The Polycrisis for Arts and Creative Education in Australia

The arts and creative sectors in Australia are facing unprecedented challenges. Since 2018 there has been a consistent reduction of available creative arts courses in Australian universities and in the TAFE sector, and a decline in enrolments in many senior secondary school arts subjects. The impacts of Job-Ready Graduates policy, introduced in 2020 and implemented from 2021, which substantially increased the cost of arts and creative courses, have coincided with declining enrolments, closure of courses, reduction in subject offerings, and courses being placed under institutional review. This discussion will share national data about the extent of this decline and considers its implications for realising the ambitions outlined in Australia’s National Cultural Policy Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place (2023). It will posit that there is a profound incongruity between rhetoric about a thriving arts and cultural sector, and the explicit winding back of arts education in senior schooling and higher education.