South Australia is internationally renowned as an arts and culture destination. However, the sector is under threat: underfunded and in decline for years now1. Since 2019, funding for the arts has steadily decreased2, and a lack of vision and investment has led to a shortage of decent venues, and many underpaid artists who cannot live off their craft.
Despite the South Australian Government releasing a cultural policy earlier this year3 and spending public funds on a rebranding exercise, funding to the arts and culture sector has been declining in real terms since 2018.
The creative sector is not sustainably funded, particularly with its short-term funding cycles. Many small venues are closing, and the lack of a dedicated concert venue is a gaping hole.
The Greens will:
- Fund arts teachers at every state school
- Ensure a living wage for artists
- Support for First Nations arts and culture
- Double the live music fund
- Build a world-class performance venue
3. https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/news/a-place-to-create-south-australias-new-cultural-policy
4. https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=aer
Explore our Plan
- An arts teacher and music program at every state school
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The Greens would like to see a dedicated art teacher employed in every public school. This initiative aims to ensure equitable access to quality arts education, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and cultural awareness among students.
Integrating dedicated arts and music teachers into every school offers numerous benefits, including giving kids an education in cultural diversity and creative thinking. There’s also good evidence to suggest that students engaged in arts education often perform better academically, particularly in areas such as literacy and mathematics.
Arts education is also one of the most critical pathways to perusing artistic endeavours later, which includes visual arts, music and performance.
While the South Australian Government has allocated $256.3 million to education in the 2024–25 budget, there’s no specific funding for arts education. The South Australian Greens propose a $50 million investment for full-time art teachers, providing essential education in the arts to schoolchildren.
- A living wage for artists
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For artists and creatives to be valued then they must be guaranteed a wage for their work. The Greens will launch a pilot over two years where artists are paid a living wage. This program would be open to 100 eligible artists, musicians, dancers, theatre makers, filmmakers and writers who would write an application explaining their work and intentions.
The program would pay $51,000 per year, which is the equivalent to the minimum wage for a hospitality worker and includes entitlements, at a cost of $5.1m per year.
- Support for First Nations arts and culture
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The State Government’s plans for Tarrkarri are on shaky ground, and the site remains an embarrassing dustbowl. The Greens will ensure that the money budgeted for Tarrkarri is spent on completing this project, leaving South Australia with a world-class Aboriginal art centre.
- Double the live music fund
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Live music is the beating heart of a vibrant community, and the government has a role to play in supporting our cultural ecosystem.
South Australia’s live music fund is up to $550,000 per year for events and festivals5. On top of the economic impact and tourism benefits, live music is also important for building connection, community wellbeing, and creating cities and towns that feel alive.
The Greens propose to double the live music fund and ensure that at least 25% of the fund is for regional live music. We believe that the best way to support the industry is giving them longer term certainty, not keeping them on a grant funding cycle. We will ensure the fund is available for long-term funding, as well as shorter term grants for specific events.
- Build a world class performance venue in Adelaide
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It is a strange contradiction that Adelaide is a UNESCO declared City of Music, but we are the only state without a concert hall in our capital city. A live music hall could boost music careers, attract more international students, and build our identity as a cultural hub6.
Adelaide is home to world-class musicians who have been calling for a dedicated concert venue for years, as we have nowhere fit for purpose. There have been scoping studies, but no progress made on this. We are now faced with the reality where the plans for any ambitious and permanent performance or cultural space are now being shelved. A business case was budgeted, but we’ve yet to see anything materialise7.
The Greens will commit to finalising the feasibility study and seek a collaborative funding arrangement with the Federal Government. South Australia has several car races but cannot get funding together for a world class concert hall.
7. Ibid
- How we'll pay for it
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The South Australian Greens will deliver $13.786 billion over 4 years!
Together, we’re powerful
With more Greens in parliament, we can tackle the climate crisis, make housing affordable and hold the major parties to account.