MEDIA RELEASE
December 19, 2007	Embargoed 11.30 am (AEDT)	134/2007
Australia's visual artists double in numbers: ABS

The number of Australians involved in visual art activities has nearly doubled since 2004, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today.

In 2004, there were around 790,000 people involved in visual art (painting, drawing, computer art, photography); by 2007 this had increased to over 1.4 million.

Other culture and leisure activities with high levels of involvement were craft activities (such as furniture-making and wood crafts, jewellery making, pottery and ceramics, glass crafts and textile crafts) with 960,000 people; writing (606,500), performing arts (506,300) and design (459,200).

In total, just over one in five people (22% or 3.5 million) aged 15 or older were involved in culture and leisure activities; this is up from 17% in 2004.

Overall more women (24%) than men (19%) worked in a culture and leisure field, but the rate of paid involvement was similar for both men and women (7%).

One-third of all people involved (30% or 1.1 million people) received some payment. The majority (66%) of these people reported that their involvement was part of their main job. People with relevant qualifications were more likely to be paid for their involvement (53%) than those without (22%).

Younger people (aged 15-24 years) were the most (25%) involved in culture and leisure activities while older people (aged 65 years and over) were the least (15%) involved.

Further details are in Work in Selected Culture and Leisure Activities, Australia April 2007 (6281.0).