#VoteForArt 2025: NAVA Election Toolkit

There’s been a welcome shift in how the arts are valued in Australia. Public recognition of artists’ vital role in shaping and enriching our communities is growing. Recent national policy and funding changes are a step forward, but instability continues across the sector, from classrooms to studios, with too many artists still facing precarious working conditions and limited support.

There’s more to do to ensure visual artists are paid properly, protected at work, and supported to build long-term careers. This election is our opportunity to secure lasting change. NAVA is calling on all parties and candidates to commit to policies that make creative work sustainable, respected, and secure.

This toolkit gives you everything you need to speak up, show up, and make sure the future of the visual arts is on the political agenda.

Every conversation counts. Every commitment builds momentum. Share the campaign. Talk to your networks. Be loud, be clear: artists deserve a future.

1. Secure artists’ futures

• Mandate payment of artists’ fees for all government-funded projects, aligned with NAVA’s Code of Practice.
• Ensure superannuation is paid on all artist fees.
• Exempt artist grants, prizes, and fellowships from taxable income.
• Scrap Non-Commercial Loss (NCL) rules penalising artists with secondary incomes.
• Introduce living cost deductions for residencies (1-12 months).
• Fund 200 creative fellowships ($100K/yr for 3 years) to support mid-career artists.
• Pilot a living wage program for artists.

2. Invest in a stronger visual arts workforce

• Boost multi-year funding for small-to-medium arts organisations ($200M/year) to ensure stable jobs.
• Expand career pathways with funding for skills, leadership, mentorship and apprenticeships.
• Support First Nations leadership via a $20M/yr National Workforce Development Fund and expanded Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS) program.
• Strengthen the visual arts from the ground up, invest in arts education and support training pathways for future educators and artists.
• Fund initiatives to close the gender pay gap.
• Improve accessibility through Disability-led initiatives and inclusive hiring.
• Ensure 30% of funding goes to marginalised groups, artists and programs (race, gender, people with disability and/or d/Deaf, and regional).
• Fund a paid apprenticeship program to replace unpaid internships and convert long-term volunteer roles into paid work.
• Require funded organisations to report on unpaid labour.
• Incentivise cultural competency training and structured mentorships.

3. Defend artistic independence

• Keep politics and media out of funding decisions
• Guarantee/Safeguard Creative Australia’s independence.
• Ensure policy is led by the sector, centring artists in decisions.
• Protect artists’ right to freedom of expression in law.
• Regulate AI use of artists' work to ensure consent, attribution, and remuneration.

1. Email your MP: Send a pre-written message (or write your own!) Use our MP letter templates below.
2. Ask the hard questions: At candidate forums, town halls, or on social media, ask: “What’s your plan to support artists in the next term?”
3. Check the record: Find out how your MP has voted on the arts.
4. Track commitments: If a candidate supports our platform, let us know! Email nava@visualarts.net.au  

Subject: Support for #VoteForArt 2025 – Securing Artists' Futures

Dear [MP's Name],

I’m a resident of [Your Electorate] and a practicing visual artist. I’m writing to ask for your support for the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) #VoteForArt 2025 platform, a set of policy reforms that will help make it possible for artists in Australia to earn a living, develop their practice, and keep contributing to our communities.

Like many artists, I’ve faced long periods of financial instability, underpayment, and limited opportunities to grow my career. The policies in this platform, like exempting art prizes and government grants from tax and introducing living cost deductions for residencies, would make a real difference / have a real and positive impact on my ability to keep working as an artist.

I’d appreciate the opportunity to speak with you directly, or to hear your response on these important issues. Please let me know if you’re available to meet or if you’d prefer to reply in writing.

Thank you for your time and your support for the arts in our community.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Contact Information

Subject: Support stronger careers in the visual arts – #VoteForArt 2025

Dear [MP's Name],

I live in [Your Electorate] and work in the visual arts. I’m writing to ask for your support for stronger investment in the people who keep our arts sector going, from artists to curators, educators, technicians, and arts workers.

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) #VoteForArt 2025 platform calls for increased support for skills development, leadership, and mentoring, alongside targeted investment in First Nations leadership, disability-led initiatives, and action to close the gender pay gap.

Too many careers are cut short because there just isn’t enough support to stay in the sector long term. We need policies that recognise the visual arts as a workforce, and back that up with real investment.

I’d appreciate the chance to speak with you further or to hear your response. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Contact Information

Subject: Protect artistic freedom and independent decision-making

Dear [MP's Name],

I’m a resident of [Your Electorate] and I’m writing to ask that you support policies that protect the independence of the arts in Australia.

The visual arts sector relies on decision-making that’s free from political or media interference. The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) #VoteForArt 2025 platform calls for clear protections to ensure that Creative Australia can operate independently, that funding decisions are made on merit, and that artists’ right to freedom of expression is respected in law.

Independent art helps us ask questions, explore new ideas, and reflect on the world we live in. That’s only possible when artists and organisations can work without fear of censorship or political pressure.

I hope you’ll support these important protections. Please let me know if we can speak further or if you’d prefer to respond in writing.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Contact Information

Subject: Support the future of the visual arts – #VoteForArt 2025

Dear [MP's Name],

I’m writing as someone who values and supports the visual arts in [Your Electorate] and across Australia. I’m asking you to back the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) #VoteForArt 2025 platform — a campaign calling for better conditions for artists, stronger investment in the sector, and protections for artistic freedom.

Artists are essential to public life. They contribute to education, wellbeing, innovation, and connection in our communities. But too many are working without basic security or recognition.

The policies in #VoteForArt 2025 would help build a visual arts sector that is sustainable, inclusive, and able to thrive.

I hope you’ll support these priorities. I’d be glad to speak further or to receive a written response.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Contact Information

Anthony Romagnano, Untitled, pencil on paper, 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Arts Project Australia, Melbourne.

ID: A vibrant colour pencil illustration showing five people, three facing the front and two turned away beneath a range of colourful abstract shapes. Overlaid in the top left corner is a monochrome badge with the text: “Secure Artists’ Future: #VoteForArt 2025.”