The Allan Labor Government is cementing Victoria’s reputation as Australia’s cultural capital as millions of people flocked to the state’s public arts and cultural institutions last year, demonstrating the huge appetite for the world-class events and experiences on offer.
In the last financial year, the NGV, State Library Victoria, Melbourne Recital Centre, ACMI, Arts Centre Melbourne, Geelong Arts Centre and Museums Victoria welcomed more than 11.2 million visitors from across the state, country and globe – up from 10.8 million from the last financial year.
The 2023-24 Annual Reports – released today – also show that more than half a million students from all over Victoria took part in an arts or cultural learning experiences at our agencies and 8.6 million people attended festivals and events at Fed Square, up from 7.9 million from the previous year.
State Library Victoria celebrated its 170th birthday with its biggest ever annual attendance – welcoming a record breaking 2.65 million visitors throughout the year, making it the third busiest library in the world. Over at Melbourne Museum, 300,000 visitors came to marvel at 200 recovered artefacts for Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition.
NGV Triennial attracted more than a million visitors, making it one of the most popular exhibitions in NGV’s history. Across Arts Centre Melbourne venues, 1.1 million people enjoyed 1,120 performances, including crowds of 232,000 for the summer season at Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
ACMI attracted over a million visitors to exhibitions, screenings, programs and more, and Melbourne Recital Centre staged 520 events across a range of music genres.
The period also saw Geelong Arts Centre reopen after its $140 million transformation, making it Australia’s biggest dedicated regional arts centre. From sold out events to world premieres, attendance across the year reached over 256,000.
The Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation is advancing the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, with demolition of 77 Southbank Boulevard complete to make way for The Fox: NGV Contemporary gallery, and construction underway on Arts Centre Melbourne’s Theatres Building and the Laak Boorndap urban garden.
VicScreen reported that film, television and digital games projects backed by the Labor Government generated $331 million for the state’s economy and created 6,970 local jobs.
Docklands Studios Melbourne had major productions filmed on site including Ice Road 2: Road to the Sky starring Liam Neeson and Matchbox’s The Survivors, based on the best-selling novel by local author Jane Harper.
Victoria’s creative industries employ more than 320,000 people and contribute $40.5 billion to the Victorian economy, equivalent to 7.6 per cent of the total state economy.
As stated by Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks
“Our public arts and cultural institutions lead the nation, so it’s no surprise they are attracting record numbers from across the state, country and globe – creating thousands of local jobs, opportunities for our local talent, inspiring millions of people of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life.”
