Creative and Cultural Industries

Canberra has a concentration of creative talent and expertise spanning different creative mediums, media, technology and applications. Canberra also has a creative industries infrastructure that is second-to-none in Australia.

Underlying Canberra’s visible face of art and culture is a burgeoning creative industry with great variety, expert skills and boundless energy. The Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries reported that there are approximately 2,990 cultural and creative businesses in Canberra. This represents 10.7 per cent of all businesses in the ACT, compared to the national average of 6.6 per cent.

The ACT Government, through artsACT, has been an active supporter of the arts. In recent years, the ACT Government has funded the Canberra Glassworks, Australia’s largest cultural centre wholly dedicated to contemporary glass art. The ACT Government also supports screen-based creative industry sectors, including film and television productions, digital media, and computer games development and animation.

The QL2 Centre for Youth Dance has a track record of excellent in youth dance. It is the home of Quantum Leap, an auditioned elite youth dance ensemble, and the Soft Landing program which assists the best dance graduates to find their creative pathway.

Canberra also has a substantial presence in the digital media sector and strong education support through organisations such as the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), the ANU School of Art, the University of Canberra School of Design and Architecture and the Canberra Institute of Technology's Centre for Creative Industries.

Canberra is also custodian of some of the nation’s great cultural institutions including:

  • The National Gallery of Australia
  • The National Museum of Australia
  • The Australian War Memorial
  • The National Portrait Gallery
  • The National Library & the National Archives
  • The National Film and Sound Archive
  • The Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  • The Museum of Australian Democracy

In 2008, the Donald Horne Institute for Cultural Heritage was established at the University of Canberra for the study, interpretation, conservation and appreciation of cultural heritage in all its guises.  Its objective is to integrate teaching and research across the fields of museums and heritage studies, and collaborate with national and international cultural heritage institutions, agencies, other universities, professional bodies and community organisations.

With such cultural ferment, it is no wonder Canberrans spend more than their fellow Australians on art gallery and museum fees, and on books, newspapers, magazines and other printed materials. The attendance rate at art galleries and museums is 87 per cent in the ACT, compared with an average Australian rate of just 45 per cent.

Case Study: Simmersion Holdings

Simmersion, a Canberra-based 3D technology company, is an excellent example of the convergence of technology and creativity skills in private enterprise. It has developed a ground breaking visualisation and simulation platform called Mycosm.

The technology creates real time, high fidelity 3D visualisations and will bring the richness and power of the world's best video game engines to the application and solution developer markets at an affordable price.

Mycosm Studio provides powerful, accessible tools for developers to create compelling 3D environments. Mycosm Player allows these environments to be published and distributed to a broad online audience.

The Mycosm Platform is set to revolutionise the creation and distribution of interactive visual simulations with fidelity and richness similar to the world's best 3D video games. Riding three convergent trends - the commoditisation of high end graphics processor units, the strong growth of internet based developer and user communities, and the arrival of new operating systems that exploit 3D rendering capabilities - provide the perfect environment for adoption of a platform like Mycosm.

Simmersion recently announced that it has been successful in its application for early stage commercialisation grant funding support through the Commercialisation Australia program. This funding will enable the initial commercial deployment of Mycosm into the entertainment, e-learning, sales and marketing, and decision support markets. Simmersion has also benefited from a number of AusIndustry government programs.

Simmersion, Bearcage Productions and the Zoo Group - all Canberra based companies - have combined their creative skills to showcase Canberra through the ACT Government website for the Shanghai World Expo, ACTuality (www.actuality.net.au).

For further information contact:
www.arts.act.gov.au
www.simmersionholdings.com
www.canberra.edu.au/centres/donald-horne
www.business.act.gov.au

Phone Canberra Connect:
1800 244 650 (Australia)
+61 13 2281 (International)