NAVA’s 2026-27 Federal Budget response

The 2026–27 Federal Budget continues existing commitments under Revive, including a modest funding increase for Creative Australia and ongoing support for the Regional Arts Fund, Visions of Australia and the national collecting institutions.

“While this stability is welcome, the Budget does little to address the conditions under which many artists are working,” said Penelope Benton, Executive Director of NAVA.

“Artists continue to contend with precarious incomes, unpaid labour and rising costs, while many of the underlying issues affecting the sector remain unresolved.”

NAVA noted several commitments that may positively affect parts of the visual arts sector, including making the $20,000 small business instant asset write-off permanent. In addition to supporting artists and small arts organisations purchasing equipment and materials, the scheme should encourage businesses to acquire artworks by living Australian artists. The Government has also announced support for an increase to the National Minimum Wage this year, which remains a benchmark within NAVA’s Code of Practice Payment Standards.

Visual artists and arts workers continue to navigate insecure incomes, unpaid labour, rising living costs and limited access to long-term financial security. Longer-term reforms relating to taxation, superannuation and artists’ incomes remain important areas for ongoing policy development.

The Budget’s broader focus on productivity and innovation sits alongside the ongoing precarity across the visual arts sector, including insecure work, unpaid labour and low incomes.

Recent analysis from A New Approach’s The Big Picture shows federal per capita expenditure on arts and culture has fallen to its lowest level on record, while a growing proportion of cultural spending is directed toward infrastructure rather than the people who produce and sustain creative work.

NAVA welcomes continued investment in the arts and cultural sector, but reform must also address the economic conditions of arts work. This includes action on tax reform, superannuation, artists’ incomes, AI regulation and long-term support for the small-to-medium (S2M) sector.

“As consultation begins on the next National Cultural Policy, there is an opportunity to focus more directly on the economic conditions of arts work and the sustainability of arts careers.”