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Creative Workforce Scoping Study

Mar 11, 2025
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The Creative Workforce Scoping Study is a groundbreaking piece of research that distils knowledge of long-standing workforce issues in the creative sector, along with new data on how contemporary labour, technical and economic challenges are impacting the creative workforce.    

The research was conducted by Creative Australia for Service and Creative Skills Australia (SaCSA)  and was a national cross-portfolio commitment in the National Cultural Policy, Revive. 

Drawn from a national sector survey of employers, significant industry consultation, along with mapping of existing datasets, initiatives and literature, the report provides a rich foundation of evidence and agreed knowledge with which to navigate creative workforce challenges in the coming years.  

Findings and recommendations from this study will inform SaCSA’s Workforce Plan, along with reviews of vocational education and training (VET) packages and other potential workforce development initiatives.  

The project is historic in scale and scope, covering six creative sectors: performing arts; music; visual arts, craft and design; writing and publishing; digital games; and screen. 

It also covers all roles across these sectors: creative, technical and production, finance and accounting, marketing and communication, and leadership roles. 

By bringing these six sectors and varied roles together, the research provides a structural view of the creative industries, illustrating the movements that occur across these six sectors and the diversity of skills required in the creative industries.  

It also demonstrates the dynamism and complexity of creative career pathways, the need for training and education to be adaptive, and for learning to continue across all stages of the career journey.   

Australia’s creative industries are facing critical workforce and skills shortages. These are exacerbated by multiple issues, including the economic climate, precarious work conditions, generational shifts in workplace expectations and a disconnect between formal education and industry needs.

There are acute worker shortages across the creative industries and various types of roles:

  • production and technical roles are experiencing an acute shortage of workers across all creatives sectors;
  • creative roles experiencing the most acute shortages include lighting designers, game artists in the independent games sector, and animation and visual effects roles in screen;
  • finance and accounting skills and workers are in shortage across all sectors except games;
  • marketing and communications skills and workers are needed in the performing arts and the visual arts, craft and design sectors;
  • there is a need for business skills for creatives across all sectors except screen, and for management and/or leadership skills across all sectors.

The study highlights the need for new or re-invigorated initiatives to:

  • fill identified gaps in formal education and training, particularly for specialised production and technical roles in visual arts galleries and exhibitions
  • bridge gaps between formal education and industry needs through strengthened partnerships and feedback mechanisms, particularly for specialist roles in digital games, screen, music and publishing
  • strengthen support for industry-led on-the-job mentoring and traineeships, particularly in performing arts and music
  • build skills needed across multiple sectors, such as business skills for creatives, finance and accounting skills, and management and leadership skills.

The study has highlighted opportunities for improved collaboration between governments and agencies; as well as with industry, community organisations, schools, and VET and higher education institutions. It also identifies a range of opportunities to build on, scale up, connect and coordinate existing initiatives, industry-led work, and accredited training opportunities to respond to specific needs of the sector now and into the future.