In May 2007, the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council commissioned AEA Consulting to identify the most significant trends and factors likely to influence the health and vitality of the 29 largest performing arts organisations in Australia over the next two decades. AEA also was asked to identify key measures or indicators for these trends that can be tracked over time and used in strategic planning by the Major Performing Arts Board (MPAB) and the major performing arts groups (MPAs) themselves.
This study is a part of the MPAB’s ongoing work to ensure that Australia has an artistically vibrant, financially viable and broadly accessible major performing arts sector. It extends the MPAB’s efforts, triggered by the Major Performing Arts Inquiry (MPAI) in 1999, to address the complex challenges facing the major performing arts companies and collect and analyse data about their artistic vitality, financial health and public services.
The report is structured in three parts:
- Part 1: An overview of the major external trends that are likely to affect the Major Performing Arts sector over the next 20 years and the implications for the potential companies.
- Part 2: A framework for tracking and assessing key indicators relating to sector viability on an ongoing basis, and recommendations for integrating these indicators into the ongoing planning processes of the Board and the companies.
- Part 3: Concluding observations on how the Major Performing Arts Board and Major Performing Arts companies might act in the short term to begin to address these trends.