BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//conferences.acspri.org.au//2026//speaker//WYRZQJ BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:AEST BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20000326T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=3;UNTIL=20050326T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20060402T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4;UNTIL=20060401T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20070325T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=4SU;BYMONTH=3;UNTIL=20070324T170000Z TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20080406T040000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=4 TZNAME:AEST TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20000827T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=4SU;BYMONTH=8;UNTIL=20000826T170000Z TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20011028T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=10;UNTIL=20071027T170000Z TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20081005T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYMONTH=10 TZNAME:AEDT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-2026-PGWUCX@conferences.acspri.org.au DTSTART;TZID=AEST:20261125T113000 DTEND;TZID=AEST:20261125T114500 DESCRIPTION:This presentation examines how the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA) can be used as a tool to investigate arts and cultural p articipation across different areas of social life and to inform subsequen t survey research. It draws upon three AuSSA editions in relation to arts participation and well-being.\n\nCreative Australia is the Federal Governm ent’s arts investment and advisory body. Among its various functions\, t he organisation conducts and commissions research on the arts and cultural sector\, aiming to support open discussion about creative activity\, to i nform arts policy\, and to equip the sector with information to work strat egically and accountably. Creative Australia is also a member of ACSPRI an d\, through this membership\, can add additional questions to the AuSSA. T o date\, Creative Australia and our partners at the University of Canberra and RMIT University have published three research reports that use data c ollected through the AuSSA to explore the relationship between arts engage ment\, health\, wellbeing and socio-economic factors: Widening the Lens: S ocial Inequality and Arts Participation\, Creating Wellbeing: Attitudes an d engagement with arts\, culture and health\, and Digital Creativity: Onli ne creative engagement and social connection.\n\nIn 2019\, the topic for A uSSA was social inequality\, which offered Creative Australia (then the Au stralia Council for the Arts) an opportunity to consider the connection be tween arts participation and social background and attitudes towards socia l inequality in Australia. The results of this analysis\, published in Wid ening the Lens\, showed that arts participation is linked to social class\ , with arts engagement increasing with higher levels of education\, greate r household income\, and higher self-identified social class. In addition\ , further analysis demonstrated that an individual’s cultural engagement is influenced not only by their own education\, income and occupation\, b ut also by the occupational class of their parents. \n\nThe main theme of the 2021 AuSSA was health and healthcare\, with questions on a range of he althcare issues including personal physical and mental health\, attitudes towards healthcare issues such as vaccination\, and trust and confidence i n the health care system. The 2021 AuSSA allowed Creative Australia to exa mine the connection between arts\, culture\, health and wellbeing. The fin dings\, published in Creating Wellbeing\, showed that most Australians agr ee that engaging in the arts can have a positive impact on their health an d wellbeing\, and most are also open to ‘arts on prescription’. It als o found that arts participants tend to have higher confidence in\, and mor e favourable attitudes towards\, the healthcare system.\n\nThe 2024 AuSSA was focused on digital societies\, and Creative Australia used this opport unity to examine individuals’ engagement with digital creativity\, addin g questions on types and motivations for digital creative engagement. The resulting report\, Digital Creativity\, found that most Australians engage with digital creativity in some form. Those who engage with digital creat ivity are more likely to report loneliness than those who do not\, with th e link between loneliness\, trust and engagement with digital creativity s trongest of all in younger people.\n\nThough the data collected through th e AuSSA are not sufficient to show causality\, identifying correlations ca n uncover relationships that can be investigated through further research\ , such as Creative Australia’s triennial National Arts Participation Sur vey. For example\, the AuSSA questions on digital societies were used to u pdate the 2025 National Arts Participation Survey with new questions relat ing to digital engagement with the arts. \n\nThese three reports demonstra te how the AuSSA is an invaluable tool to understand the link between arts participation and the health and wellbeing of Australians\, and how it ca n be used to inform the design of future research - not only in the arts\, but also in other fields of inquiry. DTSTAMP:20261013T070023Z LOCATION:Cullen Room SUMMARY:Australians and the Arts: Examining relationships between arts part icipation\, health and socio-economic factors in Australia using the AuSSA - Belinda Balhatchet URL:https://conferences.acspri.org.au/2026/talk/PGWUCX/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR