SA Government reduced its spending on arts and culture by 6% and then by 3% in 2020–21. Crucial state cultural institutions, including the SA Museum, the State Library, the Art Gallery, the Symphony Orchestra and many others, have been forced to make annual cost savings, endured budget cuts, lost staff, and been compelled to reduce their programs.

There has also been a lack of strategic leadership. The previous Liberal Government dismantled the government arts department, with components of the arts portfolio scattered across three departments. We are the only state with this structure.  

The arts are an important sector of our economy. In 2018–19 the creative industries (of which the arts are part) provided $1.45 billion in added value to the state economy while employing at least 15,785 FTE employees. 

The present Labor Government is offering more support for some of the festivals, but the arts are more than the festivals. They require considered planning and investment across a complex cultural ecosystem. The arts also contribute social and cultural benefits that can dramatically impact on the overall wellbeing of a community. They are an essential foundation of a healthy, civil society.  

We call upon the SA Government to immediately increase funding to artists and arts organisations, provide additional funds for statutory organisations, and reinstate a strategically focused arts department within government.

Unless these issues are addressed urgently, South Australia’s status as a leader in the arts will continue to deteriorate and we will be viewed as the most backward of Australian states, where once we were seen as the most progressive.

In August, the organisers of this petition sent an open letter to the Premier about the ‘dire straits of the arts’ in South Australia, signed by fifty prominent arts workers and artists (see https://indaily.com.au/news/2023/08/04/premier-urged-to-address-the-dire-state-of-the-arts-in-sa/).

We now call on all South Australians interested in the arts to sign and share this petition. We want to send a clear message to the Premier and the South Australian government.

Artwork credit: Roger Noakes, Unchartered monument: Pastoral, 1990