Cultural strategy 2025–2035

Takeaways

• When we say ‘culture’ we mean the heritage, knowledge and cultural practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the expressions of identity of our diverse multicultural communities as well as the arts and creative industries.
• Sydney’s creative industries have long been key to our economic strength with the largest workforce of its kind in Australia.
• The high cost of living is reducing the number of creative workers who call Sydney home, and the commercial property market is pricing out the creative industries. These challenges are compounded by the long-tail impacts of the Covid pandemic.
• In the decade to 2022, Sydney lost almost 12% of its artist population and ore than 170,000 square metres of commercial floorspace dedicated to creative industries.
• We must ensure we retain the talent and venues we already have, rebuild what we’ve lost and reimagine our cultural life as sustainable, equitable, inspiring and thriving.