Impact investment with Creative Australia 

Australia’s National Cultural Policy: Revive, includes a commitment for Creative Australia to explore partnerships and funding models that attract commercial and philanthropic investment alongside government investment.  

Impact investing – incentivised by support from Creative Australia and philanthropic partners – is a model with a range of use cases for arts and cultural organisations seeking to access new sources of capital and diversify revenue streams to realise cultural value and social purpose.     

Pilot impact investment fund for the Australian creative industries 

Guided by our newly appointed Creative Australia Impact Investing Advisory Committee, we are creating a pilot impact investment fund for the Australian creative industries. To do so, we are working with philanthropic and investment partners across five key areas: 

• Capability building – for the creative industries in financial management, governance and impact measurement and reporting; for impact investors and intermediaries on the context and timeframes required to successfully invest in arts and culture.    
• New investment culture – amplifying the conversation on the benefits of financing alternatives other than grants and earned income; creating an environment where the creative industries are informed and engaged with the concepts of debt and equity finance as viable options.    
• Definition of roles – identifying the role of government, philanthropy, investors and intermediaries; specifically the role of Creative Australia as a facilitator, catalytic funder and capability-building engine.    
• Articulation and mediation of risk – for the creative industries in providing the scaffolding and support to lower the risk of debt/equity financing; for impact investors in providing first-loss capital and catalytic funding to incentivise investments from the philanthropic and commercial sectors.    
• Fund modelling – the need to learn from our international peers in the structure and format of an impact investment fund; time and investment to pilot fund structures to better understand the best long-term investment offering for the creative industries in Australia.    

Get in touch with us 

If you are an investor or philanthropist interested in partnering with Creative Australia on our impact investing initiatives, please contact Jayne Lovelock, Director Private Partnerships and Impact on jayne.lovelock@creative.gov.au.  

Do you want to attract impact investment? 

Are you interested in attracting impact investment for your arts organisation? See our suite of resources and programs on impact investment readiness.