11 June 2024

Arts and Culture are within the General Division category. Of the 737 honours awarded, 493 recipients were within the General Division (the other 33% are military and public service recipients).

But of those 493 recipients, a paltry 43 were awarded in the area of arts and culture (including architecture, libraries and community arts groups). That is just 9% of all award recipients. Even worse, only 17 of those are full- time professional artists, the others were recognised for philanthropic or community service.

However, these Honours are driven by peer nominations, so the flaw with this list lies largely with the sector itself. What has happened to arts and artists since the pandemic?