From dinosaurs to David Bowie and The Dressmaker, 2015-16 was a year of variety, achievement and audience growth for Victoria’s creative and cultural agencies.
The annual reports for Victoria’s nine state-owned creative and cultural agencies were tabled in Parliament today, reflecting a year of dynamism, diversity and considerable accolades at home and abroad.
The reports show the state’s cultural institutions – Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Recital Centre, State Library of Victoria, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Museum Victoria and National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) – welcomed a record 11.4 million visitors across the year.
The State Library, ACMI, NGV and Scienceworks each achieved new records for visitation.
ACMI enhanced its reputation for creating crowd-pleasing exhibition experiences with an additional 543,000 visitors flocking to its four Melbourne-made touring shows, which in 2015-16 travelled to six international locations and five regional Australian centres.
Collectively, the portfolio reported a record 20.6 million online user sessions – an increase of more than 20 per cent on the previous year and a potent example of just how far and wide the agencies now reach in a globally connected world.
More than 570,000 students participated in agency education programs.
Volunteers continued to strengthen and celebrate the creative agencies, devoting more than 100,000 hours of service – the equivalent of 33 years of work – to Victoria’s cultural institutions.
Film Victoria invested in 67 local film, television and games projects, creating an additional 8,068 employment opportunities and generating $173 million for the Victorian economy.
The Women in Games Fellowship, and the Film Victoria–Natalie Miller Fellowship Women in Leadership Development Initiative were also introduced to assist Victorian women in the industry.
Victoria’s nine cultural and creative agencies report as part of the Creative Industries portfolio. Overseen by Creative Victoria, these agencies provide leadership to the state’s arts, culture, screen, design and games sectors.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley
“Our agencies hold our world-class collections, provide outstanding services and programs, and are embraced by a vast and ever-growing number of Victorians and visitors.”
“These reports provide a picture of sound management, quality product and audience growth across a range of platforms and regions. These agencies are owned by all Victorians and we have so much to be proud of.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020